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rvlmtfnk
03-18-2006, 10:31 AM
I thought I remembered seeing some sort of attachment that you could smack onto the ipod that improves sound quality? any way to improve my ipod's sound quality?

how about this simple acoustics a1?

http://www.simpl.com/products.html

N. Abstentia
03-18-2006, 11:54 AM
Well if your MP3's sound like crap, nothing will improve that.

So first, rip your MP3's at a high bitrate...like 192 or above.

Second, are you using the stock headphones? If so, pitch them and get a good set of in-ear phones.

Not sure if iPods will play WMA's yet, but to me ditching MP3's and going WMA made a huge improvement also.

noddin0ff
03-18-2006, 01:44 PM
Please do not feed the trolls. 1 post. Says there's a problem. Posts a link with a fix in the same post. Troll. Its an amplifier. It will give you the same sound only louder.

N. Abstentia
03-18-2006, 05:57 PM
Ahhh..didn't even notice.

I didn't want to seem rude and say "that thing is a useless pile of crap" in so many words...but yes..that thing IS a useless pile of crap.

Geoffcin
03-18-2006, 09:08 PM
Ahhh..didn't even notice.

I didn't want to seem rude and say "that thing is a useless pile of crap" in so many words...but yes..that thing IS a useless pile of crap.

The piece is NOT a "UPOC". It actually serves a pertinant need, as an standard Ipod will NOT drive a set of Senheiser 600's or any other 300 ohm headphones. If the post was done correctly I would have moved it to the news & rumor forum, but as it is I'm just going to leave it. Info about new products is not spam.

N. Abstentia
03-19-2006, 08:15 AM
Sounds like you have one...how does it work? Better than a standard headphone amplifier? Does it actually improve the quality of MP3's?

Geoffcin
03-19-2006, 08:26 AM
Sounds like you have one...how does it work? Better than a standard headphone amplifier? Does it actually improve the quality of MP3's?

Got a good set of sennie's though. A clip-on headphone amp sounds like a neat thing though. Perhaps we can get one for review? Eric, you listening?

Mike Anderson
03-19-2006, 08:30 AM
The piece is NOT a "UPOC". It actually serves a pertinant need, as an standard Ipod will NOT drive a set of Senheiser 600's or any other 300 ohm headphones.


I have a pair of Sennheiser HD 650s, and the iPod drives them just fine.

anamorphic96
03-19-2006, 10:58 AM
Robert Harley from The Absolute Sound talked about ways to improve the performance of iPods. One of the items talked about was this device. The performance was not that good from what he reports and not worth the cost.

The biggest performance enhancer in his opinion was ripping in Apple Lossless.

Geoffcin
03-19-2006, 01:28 PM
I have a pair of Sennheiser HD 650s, and the iPod drives them just fine.

Cool, most people I know with these swear by headphone amps.

Were you able to play them at a good volume? Last time I tried some 600's without a headphone amp was with a portable CD player and it's amp ran out of gas before a decent level. It also distorted (clipped) pretty badly even before that.

rvlmtfnk
03-19-2006, 02:34 PM
i am definitely not a troll. i posted that item because it seemed the closest to what i thought i saw before. it looks pretty cheaply made to me, and i wouldn't drop $99 for it. i do not work for that company. i am about to buy my first ipod 5g 30gb and i was just wondering if there was any way to improve my ipod's sound quality. sorry if i sounded like a troll. i was not advocating the product. just curious if anyone had used it before. sorry for the mix up.

Mike Anderson
03-19-2006, 03:43 PM
Cool, most people I know with these swear by headphone amps.

Were you able to play them at a good volume? Last time I tried some 600's without a headphone amp was with a portable CD player and it's amp ran out of gas before a decent level. It also distorted (clipped) pretty badly even before that.

I can play it at quite high volumes (probably ear damaging if prolonged).

It's one of the newer iPods (5G), by the way; perhaps the older ones are different.

Mike Anderson
03-19-2006, 03:47 PM
Robert Harley from The Absolute Sound talked about ways to improve the performance of iPods. One of the items talked about was this device. The performance was not that good from what he reports and not worth the cost.

The biggest performance enhancer in his opinion was ripping in Apple Lossless.

I've also tried the Headroom Bithead amp, which is probably of significantly higher quality than the above product. However, I found the improvement (if there was any) minimal at best, and returned it.

Just using the headphones alone is fine, even with 300 ohm cans. Really, the limitations are in the iPod itself, and no amount of juicing it up is going to get around that.

Geoffcin
03-19-2006, 04:58 PM
I can play it at quite high volumes (probably ear damaging if prolonged).

