5th gen Ipod sq sadness

[bangraman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ProParadox Hi, I'm replying to this thread primarily because of the fact that I too am dissapointed by my 5G iPod sound quality. I haven't been to head-fi in months, but I was so dissapointed by it, I figured there must have been a thread regarding it. Lo and behold. Anyways, I use ety er4p's and I find that there is a lot of lower end distortion at higher volume levels. It's very dissapointing. Some people say the 4G had bass dropoff at higher levels... I don't really understand that. It seems that the 5g doesn't have the power to power the lower end of the spectrum on my Ety's at higher volumes. What does this mean? I have to listen to quieter music, and feel like im missing something.

Assuming you do replace the filters on a fairly regular basis, it means your phones have crap lows

You probably want a 'normally' balanced sound, yet the Etys don't deliver a balanced sound. What you're hearing with the Etys is basically the sonic equivalent of a castrato on oestrogen: No balls whatsoever and it's all about the highs. Try something like the SuperFi 5Pros... just get one to try, some places do returns policies. Those are balanced phones. But it's not as simple as that (nothing ever is, eh?) because the fit on the SF5Pros are notably inferior to the Etys for most people. But definitely worth a try.

 

[bangraman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bigshot The WM8971 is almost identical to the WM8759 which replaces it. The differences are the 5g iPod's DAC has slightly better specs (SNR 100 as opposed to 98dB / THD 95 as opposed to 88dB at line level) and doesn't include some things that were on the 4g DAC (like amp for an external speaker) that the iPod doesn't use anyway. The 4g iPod does not have a better DAC than the 5g. On paper, the DAC in the 5g is slightly better, but in practice they're both about the same. See ya Steve

The DAC difference issue is as you say minimal. There is a difference in the analog stages though and as a reuslt you aren't just hearing the DAC. I wasn't clear about that?

 

[burnsy1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ProParadox Hi, I'm replying to this thread primarily because of the fact that I too am dissapointed by my 5G iPod sound quality. I haven't been to head-fi in months, but I was so dissapointed by it, I figured there must have been a thread regarding it. Lo and behold. Anyways, I use ety er4p's and I find that there is a lot of lower end distortion at higher volume levels. It's very dissapointing. Some people say the 4G had bass dropoff at higher levels... I don't really understand that. It seems that the 5g doesn't have the power to power the lower end of the spectrum on my Ety's at higher volumes. What does this mean? I have to listen to quieter music, and feel like im missing something.

Paradox, I feel your pain. I can't speak specifically to what your hearing with your ety's, but I have duplicated what I consider lackluster detail on both my im716's and my Allesandro MS1's.

I just broke down and ordered a Little Dot Micro+. I plan on getting a nice line out cable to use with it and I'll report back with the difference is makes or doesn't make as it seems we may have similar ears. Unfortunately I probably won't receive it sooner than a week.

If you haven't done it yet you may want to try loading Rockbox on your Ipod, it has a pretty nice user customizeable eq that has impressed many head-fi'ers.

 

[K2Grey]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 4metta It certainly does get very confusing when you take into account everybody's personal preferences. Etys users usually prefer what most people would consider a bass starved sound. But it's no secret that low frequencies do "murk" up detail a bit. So what they really are is detail freaks. I would not consider myself a "bass head" but being a bass player myself, I do not enjoy it when the instrument is practically unheard. So I guess I like a more balanced sound. And I certainly do not see etys as balanced when they are that lacking in the low frequencies.

Yes, I don't see why it sometimes seems to be believed that detail resides only in higher frequencies and that midbass is not "true" bass. I mean, obviously if you remove part of the frequency spectrum, the rest of it will be easier to hear and clearer, but then the cure is worse than the problem (unless you really hate bass for some reason).