[Uncle Erik]

stevenswall, the iPod is just fine as is. It's a mainstream consumer device that gives you easy, portable access to music. Further, it's designed with a lifespan of 18-24 months or so. They're pretty much disposable devices. Appreciate it for what it is - I do. It's convenient and sounds reasonably good. I'm also happy with a $3.50 burrito from the taco truck. If you want the ultimate in sound, go for a serious home-based rig. Get some tubes and a turntable. No matter how much you put into a small consumer device, it'll never match the best. So appeciate it for what it is. When I'm on the go, I run my old 30GB iPod with Shure e3c IEMs. The best? No. Good enough? Yes. When I want to seriously listen to music, there's my home rig. I cannot understand why there's so much attention paid to portable gear. It's the fast food of audio - cheap and easy. Not to say bad, but demanding a Michelin rating from McDonald's is silly.

 

[3602]

Well, Erik, (maybe not mainstream) but I seek double-duty gear, that is equipment that can be used both as a walk-around and a sit-down, such as the Classic to an iTrans (or Onkyo, or Audio-Tech), then coupled to a DAC (NOS or OS) then an amp. I believe that larger battery-operated amps such as the LISA III and HeadRoom PortaDesk may also do double-duty.
It's different. You can't get analog inside of a digital (fine, LP rips, whatever) and vice versa. Turntables, (SA)CD players and Pods are different beasts in different domains, and personally I believe they cannot be compared. I enjoy high-quality sound with my turntable system at home, but I also want high-quality sound on the go (like 14 hour airplane rides in the middle of the middle row in the middle of the economic class, which I happen to do alot). When the iPod battery kaputts, just send it back for a replacement (fee applies, granted). Don't throw away and buy new. Is exactly that mentality that caused the constant decrease of consumer electronics quality since the 70's.

 

[mrarroyo]

3602 I use my Classic or iPhone on the go and at the office I dock it on an Wadia 170i and it in turn to an external DAC. Very happy with the sound, cheers.

 

[3602]

Sweet, a Marantz. With one of them 'gyro-tuners'
Been to AK to inquire about vintage receivers.
Isn't it nice to work in a room and not a cube?
Cheers.

 

[philatticus]

Quote:

iPods are wonderful. Seriously. They store lots of music, are intuitive to use, are reliable and well made, and sound very good with a pair of IEMs. No, it's not the same as running 180g vinyl or SACD through glorious vaccum tubes and into full-sized electrostatic speakers. However, something does not need to sound like that to be enjoyable. A lot of snobbery gets kicked around here, especially towards well-known consumer gear. If the iPod was handmade by one guy with a six month waiting list, cost $900, and none of your non-audiophile friends had ever heard of it, it would be regarded as a pinnacle of audiophilia. But because your old aunt knows what an iPod is and might have one, it gets downgraded to "crap" because of the super-secret, elite knowledge gained at an audio message board. While an iPod might not be the best, it's plenty good enough to be enjoyable. In the same sense, a couple of Dodger Dogs and a draft Budweiser makes me plenty happy when I go to the ballpark. Sure, I could get fussy and snippy about them, but the truth is that they're good enough to enjoy and if I get hung up on snobbery instead of fun, then I'm just being a jerkoff. Enjoy an iPod for what it is.

 
Had to quote this because it is 100% true and a great post.
 

 

[stevenswall]

@ Young Spade: "when using the Bass Boost function on iPods, you have to manually lower the volume of the song in mp3gain"
 
My music works fine with all other EQs, why do I have to fix it for the defective iPod EQ?
 
@ lilkoolaidman: "if you use dBpoweramp, the iPod supports any codec you want"
 
This is a conversion tool for use on a computer I take it? I was thinking along the lines of not having to convert between formats, as in a player that plays most formats.
 
 
@ Uncle Eric: "gives you easy, portable access to music"
 
So I pick up a couple of CD's on vacation, rip them to a friends computer, transfer them to the iPod... and it doesn't work. Plug it into anyone else's computer and it is as good as dead. Try to grab some non music files to bring them home... The list goes on. It seems that the iPod ties you to a location (Home Desktop) or object (Semi-portable Laptop) more so than any other player. This is an inconvenience.
 
@ Anyone whose number one goal in a portable player is sound: An iPod can enjoyable, some have WiFi capability and a plethora of games and applications. Others have large storage capacities, while some are very small in size. The one binding factor is the sound. They do not stand up to Samsung,  Cowon, or Sony in this regard. Sure you can plug it into a nice head unit, a home stereo with integrated controls, or another control system altogether... And I can do the same thing with a portable HDD, that holds more, is unrestricted, and doesn't even pretend to sound good.
 
Audiophiles focus on sound quality; Apple products such as the iPod, do not.
 
 

 

[Anaxilus]

^  I'm down w/ the Dodger dogs, Budweiser on the other hand is a line I can't cross.  Some standards have to be maintained.  I guess that's why I don't use iPods.

 J/K!!

