Vinnie, thanks for the detailed reply. I have used "Lossless" to rip CD's, and that seems to make a remarkably small difference in comparison to AAC 320; less than I would have thought. What HAS made a difference is trying a different interconnect. I recently borrowed a Crystal Cable Piccolo which made a fairly substantial difference in sound compared to the Kimber Kable I had been using. Not only was the sound smoother, which I expected, but the bass was more weighty and faster. Now I'm going to be accused of selling Crystal Cable, no doubt, but truthfully it is extremely impressive. It also is very expensive, and scary thought, this is the bottom of the Crystal Cable line! Either way, the combination of Imod and Crystal Cable brings the Ipod up to an absolutely stunning source. I will say my CD has MORE bass, but not better bass; but I think the IMOD with the Crystal is absolutely better sounding. Time to get a new CD player, undoubtedly. Also, as you suggest, there may be more reasonable, but excellent sounding interconnect, but there's no doubt that the Imod is good enough to reveal differences amound good interconnects and great ones. Finally, again, I have been struck by how well AAC 320 works, there seems little reason to use up 2-3 times the space with lossless. What I will do, maybe, is use lossless on particularly complex well recorded CD's where it has greater chance of a difference than on a blues CD recorded in the 60's.
