[Ghaunty22]

Comparing a wide variety of songs on my HD600s off the ipod 4 through portable amp. There is hardly any differnce in qualty. The LOD is just a little quieter & probably better clarity, although i think its a placebo. But from what ive read I was hoping it would be super clear as it passes the ipod volume. So seems ipod 4 is pretty good even with 3.5mm?

 

[BlueSystem]

If you care about sound quality, than in absolute term, yes! When connecting the LOD to either your iphone or ipods, the sound bypasses the internal sound processor and therefore pass out as pure digital signal. Generally, external DAC processes sound quality far better than iphone/ipods

 

[ExpatinJapan]

Quote:

If you care about sound quality, than in absolute term, yes! When connecting the LOD to either your iphone or ipods, the sound bypasses the internal sound processor and therefore pass out as pure digital signal. Generally, external DAC processes sound quality far better than iphone/ipods

LOL, this old chestnut....again.
 
A LOD  (30 pin to mini) `supposedly` bypasses the amp of the ipod. Giving a better sound due to the weak amp of the general ipod and the greedy nature of many high end phones.
 
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A USB-LOD is needed to bypass the ipods DAC and amp to feed it to a better DAC, but you also need a special Apple certified device to do this such as the:
Fostex hp_p1
CLAS
Sony-PH1
Venturecraft godap and godapX
V-Moda Vamp and Verza
to name a few.