ipod dock degrade sound at all?

[the rev]

i'd like to have a docking station just to charge my ipod at work [not sync it]
and have an line out, so I can hook it up to an amp/headphones. does this dock

Apple Store (U.S.) - Apple Universal Dock

apples base dock, degrade sound at all? Thanks.

[DaMavs]

General rule of thumb is that the line out from a Dock is better than the headphone out on the iPod itself. So you should actually enjoy a mild improvement in sonics by using the dock and employing the line out.

FWIW, I'm doing exactly what you're suggesting taking the line out to a HeadFive amp. Only difference is I saved $20 over the official Apple Dock and went with a Belkin Dock w/USB wall charger off Amazon which works fine with my iPod Classic, although I didn't need/want video out which won't work on the Belkin.

I mainly wanted the line out for improved sonics rather than the charging. Only downside is I have to take the iPod out of the case for it to fit in the dock which is at worst a minor inconvenience.

[the rev]

Originally Posted by DaMavs

Only difference is I saved $20 over the official Apple Dock and went with a Belkin Dock w/USB wall charger off Amazon which works fine with my iPod Classic, although I didn't need/want video out which won't work on the Belkin.

Is this the dock you got?

Amazon.com: Belkin Power Dock for iPod 5G, 5.5G; iPod nano 1G, 2G (White): Electronics

[memepool]

The weakness of the standard Apple dock is the minijack output which is an inferior connector and also limits the choice of interconnect you can use.

Denon have addressed this with their dock which as proper gold plated RCA sockets and a number of other manufacturers like NAD and Onkyo have also followed with similar products.
DENON ASD1R IPOD DOCK


Arcam have taken it a step further with their rdock which has better power regulation and a proper pre-amp stage. They also allow you to defeat charging as they say the ipod sounds better running off battery power.

ARCAM RDOCK iPOD DOCK

The limitation of all of these though is that they still only allow for analogue output. If you want to bypass the ipods onboard analogue output stage then you have various options from the likes of Krell and Wadia, neither of which are cheap obviously...

[bigshot]

I've never been able to detect any sound quality differences between mini jacks and larger ones. The only problem with a jack is if it shorts or doesn't make a firm connection. That is usually obvious. It would be most cost effective to just buy a cheap dock and throw it out and get a new one if the jack becomes funky.

See ya
Steve

[memepool]

Can you hear differences between cables?