flac, wave, mp4, iPod files????

Try computeraudiophile.com.....Chris is his name.Its a great site....perhaps you've seen it?I learned the little I know from there mainly.Let us know what you think,got to get all we can.....

In terms of resolution, FLAC = WAVE = MP4 ALAC (Apple Lossless).

Wave is rather useless on an iPod. It is full size and can't support meta data without a lot of effort.

FLAC is a free lossless audio codec. It's free, so people love it! No lock in. Apple does not support FLAC because it supports its own lossless codec. ALAC will sound EXACTLY like the FLAC files if transcoded. A simple tool to do this is with dbpoweramp Grab this awesome software for relatively cheap and if you buy FLAC files online, transcode them to ALAC and dump them on your iPod all in a matter of seconds. Seriously, seconds.

Older iPods are able to play FLAC files by adding an open source operating system onto the unit and dual booting. It's called Rockbox and is quite a polished system but it chews up battery life and for most instances, is really only worthwhile if one wants to play file formats the iPod doesn't support. In that case, just use dbpoweramp to convert and be done with it.

As for getting the most out of one's iPod, the iPod, if housing ALAC files (ir AIFF or WAVE) will be an exceptional transport! Pick up Wadia's Ipod Transport and this doc BYPASSES the iPods internal dac and allows bitperfect digital signal to leave the iPod and get streamed to whatever stand alone DAC is in one's main system.

Thanks for the detailed and understandable explanation Zanth, now we're talking! I can't wait to try out your recommendations. I got my eye on the Wadia, it appears to be a high quality piece of gear.

Zanth, I followed your instructions to the tee and it's like someone washed a layer of film off my system. Clearer and much more musical. Thanks again.

No problem! Glad I could be of some help. I'm waiting on an iPod upgrade (September is usually when the new ones are released). Rumors are that there will be a 250 GB Classic released, a nice 90 GB more than the current largest unit. I'll pick this up, buy the iTransport and send to my dac and myself and my wife will be very very pleased. In fact, I think she will be far more thrilled as she has her own iPod and can drop it into the main rig and just sit back and relax listening to whatever she has queued up.

The iPod/iTransport is a wonder combo when one already has a nice stand-alone dac. Ideally Apple would allow a perfect digital output right from the unit, but at least for now, we have Wadia providing something exceptional for us.