Is an IPOD hi-fi?

Dave Wilson used an ipod running straight into parasound amps and thence to some new speakers of his that he was demoing for the hifi press. That would count as hifi in my book.

Never heard a normal iPod in my system, but the Red Wine iMod is really great. Easily beat my $1000 CDP.

I wanted opinions from the audiophile community. The possibilities are:

1. The IPOD is really better than I thought.
2. The guys system can't resolve the difference.
3. The guy can't resolve the difference.
4. I've wasted thousands on CD players and cables!

The guy is definately happy with his IPOD but is it hi-fi as critical audiophiles would define hi-fi? Inquiring minds want to know.
Thanx,
Russ

Biggest variable is how he ripped and stored the music. If it was MP-3 files and he can't hear the diff, then its 2 and/or 3. If he is playing lossless files then might be pretty good, although still could not rule out 2 and/or 3. AS far as 4 goes, a lot depends on how much downloading you want to do. As far as 1 goes, it is a relatively user friendly device that provides excellent portable music. It is pretty darn good at it, IMO. Of course, there ARE problems with the software and download interface, IMO, but most of it is probably a matter of my limited practice.

More info: The guy was ripping uncompressed .wav files