It's one of the newer iPods (5G), by the way; perhaps the older ones are different.

Most "lesser" cans than yours are 50-120 ohms. This means that they can play even LOUDER at the same volume setting. No wonder people are taking Apple to task for creating the next generation of hearing impared.

Most of my headphone listening has been through my receiver, so I'm very interested to hear your report on the Bithead. Perhaps you can elaborate a bit more on it.

N. Abstentia
03-19-2006, 05:17 PM
My Sandisk Sansa (I won't touch an iPod with a 10-foot pole) drives my Sennheiser 580's just fine. Sounds great actually. Was not impressed with any of the iPods.

noddin0ff
03-19-2006, 05:21 PM
i am definitely not a troll. i posted that item because it seemed the closest to what i thought i saw before. it looks pretty cheaply made to me, and i wouldn't drop $99 for it. i do not work for that company. i am about to buy my first ipod 5g 30gb and i was just wondering if there was any way to improve my ipod's sound quality. sorry if i sounded like a troll. i was not advocating the product. just curious if anyone had used it before. sorry for the mix up.

I extend my apologies and a welcome. Welcome!

FWIW, I have an iPod shuffle (new to me) dangling from the cord of my Senn 570's. It sounds pretty good, looks silly. BUT, the shuffle doesnt support Apple Lossless and I haven't tried ripping to WAV yet. I'm listening to the CD 20bit remaster of Mile Davis 'Kind of Blue' for the umpteen-zillionth time. I can hear the lack of quality of a 256 VBR rip. I'd withhold judgment on iPod source quality until I try lossless. I can't see the point of more amplification. But, once you've established that your bits are of good quality, then I think it might be worthwhile looking at amps.

Cal Blacksmith
03-21-2006, 12:54 PM
How to improve sound quality from an Ipod?
First, remove the battery, then carefully take out the case screws and set them aside. Remove the printed circuit board and place on a static free mat. Next take a de-soldering tool and remove all the solder on the board and carefully remove all the electronic components, placing them in individually numbered bags. Gather all the bags and case pieces and place in static free box and get in your car. Drive until you find the backside of a large mall, place a bag in each trashcan you come to and continue until you are out of bags. Get back in your car and drive home secure in the knowledge that whatever happens, THAT Ipod will never assault ANYONE else again!

manhattanproj
03-23-2006, 07:31 PM
get serious guys. one of our members is looking for help. shouldn't we offer up something? if not, then don't post, esp. that trashing ipod stuff. c'mon would you want someone to post that in your thread when you are looking for help?

anyway, the turbodock or the sik ram din is supposed to give out a clear sound, thus improving the sq. you may wanna check those out. they aren't expensive. but if you crave more, then you should look into amplifiers.

Cal Blacksmith
03-24-2006, 05:08 AM
A Yugo will only deliver the quality of ride that a Yugo can. Don’t expect it to ever equal the performance of a Ford or Chevy, it won’t. Let alone the fact that it will never DREAM of being a Porsche or a Rolls Royce.

noddin0ff
03-24-2006, 07:12 AM
Perhaps the original, presumably non-troll, poster would like to offer up some comment on how they feel the sound of their iPod is compromised? Then, there might be some ideas to address that. hmmm?

Armando
03-24-2006, 08:04 AM
How to improve sound quality from an Ipod?
First, remove the battery, then carefully take out the case screws and set them aside. Remove the printed circuit board and place on a static free mat. Next take a de-soldering tool and remove all the solder on the board and carefully remove all the electronic components, placing them in individually numbered bags. Gather all the bags and case pieces and place in static free box and get in your car. Drive until you find the backside of a large mall, place a bag in each trashcan you come to and continue until you are out of bags. Get back in your car and drive home secure in the knowledge that whatever happens, THAT Ipod will never assault ANYONE else again!
Um, dudes..... I have a really cool rig, so I don't really have to listen on my pod too often;
dont shoot me for asking, but why so much resentment against the Ipod? Mine works just fine. I've never had a prob with the battery, it lasts as long as Apple says it will, and I think its a very cool little repository for my tons and tons of music.I have about 15,000 songs on my 60gig(5th gen), a lot encoded in apple lossless and the rest between 320kbps and 128kbps plus a whole host of movies, that would ordinarily take up the space of approx 2000 cd's.I use software to get my music free, which, living outside the US, is not a problem, and so i dont rely on the itunes music store, and i find the itunes user interface complicated but indispensible after a while.
theres actual work gone into its creation unlike the drag and drop crap that other players provide. It is the only software which i find effective for categorising my loads of music. The drag and drop interfaces make sorting through my files a nightmare.
the 5th gen(i dont know about the others) is the coolest looking peice of hardware on the planet and i dont really mind the scratches. It is also the best portable source for driving expensive headphones. even the gurus at headphone.com say so, and I consider their verdict to usually be final and binding.
So where's the problem?
enlighten me brothers, enlighten me.
p.s.-as for improving the sound quality.....
1.Make shure you encode your tracks in apple lossless.
2.Make shure you have good headphones so you can tell the difference.
and 3. make shure you're using a good amp if you want to use cans with a very high or very low impedence(+/- 32ohms on the ipod) and to improve resolution and imaging greatly(as with the crossfeeders headroom uses in its amps).
That should be enough to get you an almost audiophille setup on the go.
I'm using grado rs1's with the headroom desktop amp and its nothing short of amazing. When Im on the go, my ety's are really good even without the amp.
Rock on dude.
and no, I don't think you're a troll. Dude, whatever happened to love thy neighbour. Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeesh.

