The Apple diyMod: My Take on the Famous iMod [56k killer] Featuring 3G, 4G, 5G and nano 1G!

[CAvanessia]

I do my best DIY work when I'm supposed to have a lot of stuff to study. LOL

[moriez]

Naturally I couldnt go over this whole thread. Forgive me if this has already been mentioned but how does this DIY iMod compare to the RedWineAudio iMod?
Also I would like to know if any of the succesful DIY iModders here are willing to mod it for me?

[KoKoKrunch]

Haha, Cavanessia's dock is opposite of mine, mine has 3.5mm input jack and USB out. and the USB comes out from the side. Anyways, moriez, I would say... no difference.

[joneeboi]

Sonically, I couldn't tell you the difference. Practically, the diyMod 4G converts the dock's line out signal to a high-quality one and keeps the original headphone jack signal, where the iMod 4G disables the dock's signal and converts the headphone jack into a line out. The diyMod 5G and iMod 5G ought to be the same. You be the judge.

[xnothingpoetic]

Wow, I just saw this thread. Very helpful information.

Too bad it wasn't around when I did this to my 4g, 4g photo and 5g ipods

You don't know how hard it was to find information on how to properly do this. Lucky I found about 2 threads which were helpful enough and one member made a website which helped too.

I don't get how they were about the same thing (but only 4g models), and they didn't reach past page 2- i believe.

Also, i'm not 100% sure, but I even believe one member got ban/post deleted, for doing a DIY imod and releasing the information on it. It's hard to remember being so long ago, but he was ban for something along those lines and made a new account declaring it.

[jona.p]

Sonically, I couldn't tell you the difference. Practically, the diyMod 4G converts the dock's line out signal to a high-quality one and keeps the original headphone jack signal, where the iMod 4G disables the dock's signal and converts the headphone jack into a line out. The diyMod 5G and iMod 5G ought to be the same. You be the judge.

Soo sonically it sounds the same as the Imod or the same as the dock lineout?

Is it really worth it?;p

[KoKoKrunch]

Originally Posted by jona.p

Soo sonically it sounds the same as the Imod or the same as the dock lineout?

Is it really worth it?;p

The iMod is not worth it, the DIYmod is like winning lottery. Haha, actually to tell the truth iMod vs iPod isn't a huge huge huge difference in the first place. I spent like US$6 modding... So? Is it worth it? Up to you to decide.

[CAvanessia]

From the many posts I've read from head-fi, certain gear --say Koss KSC75 and a CMOY-- will give you MUCH improved performance over a stock earbud with an iPod. However, there are diminishing returns (again, according to the forum since I don't have any high-end gear) once you pass a certain point in gear/music quality/your ears.

I believe the diyMod exhibits this (My caps are not burned in yet!) property. It is definitely better than my original line-out with an amp, but it isn't night and day difference.

It was worth it for me since 1) I like DIY stuff, 2) My nano did not break, 3) I had an amp/LOD/connectors/soldering iron/etc beforehand so there wasn't a huge cost.

edit: KoKoKrunch, I actually changed the cable in my dock to a male usb cable. Because the cable I initially used was very, very low quality, the iPod would only get connected with USB1.1 and wasn't charging! The original cable had 28 gauge wires with shielding I could literally take off with my nails. Very bad quality! I chopped up an extra digital camera transfer cable to find 2 layers of stranded shielding and MUCH higher quality wires. Once I hooked this cable up everything just worked as it should. Moral of the story: use high-quality USB 2.0-rated cables or just chop up your OEM apple cable.

Originally Posted by KoKoKrunch

The iMod is not worth it, the DIYmod is like winning lottery. Haha, actually to tell the truth iMod vs iPod isn't a huge huge huge difference in the first place. I spent like US$6 modding... So? Is it worth it? Up to you to decide.

[jona.p]

Thanks. I think im gonna try this. I got a 1st gen nano and its wearing down, screen fails buttons dont work really that well anymore, so got nothing to lose ;P.
Dont have a soldering iron yet, will a ~$40 iron be good enough?

[jERiCOh]

Originally Posted by CAvanessia

I believe the diyMod exhibits this (My caps are not burned in yet!) property. It is definitely better than my original line-out with an amp, but it isn't night and day difference.

A little question about the SQ improvement : Do you use Apple Lossless ? I'm trying to figure out why some people don't hear a BIG difference like me. I just got my caps last week and started to build my 3 docks. They are not finished yet (pictures are coming) but I did some test -> CMoy, Grado SR325, No MP3 at all (Only CDs ripped by iTunes in Lossless format). I can Now hear things that I never heard before. The definition of the sound is incredible... it sounds near a good CD player.

First post of the year, Happy New Year Everybody.