Best ipod performance

[rbaruac]

I have an NAD amplifier and a set of Triangle speakers. Works beautifully with my NAD CD player. But when I connect the ipod to the amp (even after recording the songs in the .wav extension) the quality of the sound is poor. What equipment (amp, speakers, preamp?) do you reccomend in order to have a high quality outcome using an ipod as the source of music? Thanks

[JohnMichael]

I have an NAD amplifier and a set of Triangle speakers. Works beautifully with my NAD CD player. But when I connect the ipod to the amp (even after recording the songs in the .wav extension) the quality of the sound is poor. What equipment (amp, speakers, preamp?) do you reccomend in order to have a high quality outcome using an ipod as the source of music? Thanks

Welcome to AR. I know nothing about iPods since I do not own one. Your NAD equipment and Triangle speakers sound so good together that I think the problem is with the iPod. I have seen iPod docks that are reported to improve the sound. I would not change your system but find something that will help the iPod.

[ForeverAutumn]

I, on the other hand, don't know nearly as much as John when it comes to equipment, but know a little about iPod connections. How are you connecting the iPod to the amp?

Does the amp have a dedicated iPod dock or are you using a cable connection? If a cable, what type of connection...through the headphone jack or a USB/iPod jack connector?

My experience is that connecting to an amp through the iPod headphone jack does not provide sound as good as through a USB/iPod connection.

Also, on your iPod, go into Settings and make sure that the Sound Check is Off. Having it on will compress all your files and they'll sound like crap.

Lastly, you could try playing with the EQ settings on your iPod (also in Settings).

[rbaruac]

Thanks for the feedback. I am using the headphones jack to connect the ipod, I will need to find a dock and try it. Will also play with the settings in the ipod as suggested. I called a specialized store last week and they suggested I buy a preamp (they suggested a Rotel) to improve the conversion of the digital sound into analog, does this sound reasonable? Thanks again.

[filecat13]

Generally with iPods, there are two ways to connect: 1) through the earphone jack, or 2) through the dock connector.

With the earphone jack, you're always getting analog output that's been through the iPod's (pretty cheap) DAC, plus any tweaking you might have done with the iPod's internal EQ settings, etc. Even where you have the iPod's volume set will be reflected in the output signal. This will likely be the lowest quality of sound, even with higher resolution files.

With the dock connector, there are two possibilities. One is just like routing the sound through the earphone jack, and the results will be the same low quality. Most iPod docks take the same analog signal through the dock out to the preamp, so the same (pretty cheap) DAC and any tweaking you've done still come into play.

The second possibility is getting the digital signal out of the iPod, thus avoiding the iPod's internal DAC, the internal EQ, even the volume setting, and sending a digital stream to your own DAC for processing. There are a few iPod docks that can send this digital signal out, but most do not. Not surprisingly, the docks that can do this are more expensive, and they have to have Apple's permission (license) to do this.

I have both set ups. I use nice Belkin and Kensington analog docks to for my iPod in various offices I use, but at home for serious listening, I use an HRT iStreamer (search for it) to extract the digital stream and run it through the iStreamer's built-in DAC. The sound is clearly superior. Wadia, Cambridge, and others make even more expensive iPod docks that will stream the digital content for you, but some don't have a DAC built in, so you have to provide your own. I find the iStreamer to be more than good enough for me.

[noddin0ff]

What filecat13 said, plus another option...

You can also go wireless. You can stream via wifi from the iPod to either Apple's AppleTV ($99) or Airport Express ($99) and pass the digital signal to your own DAC.

Apple TV outputs via HDMI or optical (plus the AppleTV stuff)
Airport Express also outputs digital optical (and can create or extend your wireless network)

Both may be cheaper than a high end dock.