[vranswer]

Clearly the sound coming out of my RSA Hornet has better depth, impact and clarity than straight out of iPod's headphone out. To me this is incontrovertible. But how can it be so if both the h.out and line-out are exactly the same?

Is the external amp merely 'coloring' the sound? How could it deliver such a vast improvement over a signal that's already been processed? No comprendo.

 

[Oliver :)]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jahn You're right - If I ever invested in a nice home dock for my ipod instead of this dongle, I'd pony up for this-

Naa, it's a Denon, it will have some utterly embarrassing annoyance to it that customer service will flat out deny exists on a pre printed infosheet while claiming that any issues are clearly due to the iPod being irregular and that you don't complain to the maker of your car if your tires don't run well.

 

[K2Grey]

Note: I find Rockbox works perfectly fine nowadays. With it you can have the volume shown in terms of -x db attenuation (or +x if you push the volume up) and it's not difficult to set it to 0db exactly.

As for why amping the headphone out improves the signal, I don't see why an additional volume/current boost would be detrimental provided the amp is good.

 

[Skylab]

Quote:

But it does not prove that there can't be any differences between the hp-out and the line-out. The signal routing and the decoupling caps may and probably are different and who knows what else apple puts in the signal path...

That is what Vinnie replaces in his iMod of the 4G, but it improves upon both the flawed 4G headphone out AND the line out. The 4G headphone out had impedance problems as is well documented, and supposedly the 5G does not.

As for that schematic, it is ONLY of the DAC, not what is going on in the ipod. Also, if I read it right, the line out has no volume control in the DAC, whereas the headphone out does, which *could* make a difference in sound quality.

Now, where can I get one of those bitchin' Denon docks?

 

[K2Grey]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skylab As for that schematic, it is ONLY of the DAC, not what is going on in the ipod. Also, if I read it right, the line out has no volume control in the DAC, whereas the headphone out does, which *could* make a difference in sound quality.

I see a LOUT1VOL, a ROUT2VOL, a LOUT2VOL, and a ROUT2VOL. This implies to me that both "outs" have a volume control. In addition, with Rockbox you can set the volume of the line out and without some volume control in the DAC I don't see how it could do that.

I can't say if the headphone out necessarily has more in the signal path or sounds perceptibly worse than the line out, but certainly there have been recent posts in which subjective impressions had the headphone out and line out as indistinguishable, so it would appear that the difference, if any, is much less than was previously supposed.

 

[tnmike1]

using Ipod 5g. 30 gb video, Moon Audio Blue Dragon cabling thru the lineout with Headroom Total Airhead driving Ety 4s. Notice very real difference between plugging IEMs into the amp with the Blue Dragon vs. into the headphone jack of the Ipod. Preence, volume, the whole picture totally changes

 

[Kirosia]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tnmike1 using Ipod 5g. 30 gb video, Moon Audio Blue Dragon cabling thru the lineout with Headroom Total Airhead driving Ety 4s. Notice very real difference between plugging IEMs into the amp with the Blue Dragon vs. into the headphone jack of the Ipod. Preence, volume, the whole picture totally changes

have you tried plugging the phones into the airhead, and hooking that into the headphone jack? (then adjust the volume to mimic the line out)

The question here is if you were to externally amp both ports (double amping the head out) and put them at the same volume, will there be a noticeable difference?

 

[Skylab]

Quote:

Originally Posted by K2Grey certainly there have been recent posts in which subjective impressions had the headphone out and line out as indistinguishable, so it would appear that the difference, if any, is much less than was previously supposed.

That may well be true for the 5G. I have never heard one. But for the 4G, it was NOT true. The 4G headphone out had flaws not present in the line out.

 

[K2Grey]

Well yeah, maybe I should have specified 5G. The 4G definitely had problems with the headphone out.

 

[coolshot]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jahn You're right - If I ever invested in a nice home dock for my ipod instead of this dongle, I'd pony up for this-

i saw the onkyo dock at circuit city today, didnt get the price tho.