Ipod and quality sound

The new $349 Wadia iTransport 170 is your friend.

davimack,

you left out many pieces of information:

a. What compression/encoder did you use when importing your CD into iTunes?

Within iTunes, go to: Preferences > Advanced > Importing > Import using:

AAC: the original Apple proprietary compression....256kbps works well when just using earphones. obviously there is less than the original data.

***AIFF: bit-for-bit copy of CD files (this is no compression < answer to your posted question) FWIW: this is what I use on my music server Apple G5 ****

Apple Lossless: the newest apple compression (about 70% or AIFF file size). Very good quality if you don't plan on using the files on non-apple systems.

I don't have experience with MP3 or WAV.(I understand this is a lesser quality compression encoder)

b. how is your iPod connected to your system?

- you should not be using the headphone jack. you need line level from a dock.

c. what earphones are you using?

- just curious

Compression, software - have that.
Missing - quality hardware (iPod).

Wadia looks promising - maybe a mod candidate.
But iPod on to Go still sucks.

A friend told me that the older iPods use Wolfson DACs and have much better sound that the newer Classic, and touch screen models..... I forget what DACs he said are in the new one's.

I actually heard his iPod playing through a pair of Wilson Sophia's, and damned if it didn't sound pretty good; and that was in comparison to an Ayre CD player!

Chris

Cmo, your friend is correct. Here's a September 2007 quote from noted computer insider, Robert X. Cringely from his website:

This time independent testers are finding the new iPods have lower audio quality than the iPods that preceded them. Perhaps this stems from Apple's switch from PortalPlayer to Samsung as the source of its iPod chipsets.

I had a first-generation Nano and could swear it sounded better than my new video Nano.