Do all iPod's sound the same?

iPod, walkman, headphones, earphones, boomboxes, etc...

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Re: Do all iPod's sound the same?

Postby onedown » Fri Nov 20, 2009 11:38 am

rene,

just curious. what generation of nano did you try?

thanks.
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Re: Do all iPod's sound the same?

Postby hypertriode » Fri Nov 20, 2009 12:23 pm

onedown wrote:rene,

just curious. what generation of nano did you try?

thanks.


Edited my post jon! :)
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Re: Do all iPod's sound the same?

Postby onedown » Fri Nov 20, 2009 12:32 pm

thanks, rene. :)
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Re: Do all iPod's sound the same?

Postby Mamimili » Fri Nov 20, 2009 8:54 pm

abiedoodles wrote:flash memory ipod type (1-8gb) sounds better than hard drive type (20gb- above) because of the noise created by hard drive type.


I can't say i hear drive noise but i agree the flash types sound much better than hard drives. Just my ears, i have no chip or circuit knowledge.
I still say my iriver SQ beats any ipod. 8gb is enough for my flights :)
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Re: Do all iPod's sound the same?

Postby abiedoodles » Fri Nov 20, 2009 9:29 pm

troporobo wrote:
abiedoodles wrote:flash memory ipod type (1-8gb) sounds better than hard drive type (20gb- above) because of the noise created by hard drive type.


Really? You've tried this side by side and found this result? I'd like to know the details.

Because I have tried the exact same files using same Etymotic Er-4s with a 160 Gb Classic, an 8 Gb Touch, and 4 Gb and 8 Gb Nanos (yes we are Apple fanboys / fangirls in my house). I'll be buggered if I can hear the hard drive in the Classic, or any significant difference between the flash memory players. Maybe with a pocket amp better than the FiiO E5 that I have here. I think not however



im not saying you can hear the drive noise, but the mechanical interference is there,

hard drives come with actuator arms to move the read/write head over a hard drive platter, that's a lot of movement and will wear out in the long term and subject to skipping and audio dropouts.flash memory in the other hand are totally stable even under the most demanding circumstances because there are no mechanical moving parts as it uses a chip memory (IC) to store data.
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Re: Do all iPod's sound the same?

Postby troporobo » Sat Nov 21, 2009 7:55 am

Well, your first post says "noise created by hard drive" Now you are referring to "mechanical interference". I don't believe I can hear either

Whether hard drive or flash memory, the digits have to be read into a buffer and decoded by a DAC

What I do agree with is that different iPods have different SQ. Bu I believe that this is due to the DAC not the type of storage
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Re: Do all iPod's sound the same?

Postby joe3rp » Sat Nov 21, 2009 8:14 am

O.T.
Yesterday I was at a clients place to adjust his system...he was complaining it didn't sound right (bad as a matter of fact). True enough I found it absolutely HORRIBLE sounding!

This is an all Harana sytem ....Isabel Pre - Harana 300B - ALtec JBL Horn ... + a brand new "ULTRA HI-End SACD CD player"

Luckily I always try to bring my Ipod Classic + a headphone-rca line. I connected the IPOD and ....great sound and music came out. The customer and wife agreed on it with big smiles, and also agreed to call the CDP dealer... The IPOD may not be the best in Digital, but I use it as "known/familiar" reference for my installations/tuning.

I think for SQ....it is the way you load the MUSIC...I use WAV + Exact Audio Copy...hard work but...
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Re: Do all iPod's sound the same?

Postby JackD201 » Sat Nov 21, 2009 10:34 am

Was the system shouty and tiring? If so Kuya Joey, it looks to me like Isabel's input sensitivity is optimized for 1V and not 2V. I'm sure Ambel can very easily configure one of the inputs for 2V :) If that isn't the problem, bigyan ko ng iPod client mo akin na lang SACD player niya :D :D :D :D
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Re: Do all iPod's sound the same?

Postby abiedoodles » Sat Nov 21, 2009 11:39 am

troporobo wrote:Well, your first post says "noise created by hard drive" Now you are referring to "mechanical interference". I don't believe I can hear either

Whether hard drive or flash memory, the digits have to be read into a buffer and decoded by a DAC

What I do agree with is that different iPods have different SQ. Bu I believe that this is due to the DAC not the type of storage



sorry im not literally saying " noise in the hard drive ' and i dont want to start arguments, i not here to make you believe, im here to contribute, google is free! use it, do your own research.
Last edited by abiedoodles on Sun Nov 22, 2009 12:49 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Do all iPod's sound the same?

