Improve Ipod sound

[aquatika]

Quote:

Maybe it is possible the european lawmakers find out and force apple to change the ipods hardware...

Well Apple has their own work-around as it is. They sell volume limited iPods in Europe but, at the same time, make it possible to adjust the volume of the music files from with-in iTunes so that they play back louder on the iPod.
Doing it from with-in iTunes takes longer but it just has the same effect as using EuPod.

 

[rauer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by chumley ... I'd say your 'local hifi mag' is FOS...

Could be the case. If I only knew the meaning of "FOS".

Freaked-Out ****?
Fine Other Service?
Fantastic Oblivious ****?
Federal Organization (of) Stand-Up (Comedians)?

EDIT: just realized what's it stands for..

 

[aki]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rauer I mentioned this already in another thread. A local Hifi mag recently tested several HD MP3 players. The iRiver iHP-120 was the clear winner over for example ipod 40G. The sound was better in both measurements and subjective testing. There was a graph of the ipod having a serious drop from around 100Hz downwards while the iRiver's graph was just a straight line from 20 to 20k Hz. In playback, that is. The MP3 and WAV recording and playback combined were a lot worse.

Similar results from "Stereoplay" magazine (Oct, 2003) posted here:
http://members.brabant.chello.nl/~m....surements.html

Along with some measurements made by the webmaster of that site. They also compared it with the IHP so it might well be the same magazine (and even the same article... re-published??)

Note that these magazines would be using the European iPods (Stereoplay is a German magazine i believe?). I suspect the volume cap would have an impact on the sound quality and may be contributing to the measured results.

It would be interesting if more people could verify/dis-prove these technical measurements between the two machines (the iRiver and iPod). Too many people make subjective claims without actually having both machines. And while actual sound 'quality' can be subjective, these technical measurements (which is not the be all and end all of sound quality) would still be an interesting comparison.

 

[fl00r]

Quote:

Originally Posted by aquatika Well Apple has their own work-around as it is. They sell volume limited iPods in Europe but, at the same time, make it possible to adjust the volume of the music files from with-in iTunes so that they play back louder on the iPod. Doing it from with-in iTunes takes longer but it just has the same effect as using EuPod.

I both used iMod and boost the volume +60% within iTunes. This way I will save some battery-life isn't?

 

[aki]

I've got an Australian 4G iPod, so im not sure if its capped, and i dont have anything to compare it to... i'd imagine its similar to the UK/British iPods... are they capped? At what levels do the american iPods play at? ie, what % on the volume bar are your ipods set to for your normal, decently loud use? I've read reports of it playing 'loud' at 50%... yet at 50%, mine is elevator music level. I usually have it at near 85-90%. Does this sound capped to people?

I tried iMod on it, and it recognised it, and i clicked "disable" and it ran fine, and rebooted the iPod as expected. But i didnt recognise much of a difference in volume.

 

[fl00r]

Quote:

Originally Posted by aki I've got an Australian 4G iPod, so im not sure if its capped, and i dont have anything to compare it to... i'd imagine its similar to the UK/British iPods... are they capped? At what levels do the american iPods play at? ie, what % on the volume bar are your ipods set to for your normal, decently loud use? I've read reports of it playing 'loud' at 50%... yet at 50%, mine is elevator music level. I usually have it at near 85-90%. Does this sound capped to people? I tried iMod on it, and it recognised it, and i clicked "disable" and it ran fine, and rebooted the iPod as expected. But i didnt recognise much of a difference in volume.

Sounds capped to me. I had the same background-Richard Clayderman-level of music when I took my iPod out of the box. After boosting up the volume in iTunes to +60% I have plenty of noise at 50% volume level.

 

[aki]

Has anyone had success with iMod with the latest firmware and a 4G ipod? I'm wondering if this is why it doesn't seem to do anything for me.

If other people have had success with this however, i'll re-update the firmware on my ipod, reboot, and try the iMod again when i get home.

(I don't use iTunes so boosting the volume there isn't preferable to me).

 

[KevP]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bangraman The current incarnation of the 3G iPod has a weaker bass than many portables and the EQ is largely useless with only a couple of exceptions. However, the flavour that 'weaker bass' conveys, as well as the technical capability of the iPod vs some other players, is far truer to the original material as played back on an upper-midrange 'full-size' source. It's the audiophile-friendly aspect of the iPod sound that those only used to consumer sources can't appreciate. My suggestion is not to bother amping as it adds bulk and is largely a pointless exercise for portable purposes. Instead, spend the money on a good phone that emphasises bass without overdoing it. Sennheiser HD25-1, Beyerdynamic DT231, Sony MDR-G74SL, etc. The Sennheiser PX200 is said to be fit-dependent (I had no problems beyond an over-stiff last detent which initially made fitting a problem on my huge head and 'broke the seal' of the earcups) but provided it's fitted well, it provides an impactful bass as well as providing a surprisng amount of isolation for such tiny and handy headphones. High-cost/oddball choices for doing this include the Shure E5 and also the Stax SR-001 Mk II. All of these while they have their own individual quirks take the fundamentally superior core of the iPod sound and add more low end. After a while, you'll probably end up wondering why you worried about bass so much.

E5s are awesome. Got some this week. Bass is vastly improved over Ety ER6i I tried before. Big hike in price of course. But, for me, worth it.

 

[aquatika]

Quote:

Has anyone had success with iMod with the latest firmware and a 4G ipod? I'm wondering if this is why it doesn't seem to do anything for me.

Yes, I used on my 4G with the latest firmware update (3.01 isn't it ??).
Worked first time with no problems. There's quite a few over at iPod lounge who've used it on 4G's. This thread might be of help,

here

 

[Legendash]

Phew, got a nice black ipod over christmas, loaded all my songs onto it and it sounded fairly arse (no bass and distortion with EQ's).

Fortunately i saw Sugarkang's thread about using MP3 gain to reduce the volume in my mp3's so i could use the EQ's and it works a treat. I have EX71's so bass boost is a bit strong, tends to muddy everything but the acoustic EQ sounds great, just wanted to thank people (esp Sugarkang) for sharing their info.

EUPod is also cool, after normalising my MP3's i needed to boost the volume on my UK IPod and that worked great too. Ipods may not be perfect but they sure do have a well informed user base.

 

[Konig]

is there any mods out there to improve its sound without sacrificing portability?
i know IMOD is modding line out only and not headphone out