  

 

[philatticus]

Quote:

@ Young Spade: "when using the Bass Boost function on iPods, you have to manually lower the volume of the song in mp3gain"
 
My music works fine with all other EQs, why do I have to fix it for the defective iPod EQ?
 
@ lilkoolaidman: "if you use dBpoweramp, the iPod supports any codec you want"
 
This is a conversion tool for use on a computer I take it? I was thinking along the lines of not having to convert between formats, as in a player that plays most formats.
 
 
@ Uncle Eric: "gives you easy, portable access to music"
 
So I pick up a couple of CD's on vacation, rip them to a friends computer, transfer them to the iPod... and it doesn't work. Plug it into anyone else's computer and it is as good as dead. Try to grab some non music files to bring them home... The list goes on. It seems that the iPod ties you to a location (Home Desktop) or object (Semi-portable Laptop) more so than any other player. This is an inconvenience.
 
@ Anyone whose number one goal in a portable player is sound: An iPod can enjoyable, some have WiFi capability and a plethora of games and applications. Others have large storage capacities, while some are very small in size. The one binding factor is the sound. They do not stand up to Samsung,  Cowon, or Sony in this regard. Sure you can plug it into a nice head unit, a home stereo with integrated controls, or another control system altogether... And I can do the same thing with a portable HDD, that holds more, is unrestricted, and doesn't even pretend to sound good.
 
Audiophiles focus on sound quality; Apple products such as the iPod, do not.
 
 

If you're ripping, you're going to have to convert them regardless (meaning, from CD to whatever format you want, that is, in theory, a conversion), so I think the top point is kind of moot.
 
The second point is interesting.  I've had 3 iPods, and never deed they seem "anchored."  The only problem I ever had was when I formatted one for my Dell (PC), and the got a Mac 3 years later.  If I wanted to update the software on it, I would have had to reformat it for a Mac.  That's sort of dumb, however, I have never had a problem going from computer to computer to charge or add tracks to my iPod.  I always make sure its manual, not that autosync, so maybe that is an important distinction. 

 

[3602]

stevenswall: Apple doesn't advertize the iPod as an audiophile machine, unlike certain overpriced and/or underperforming products do.
Depends on what you want. Classic + Turbine Pro is fine. For some, Nano (or Shuffle! h34r + whities are fine. Just because the iPod doesn't go your way doesn't mean you have to bash it for being 'non-audiophile'.
 

 

[Anaxilus]

Quote:

 
@ Uncle Eric: "gives you easy, portable access to music"
 
So I pick up a couple of CD's on vacation, rip them to a friends computer, transfer them to the iPod... and it doesn't work. Plug it into anyone else's computer and it is as good as dead. Try to grab some non music files to bring them home... The list goes on. It seems that the iPod ties you to a location (Home Desktop) or object (Semi-portable Laptop) more so than any other player. This is an inconvenience.
 
 

x2  One of many reasons why I banned Apple from my life.  I am looking forward to the impending iPhone4 recall.  Nothing beats Karmic justice.  Apple works for some people I guess.....somehow.

 

[Anaxilus]

Audiophile just means 'one who likes music'.  I don't get where it has to mean you go to sleep wearing your HE90 Orpheus.  Maybe someone who wears Skullcandy and does nothing but listen to music all day is a better 'audiophile'.

 

[rawrster]

Ah I totally forgot about that when I had an ipod years ago. It was quite furious however after I found out that I didn't have to use itunes to transfer stuff all was good again since those other programs that allow you to transfer music don't tie you down to one computer.
 
It really makes no sense why if you plug your ipod into another computer on itunes it wants to format the player to factory settings. It was absolutely dumb imo. If I ever get another ipod it will probably be the 5.5G where I can rockbox it so I don't have to deal with that and get FLAC.
 
I did like the ipod when I had it however. It was easy to navigate unlike some other players (cowon d2, all sansas,etc), larger storage space although the hdd did piss me off as well at times. It is overpriced like a lot of other apple products so you do have to pay that apple premium.

 

[dallan]

Well I still use my ipod in my car where the sound system isn't totally defined like my portable system.  Glad that with my portable system I don't have to settle for a "McDonalds" sound anymore though. 

 

[Geruvah]

Things I love about my iPod (5.5G):
 

1. Ease of navigation
2. High capacity (a rarity nowadays)

 
Things I don't like:

1. Really tied to one location. I can use iTunes in my work computer but I have to tell iPod to manually sync. So I can't put the music off of my ipod onto my work computer's library. This means to play music, I have to constantly have the HDD spinning.
2. Sound is good enough. Rockbox would make it better. But....
3. Playlists only work on iTunes. I wish I can export them for different players. I have quite a few playlist where the specific order I put the songs in are absolutely crucial.

 
So basically, if I find a DAP that will have higher than a 60GB capacity and can allow me to use my playlists somehow and can work on a mac, watch out.

 

[Audiofillet]

I gave up on the iPod ages ago for use as a DAP; there are just too many better sounding players available, of all shapes and sizes