Postby bitoye » Sun Nov 22, 2009 11:15 am

Surprisingly enough though despite arguments of mp3 software and hardware being inferior to High - end audio, cd sales have actually and still continue to slump with the exception of LP having found a market, in my opinion a big reason for sales decline was the advent of bringing down the price of Ipods and other mp3 players to relatively affordable srp's for the masses. CD was still ok during 2001-2003 as I remember. It was 2005 i think with the release of those video ipods and a host of other ipod challengers when mp3 and digital music really took off signaling the downfall of CD's.
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Re: Do all iPod's sound the same?

Postby troporobo » Mon Nov 23, 2009 9:44 am

abiedoodles wrote:i not here to make you believe, im here to contribute

Excellent, same here. That's why I posted my experience and asked about yours. Sorry if you saw this as an argument

abiedoodles wrote:google is free! use it, do your own research.

Thanks for the tip but I will continue to prefer actual listening for my research . . .
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Re: Do all iPod's sound the same?

Postby abiedoodles » Mon Nov 23, 2009 2:26 pm

like you, im writing based on experience but I want to compare other experiences to clarify this observation , most of them favor the flash memory based player and as well as some member here in this thread ,

I was about to upgrade to ipod 160gb from my ageing sandisk sansa E260 4gb(w/Rockbox installed) and 1st gen ipod shuffle but ended up buying Kingston 4gb microSD HC for the sansa e260 expansion slot. I don’t like what I heard from ipod 160gb and 20gb (don’t know the version),

I don’t know but my shuffle and sansa have better SQ compare to the two, i searched the web and found the advantages of flash memory based mp3 player . I know others would this agree but its just me. As they say “ newer does not mean better"
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Re: Do all iPod's sound the same?

Postby MoJAZZ » Mon Nov 23, 2009 5:21 pm

I compared my 160GB iPod classic with my son's iPon Nano, using a crossroad IEM and listening to Jimmy Eat World, and The Killers (the only albums na meron kami pareho 8) 8) ). I did'nt hear any difference though. But using an Iso-Tek System Enhancer track did improve the iPod's SQ. :rock: I think I can live with the SQ provided the songs are 320kbps. With more than 10K songs in my MP3 library the large capacity iPod comes in handy. :)
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Re: Do all iPod's sound the same?

Postby Gino » Sat Nov 28, 2009 10:06 am

I just bought a 3rd gen iPod Touch and compared it with my 1st gen iPod using my Head-Direct Re2 in-ears. No, iPods don't sound the same. The new one has a bit more top detail. It has more air. Brushes are more evident now. Same with metals. But the female vocals sound a bit more boxy. Bass is reduced too. These are first impressions. I have not done any extensive A/B yet. Heck, it's an iPod Touch. I am not expecting miracles with it to really bother.
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Re: Do all iPod's sound the same?

Postby joe3rp » Sat Nov 28, 2009 10:23 am

abiedoodles wrote:like you, im writing based on experience but I want to compare other experiences to clarify this observation , most of them favor the flash memory based player and as well as some member here in this thread ,

I was about to upgrade to ipod 160gb from my ageing sandisk sansa E260 4gb(w/Rockbox installed) and 1st gen ipod shuffle but ended up buying Kingston 4gb microSD HC for the sansa e260 expansion slot. I don’t like what I heard from ipod 160gb and 20gb (don’t know the version),

I don’t know but my shuffle and sansa have better SQ compare to the two, i searched the web and found the advantages of flash memory based mp3 player . I know others would this agree but its just me. As they say “ newer does not mean better"


Sir, are you ripping songs in MP3? So your SQ is based on MP3 songs? TY
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Re: Do all iPod's sound the same?

Postby abiedoodles » Sat Nov 28, 2009 1:27 pm

i compare the sansa e260 and ipod nano(borrowed from a friend) in flac format using the same exact file same headphone.
the 160 gb ipod tested only in demo playing mp3 320kbps same headphone, diffrent track but both 320kbps.
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Re: Do all iPod's sound the same?

Postby troporobo » Sat Nov 28, 2009 3:47 pm

If I am understanding correctly, you compared FLAC on a Sansa to an 320kbps MP3 on an iPod, and heard a difference. Of course, you're listening to completely different software. Compression to 320 kbps throws away about 75% of the data - the file size is only 1/4 as big. Such a comparison is unlikely to tell you anything about the relative merit of the hardware though.
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Re: Do all iPod's sound the same?

Postby abiedoodles » Sat Nov 28, 2009 4:51 pm

no, you got me incorrect, lets put this way,

sansa vs. nano on same headphone and same flac file same song,
sansa vs. ipod 160gb diffirent file/song but both at 320kbps mp3, same headphone .
Last edited by abiedoodles on Sat Nov 28, 2009 4:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Do all iPod's sound the same?

Postby JackD201 » Sat Nov 28, 2009 4:54 pm

Gino wrote: I am not expecting miracles with it to really bother.


Amen! :D
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Re: Do all iPod's sound the same?

Postby abiedoodles » Sat Nov 28, 2009 5:11 pm

amen :angel:
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