Resident Loser
03-24-2006, 11:12 AM
...get a real stereo be out of bounds...

jimHJJ(...although the village smitty's suggestion is a thoughtful and creative one...)

Mike Anderson
03-24-2006, 04:47 PM
...get a real stereo be out of bounds...

Sure. And then lug the whole thing with you into the gym, or your car, or an airplane. And don't forget the generator you'll need to power it all.

Armando
03-25-2006, 10:46 AM
...get a real stereo be out of bounds...

jimHJJ(...although the village smitty's suggestion is a thoughtful and creative one...)

RESIDENT LOSER?Need Ireally say More?

spago
03-25-2006, 11:37 AM
What I'd really like to see is a DACamp attachment for the iPod since the Video iPod now is capable of outputting a (non SPDIF) digital signal to drive a codec. That aside, the analog sound quality isn't any worse than many other supposedly superior (but only in the eyes of the ignorant "won't touch an iPod" brigade) players... that is, unless you see things like badly-done BBE or the infamous "bowl curve" EQ as an increase in "quality".

One thing that's undoubtedly true is that the iPod's EQ needs a lot of work, but this has no bearing in any discussion about the ultimate SQ that the iPod is capable of since it won't be used.

Personally I think for portable use, 320K AAC or MP3 (for compatibility) is perfectly OK even when used with high-grade headphones. If you must have the unsullied original, knock yourself out with Apple Lossless but it'll kill battery life due to the greatly increased hard disk access frequency.

Amping the iPod via the Sendstation or Sik (not sure why you would choose Turbodock or any of the DIY efforts when these provide a more consistent build quality and the same audio capabilities) will improve the perceived sound. I recommend the Fixup Supermini (http://www.fixup.net/talk/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=1405) as an amp which is still very portable (and smaller than the Simpl) and offers significantly better ability / features.

Sitting here with an audio switch and the Supermini attached to the Line Out vs directly listening from the headphone out, the Fixup amp provides a noticeable increase in dynamic ability, an mid / treble clarity increase and an increase in the presentation of low bass (which can be further tweaked up by switching on the well-done bass boost).

With that set-up you're free to attach the high quality headphone of your choice. That's another discussion entirely of course.

LarryRup
01-05-2010, 11:20 AM
A bit of a geek here on this topic. First, what I do not know first hand but have read: Certain IPOD modals sound better than others. Before the latest generation was release, many felt the classic did not sound as good as the Nano. Next, some highly specialized companies take your IPOD apart and put in a mod to the DAC that costs a fortune, and claims to sound great Given the average life of a hard drive IPOD, I doubt this is prudent choice.

What I know first hand: I try to only use apple lossless. I'd use FLAC but Apple does not support this. MP3's at 250 and 320 really sound pretty good. The difference is minimal to a lossless file Go lossless and get all you can get. Space should not be an issue. You can buy a Terabyte drive for under a hundred dollars. You don't need everything on the IPOD itself. Keep the bulk of your library on the hard drive. Buy two and back it up. It is beyond me how the ITunes store gets away with selling 128 MP3's. I am a very large consumer of music and I have only bought one MP3 from ITunes. Next, you must have a good device to put in or on you ears. There are excellent buds available (none by Apple). went the headphone route. I own Senns 600's and a ATH D5000 woody. You can get the 600's for a couple of hundred dollars or less if you shop. The ATH's are pretty expensive. It's nice have a change but I think the 600's are better. There are plenty of lower cost alternatives that will provide excellent sound. Next, a headphone amp will provide not only loudness, but all the exquisite detail that recordings offer. Things like the buzz of strings, timbre of instruments etc. You will actually hear singers take breathes. I have two amps, both tubed. I love the Earmax. I also have a xcan v8. This is audio heaven with an IPOD as the source. Many say in order to get sound anywhere near as good from speakers would cost $30,000. I wouldn't know, but my headphone systems with an IPOD as the source is unbelievable. We don't need the IPOD for a non portable solution, but with this one device, I use as the source at home, in the car, and as a portable. Not bad.

