[Pangaea]

See I was sold on Nike's long before Nike+.  For whatever reason they just work for me, and most runners will tell you once you find your shoe- don't question it, just stick with it.  I have tried others with varied success, and just like Nike's cushioning and fit.  Nike is putting out a watch soon that uses Nike+ and TomTom GPS.  That could be a winner.  I am already pretty entrenched in the software with about 60 miles logged, so I'd rather not switch but perhaps new, more accurate hardware would be nice.
 
http://nikerunning.nike.com/nikeos/p/nikeplus/en_US/#

 

[Young Spade]

I have had my Nano 6 gen for about a week.  It is a nice little DAP.  First off battery... no real issues.  I like burning in Apple products about 24-48 hours and saw no issue getting to 24 hours + with just playing 256-lossless music.  Now it does seem like once you start playing with the screen, radio or other apps the Battery life can vary.  But for my uses this is a non-issue.


 


The sound is great and very similar to the current line of Apple DAPs.  It is right in line with my iPhone 3Gs, possible a bit clearer but it could just be new toy syndrome.  I am a big fan of Apple's current sound sig- so very happy with SQ, especially from such a small device.


 


I have been using it to run with quite a bit.  The Nike+ is a good tool, although I am not completely convinced of the accuracy.  That is more an issue with Nike+, than the iPod.  I have calibrated it twice but I still think it comes in short on both my distance a mile times.


 


Overall, I would recommend it- and for me, no issue with the battery life (yet).

 


Concerning the sound quality, I also thought it might be that new toy syndrome where the player sounds just a little better than it should; you know?

But listening to it for about 2 weeks now, I can definitely say that I love this player. Doing side by side comparisons with my sflo 2 I can honestly say that I prefer the sound quality of this player over the sflo2 through flat EQsettings and 320kbs files. I am using Shure SE535s BTW.

 

[GreatDane]

Thanks for the listening updates guys. I've been on the fence with the 6G. My only problem was the talk about the battery issues. I think I'll buy it locally just in case I need to do an exchange.
 
My plan remains to pair the Nano with my Pico Slim for use with IEMs mainly but anything low impedance. I was considering selling the Slim and keeping my SR-71A but that got reversed after I did extensive listening with IEMs, W3 mainly. I wanted to thin my collection but there was no contest after I did serious comparisons with only IEMs recently which I'd never done before . I really don't need a super-powerful portable amp anymore and I'll be keeping my XM5 which is no slouch.
 
Today I was listening to my Orange shuffle (with KSC-75) which is 4 years old I think...I heard a never before "POP" sound. UH-OH. I was hoping the battery just died but trying to sync to my PC, it is really dead. And I was just praising it for lasting so long, which it did and through extreme conditions. A pic from Feb. 2007: http://inlinethumb27.webshots.com/27418/2229885410044175878S600x600Q85.jpg
 
...so, this sudden death in the family

gives me a good excuse to pull the trigger. I do still have a Blue shuffle from 2 years ago. I just received a pair of Yuin G2 from HeadRoom today to compare to KSC-75 for use on my job. G2 sounds nice, with less bass for sure. Overall cleaner sound though.

 

[Pangaea]

I think you will be very surprised by how much Apple has cleaned up its sound since that iteration of Shuffle - that is if you haven't heard any of the recent iPods/ Phones.  I know the first shuffle that had the updated SQ was the slim rectangle version which nobody seemed to like (I do, and still use it). 

 

[GreatDane]

I have owned a refurbed 1GB 1G shuffle. I never seriously compared it to other players but it did sound nice. I have a 4G Nano that my wife uses...actually it was my son's who ditched it when he got a  3G touch.
 
I bought a used 1G touch soon after 2G was released. I don't use it for critical listening. My main use iPod is a Classic 120 GB 6G from 2008...when there was no 160 GB model.
 
When comparing my Classic to my i9, I hear a better midrange from the Classic(with ER4P). This is from both HP out with no EQ. I had been happy with my i7 because it had good power and the EQ could fix anything but the i9 is very weak so I have trouble with it unless I amp it. Because of this, I really don't like the i9 as I do i7 which has always been a favorite.
 
I once compared my i7 to a 5G 80 GB iPod and prefered the i7. I haven't compared my i7 to my 6G Classic but it seems that I prefer the Cirrus chip better.
 
 Do we know which chip is used in the 6G Nano?

 

[shigzeo]

It should be the same thing. Apple have been going with SoC's since 2007 or 2008 in the Classic. Overall, I think it is a good move. With EQu, I can pretty much emulate any sound I want with my iPod touch other than distortion and stereo clipping.

 

[Jalo]

Well, I finally gave in and bought a nano 6g after reading all the impressions here  

 .   My ultra portable rig right now is: Alac-->nano 6-->ALO SXC LOD-->Pico Slim-->TWag recable-->JH13.  The sound is definitely better than my Ipod Classic 6g.  Very close and personal with a good level of transparency.  I like the crossfade/gapless function.  I am in my first hour so I cannot really comment too much but the level of SQ is giving my much more expensive rig a run for the money: Wave-->D50-->optical toslink-->Boomslang-->balance-->SR71B--:balance TWag-->jh13.  I am waiting for the Solo to pair with the Ipod or nano to see if it will improve further.  But for practical use, this combination should satisfy most headfiers.  I am happy.

 

[shigzeo]

Your iPod class, too, has gapless, but glad you are enjoying it. If there were no battery issues and the thing wasn't so damn expensive, I might have opted for it, too.

 

[Jalo]

Quote:

Your iPod class, too, has gapless, but glad you are enjoying it. 

Thanks for the pointer, I'll look it up.

 

[Pangaea]

Jalo, without entering into a burn in debate- let the nano run thru your songs on shuffle for 24-48 hours.  You will hear a nice difference.  Basically it becomes less congested and opens up the nice clear sound Apple DAPs are known for these days.  If you want gapless just highlight all the songs on the album you want gapless click get info.  Then you will find gapless at the bottom of the options tab.  At least that is how it is on Macs.

 

[Jalo]

Thanks and don't worry, you won't get an argument from me on burn-in 

.  By the way, I looked through all my menus in my Classic 6g and I can't find any gapless menu like the one in the nano 6.  Do you think I need to update my software on the classic?  

 

[Varley]

I think the battery life on these things is incredible, I did a whole week of cycling with this last week and the battery is still at 20% ish

Just turn the brightness all the way down and make sure you turn the screen off (and change backlight setting to 10 seconds) and it lasts an absolute age!
 
Really wish these had expandable memory though, 8gb is a nightmare with iTunes in comparison to drag and drop on the Fuze...

 

[Jalo]

Why my nano 6 has gapless but no my classic 6?

 

[nonsupremous]

I was under the impression that none of the Classic series had gapless playback.  I could be wrong though.  I am surprised that the Ipad doesn't have the crossfade.  When I'm not listening to an album that would require gapless, I love the crossfade feature!

 

[Varley]

I'd love if apple brought out a 500gb classic. Don't know if it's physically possible but my 160gb classic is full and I just HATE changing music around all the time, I'd love to have my whole library on me at all times, guess they'll never do it though.