Does iPod get better with burn-in?

[Ant1]

You know about the burn-in "factor" with headphones (for example Grados), or headphone amps, or with the Red Wine iMod for the iPod?.. Does a stock iPod would similarly get better sound-wise with, say, 200 hours of burn-in?

A.

 

[lal316l]

Doubt it.

 

[Ant1]

Yeah, but why not?...I mean, we're talking about electronic circuitry here, right? If one electronic element changes sound-wise after a while, like, say, those used by Red Wine Audio in their iPod mod, then why not another, such as used in a stock iPod. They behave differently because....because why?...


A.

 

[lal316l]

You can get sound out of a Ipod from either the Headphone out (which is horrid) or the Line out. Those are the two areas that I can think of that might sound better in time I'm not sure if Ipods sound better in time, as it is very hard to test. You can't tell whether it's the headphones that has gotten better or the Ipod itself with burn in. Mostly psychological though. Try not to worry about these things, it's the paranoia speaking.

 

[chiefroastbeef]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lal316l You can get sound out of a Ipod from either the Headphone out (which is horrid) or the Line out. Those are the two areas that I can think of that might sound better in time

I think the battery sounds great too after break in.

 

[discord]

No. Just listen to music and enjoy.

 

[DougGreenberg]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lal316l You can get sound out of a Ipod from either the Headphone out (which is horrid) or the Line out. Those are the two areas that I can think of that might sound better in time I'm not sure if Ipods sound better in time, as it is very hard to test. You can't tell whether it's the headphones that has gotten better or the Ipod itself with burn in. Mostly psychological though. Try not to worry about these things, it's the paranoia speaking.

I keep reading about how people avoid the iPod headphone out and instead use the line out. So I'm wondering: how do people use their iPods? Are you employing portable amps and still using the iPod as an "on the go" device? Or are you docking the iPod and attaching it to a larger stereo system? Or both?

Personally, I've been disappointed by the SQ of the Nano via the headphone out. Maybe I should try another strategy?

 

[M.Capz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lal316l You can get sound out of a Ipod from either the Headphone out (which is horrid) or the Line out. Those are the two areas that I can think of that might sound better in time I'm not sure if Ipods sound better in time, as it is very hard to test. You can't tell whether it's the headphones that has gotten better or the Ipod itself with burn in. Mostly psychological though. Try not to worry about these things, it's the paranoia speaking.

Excuse my newbie question but, whats the difference between line out and headphone out? I just plug my headphones into the iPod, is there another option

 

[chrisfromalbany]

Quote:

Originally Posted by M.Capz Excuse my newbie question but, whats the difference between line out and headphone out? I just plug my headphones into the iPod, is there another option

let me introduce you to the wonderful powers of the search function. Why don't you click on the nifty little doda at the top right hand corner and search on "line out".

then you might come across thread like this one..

http://www6.head-fi.org/forums/showt...light=line+out

 

[M.Capz]

Nice, I learned two things out of this post... "what is line out AND the search feature"

 

[Ant1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by M.Capz Excuse my newbie question but, whats the difference between line out and headphone out? I just plug my headphones into the iPod, is there another option

Besides that getting sound from your iPod from the dock connector (Line Out) sounds cleaner due to a cleaner sound path, there is a notable difference: you cannot control sound volume from your iPod from Line Out. In other words, if you were to plug your headphones into the Line Out coming from the dock connector via these accessories : http://www.sik.com/ram_din.php and http://www.sendstation.com/us/produc...ineout-fw.html, the level coming out from your iPod is constant, i.e. you would not be able to control it from your iPod. Of course, you would be able to control it if the iPod is plugged in the iDock or into a headphone amp.

On another note, the sound coming from the headphone out of the iPod IS NOT horrid, as claimed by lal316l (and others). Initially, I fell for that line of thought too, until I a) mader some enquiries about it, and b) used my ears. The graph of the iPod's headphone out is actually very linear, meaning that the sound is not coloured, which can translate into a sterile sound. Added to the fact that the iPod's eq is not very good (THAT is true...) leads to some concluding that the iPod does not sound good. As far as using my ears are concerned, I am actually very happy with the iPod's sound. Maybe some other digital players do have a superior sound quality - notably the X5 from general reports - but that does not make the iPod's sound quality horrid by any stretch of the imagination in my opinion.
There are pluses and minuses with every digital player.

A.

 

[erickoh]

I'm using the Shure E4 (which was already burned-in) with the ipod nano. First impression was that the nano sound quality sucked, but it got better after a few days of use.

I just got another new nano today, and the same thing happened again. Sound quality becomes bad.. I'll see if it gets better after some burning-in.

 

[doomlordis]

NO NO NO , Ipods do not "burn in" , earphones may "burn in" due to the actual shape of internal components changing with time , a lot of people doubt that also. The ipod has nothing in it to "burn in". Digital cables do not "burn in" either. If you percieve an improvement it is either false or your earphones.

 

[erickoh]

oooh so it was only placebo... thanks for clearing that up

 

[bellor_19]

Well... that's not actually true. It is in part but not really. The iPod is a digital music player... true. But the digital part ends when the information that represents the music gets converted into analogic data by the internal DAC. And analogic devices do get burned in. Memories get burned in (since they are analogic devices), DACs get burned in and more importantly amps get burned in. And on the iPod headphone out we have... an amplifier. So, even though it's a minute amount of burn-in, it does occur. Simply because out of the fab semiconductor devices are not up to specs. They have a transition period in which all the material transient effects get stabilised