Will the ipod be the death of the CD?
P.S. After reading this coment about alleged "out of business" sale I checked up my wish to buy list whith Tower Records and as a antisipated NONE out of about 20 items are on sale. Probably just anohter B.S. sale of junk items. BTW i love my Ipod when working out in GYM or riding trains but always burning all music from my CDs in full WAVE format. Nut no way you can substitude good CD transport with Ipod. |
Marco (Jax2) describes the issue well. I guess I am one of those convinced that CDs will probably but unfortunately be replaced by internet download services. Why unfortunately? I too like bricks & mortar browsing. My real fear is that when this happens, resolution which is as "high" as CD resolution gets ignored. However, I expect we'll be OK as there are enough of us who would complain. After all, what is the purpose of making ever higher-resolution digital recording technology if playback is restricted to 128k. I will third the commentary about the the iPod itself not being an optimal solution. But for what it does, it's OK. Albert, if you wanted significantly better performance from your iPod on flights (not the gym), you could try something like a battery-powered Headroom Desktop series amp with a DAC built-in. I think it would work off the digital output (cable out the bottom to USB port on DAC) thereby avoiding both the DAC and the op-amps in the iPod. Disclaimer: I have not tried them but several friends have the mobile and micro series Headroom amps (without DAC) for their iPods/headphones and think the world of them. |
One thing it occured to me now to add to my previous post; as long as iPod playback is limited to the use of it's internal DAC to make the conversion to an analog signal, iPods will be a compromise in terms of any expectations of being an effective front-end to a high-end system. Apple did recently announce a digital/USB protocol that is supposed to be implemented which would enable getting a digital output from an iPod (perhaps). If that actually happens it would have very promising potential in terms of getting much better sound by using the iPod as a digital front-end source through a system. Alternatively you can build a PC-based front end by ripping digital files to your computer at full or lossless resolution, using an external DAC. That method can certainly provide a very rewarding front-end and will give most CD players a run for their money. That method would certainly sound better than iPod playback. As an addendum to T_Bone's recommendation of an additional head-amp for improved iPod listening; I've read a few reviews that put the Meier Audio $200 unit from Germany at the top of the heap for compact amplification. No experience myself with any of those units, but it may be a future investment as I do use my iPod frequently for similar purposes as Albert does. Vinnie, over at Red Wine Audio does do a modification to the iPod's line-out circuit that is supposedly an improvement over the stock circuit. I believe it's received some favorable press but I have no experience with it. Marco |
