[minasoko]

Okay, I have two iPods, a shuffle and a 4g 40gb (non-photo). I recently bought a bunch of nice, new headphones, and they sound great... out of my shuffle & Mac mini. I've had these new headphones for a month, and it wasn't until today that I tried listening to music out of my 40gb.

It sounds... awful.
Everything sounds so muddy and terrible... I don't know what's wrong. I can't believe it. It's really upsetting. I keep comparing over and over again and finding the same thing: the 4g is clearly inferior to the shuffle and my computer.
I didn't buy the 40gb too long ago, maybe a year ago. Now I'm thinking that a need a different main music player... because it just sounds so terrible. I'm heartbroken...

Please, someone, tell me what I should do... should I buy that accessory that gives you the line out option on iPod? I have an amp. Would that help sound quality at all?
Should I just scrap any idea that this is a decent music player and buy something else? If so, what? I've been an iPod user since 1g... it's so hard for me to imagine abandoning it now. I don't know what to do...

Any advice would be greatly appreciated... thank you.

 

[Oliver :)]

Quote:

Originally Posted by minasoko Please, someone, tell me what I should do... should I buy that accessory that gives you the line out option on iPod? I have an amp. Would that help sound quality at all?

Usually it does, depends upon the amp of course

At the moment we all heartly recommend the Turbodock II by member TURBO.

If you have money to throw at the problem, you may also consider the iMod
http://www.redwineaudio.com/iMod.html

 

[bangraman]

The phones you've bought (which I assume are the ones in your sig) will not behave at their best with the 4G iPods. Amping would certainly redress the balance, so could using higher-impedance phones.

 

[minasoko]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oliver Usually it does, depends upon the amp of course At the moment we all heartly recommend the Turbodock II by member TURBO. If you have money to throw at the problem, you may also consider the iMod http://www.redwineaudio.com/iMod.html

Thank you for the Turbodock II recommendation! I will definitely have to try one out. I have a cmoy amp... I don't know how well that'll do with anything. I'm a total newb, obviously.

The iMod looks interesting... dunno if I could justify spending half of a new iPod on it though if the line out on the stock 5g might just be better. There is a topic on a comparison of the two going on now.
Thank you very much for your suggestions, I feel better already about my options

Quote:

Originally Posted by bangraman The phones you've bought (which I assume are the ones in your sig) will not behave at their best with the 4G iPods. Amping would certainly redress the balance, so could using higher-impedance phones.

Haha... yeah, I can tell they aren't behaving at their best at all.

Could you please give me some recommendations in the way of amps/higher-impedance phones that you think would sync well with the 4g? Thank you!

 

[bangraman]

I'd recommend the Xin amps (http://www.fixup.net/products/index.htm). Very compact and therefore actually portable

, well architected too. The SuperMicro is really micro.


You could try very bassy phones like the Audio-Technica ATH-ES7 as well. Although low-impedance, they come across as pretty bassy even with the 4G Photo. Isolation however is nowhere near the Shures. The Sennheiser HD25-1 is my own choice for an all-purpose portable headphone. With a 70-ohm impedance and a slight emphasis on the bass, it gives a balanced-seeming performance on the older iPods. There is unfortunately a tendency for it to be sibilant, but I've learned that there are no perfect phones, only the best compromise.