Ipod: Lossless compression isn't everything

Archived from groups: rec.audio.high-end (More info?)

Try uncompressed aiff format.

Alan Rosenthal wrote:
> I have a new 40-gig Ipod to which I have downloaded music from some of
> my CDs using Apple Lossless compression. Compared to the sound of CDs
> from my component stereo (good but not "golden ears" ) or even my $150
> Sony discman using the same Sony MDV600 phones in all three settings,
> the Ipod sounds kind of lousy -- grainy, IM-distorted, constricted.
> It's not, you know, so blatant that any 9th-grade
> hiphop fan would notice, but to me it seems quite pronounced. Anyone
> else had a similar experience? It sounds like at the tail-end of all
> that technology they put
> the analog audio of a $20 walkman!

Archived from groups: rec.audio.high-end (More info?)

On 9/18/04 11:21 AM, in article cihjp601v1j@news4.newsguy.com, "Codifus"
<codifus@optonline.net> wrote:

> Philip Meech <macmeech@adelphia.net> wrote in message
> news:<ci5ni30qqb@news2.newsguy.com>...
>> Try uncompressed aiff format.
>>
>> Alan Rosenthal wrote:
>>> I have a new 40-gig Ipod to which I have downloaded music from some of
>>> my CDs using Apple Lossless compression. Compared to the sound of CDs
>>> from my component stereo (good but not "golden ears" ) or even my $150
>>> Sony discman using the same Sony MDV600 phones in all three settings,
>>> the Ipod sounds kind of lousy -- grainy, IM-distorted, constricted.
>>> It's not, you know, so blatant that any 9th-grade
>>> hiphop fan would notice, but to me it seems quite pronounced. Anyone
>>> else had a similar experience? It sounds like at the tail-end of all
>>> that technology they put
>>> the analog audio of a $20 walkman!
> Since you are using the lossless format, it should sound exactly like
> the original. Is there a way you can listen to the original CD audio
> data through your IPod? That would be the fairest comparison. I would
> tend to think that the problems you're experiencing lie elsewhere,
> like perhaps the amplifier within the ipod, the DAC etc.

I have found that the iPod has less detail than even my consumer grade Sony
CD/MD player. It sounds rounded off on the bass and high end as well. It
sounds fine, though.

I have heard that the new iPod has power conservation circuitry which may
allow higher IMD's, and even on the other iPod, though the headphone out it
is less good than the line out if you get a docking port.