Hyfi
01-05-2010, 11:40 AM
Try playing it through this

http://www.manleylabs.com/images/hifi99/itube_wood.jpg

LarryRup
01-06-2010, 10:28 AM
That's what I'm talking about!

If your using the buds that came with the IPOD, you have no idea what your missing. They likely cost all or 25 cents IF can get a battery powered CMOY mint Tin headphone amp to use with your IPOD for like 30 bucks, and it gives crediable sound (of course depending what's on or in your ears).

For quality sound, the IPOD is not the issue. Source files and what your listening through is everything.

poppachubby
01-06-2010, 11:06 AM
Not much more can be added to this thread. Anyone who knows a thing or two has the answer to the question already. I have been through about 40 or so pairs of headphones, amps and players. Right now I am using the unassuming and unimpressive looking AKG K66, the EA-PA2V2 and MPIO ML-100/2G. Great combo. The K66 have several hundred hours on them and are an incredibly well rounded set. I care less that they're full size, and I don't look totally cool walking down the street.

Never been a fan of Ipod and the proprietary Itunes. I surely don't need their 128kbps files. My 2G player is all I want. I always know what's on it and it's easy to organize. It keeps me pro-active with file organization, but that's just me. I can fit roughly 14-20 320kbps albums. Since I'm not a marathon runner, that's good enough.

http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/ciu/a2/d3/234eb2c008a07bd835782010.L._SL500_AA240_.jpg

I am greatly excited. I just finished uploading The Blue Box: Blue Note's Best in FLAC. I will convert to 320k MP3 and I'm off and away...

philhh
01-12-2010, 11:38 AM
Note: I have no affiliation with this company:

Anyone ever try this:

http://redwineaudio.com/products/imod

It's fairly expensive ($250 plus a mandatory cable), but it's the only iPod mod I've ever seen and have always been a tad curious. Obviously the OP's thread is pretty old now, but as this was recently resurrected I thought I'd chime in...

Invader3k
01-12-2010, 06:15 PM
I rip my MP3s in 320 kbps AAC at this point. I really doubt I could tell the difference between those files and the original CDs in a double blind test. I have Grado headphones and my iPod sounds pretty good to me. Not sure what's with all the iPod hate. It has its uses like any device.

Happy Camper
01-12-2010, 08:40 PM
http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o120/Headfi701/IMG_0289.jpg

Toniwu
01-14-2010, 07:26 PM
Thanks for sharing such useful informations

mahoney
02-07-2013, 02:11 AM
I hope this helps. I changed my computer from a cheap acer laptop to a top of the range quad core i7 HP and when I reconfigured my ipod the sound improved and it is now louder..don't know how that works and it was unexpected. I've always been dissapointed in ipods but I'm happy with it now. I was using a sony mp3 player, which was more expensive and could drive larger headphones (technicas) but now my ipod is just as good. I'm using the ipod with Yamaha rmh5a headphones (I've had many many many pairs of quality headphones) and this combination is the best I've come across and they wen't even expensive. I have had $500 senheisers, $300 technicas, $400 b&w's and some very nice sony, denon and pioneers but these yamahas were only $140 NZ and they're the best I've ever had. You can get them on e-bay real cheap..they'll make your ipod rock n'roll

JohnMichael
02-07-2013, 02:37 AM
Welcome. I did want to mention that the thread is over 3 years old and the issue has most likely been solved. Please respond to threads that are current.



I hope this helps. I changed my computer from a cheap acer laptop to a top of the range quad core i7 HP and when I reconfigured my ipod the sound improved and it is now louder..don't know how that works and it was unexpected. I've always been dissapointed in ipods but I'm happy with it now. I was using a sony mp3 player, which was more expensive and could drive larger headphones (technicas) but now my ipod is just as good. I'm using the ipod with Yamaha rmh5a headphones (I've had many many many pairs of quality headphones) and this combination is the best I've come across and they wen't even expensive. I have had $500 senheisers, $300 technicas, $400 b&w's and some very nice sony, denon and pioneers but these yamahas were only $140 NZ and they're the best I've ever had. You can get them on e-bay real cheap..they'll make your ipod rock n'roll

E-Stat
02-07-2013, 11:38 AM
Welcome. I did want to mention that the thread is over 3 years old...
It will be celebrating its seventh birthday next month. :)