Is an IPOD hi-fi?

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

If you play lossless files through the line-out connection, then through an external DAC with good jitter control...

You would actually need a digital output to do this. Line out is analog.

I actually listen to the I-Pod over the holidays. Not for me junk in junk out. We can thank Steve Jobs once again for corrupting the music. Bottom line he has managed to sell a crap product to the masses and get even richer for it. I was hoping it was going to be much better than it was,its not, but Steve Jobs is happy camper. Caveat Emptor or something like that. But if it floats your boat and you want Apple to get bigger and bigger and bigger go for it. What I heard was akin to dragging your finger nails across a chalk board.

In a couple of previous issues of UHF magazine, they've been investigating using iPods, Squeezeboxes, and similar devices as a music sources. (You can find partial reviews on their website in their "Reading Room"). It's turned into a continuing project for them. Indeed, they've purchased an iPod to add to their reference system for further investigation. Their results to date are that they've been pleasantly surprised at how these things can be a very good source. When you are able to bypass the internal DAC and feed the signal into an outboard DAC of higher quality, they are very impressed. I'm not sure if you can do this with iPods as of yet, since I don't have one and don't know their capabilites, but with other devices you can. So using an iPod as a music source is certainly something worth investigating, even more so if and when they make them with a digital out. Perhaps I'll have to buy one for the kids as "present" and play with it myself.