[PsychoGenetiX]

I was looking for a small, sleek portable player with a good DAC and a good interface, and the iPod Nano 7th gen rang alot of bells.
 
I bought one and the sound is amazing on my pair of Vsonic GR06 compared to my previous portable music player, my cellphone, the HTC One X, which as I have read has a low quality DAC, and I am in love with the interface and overall how cute it is. I have no problems with syncing and the lack of drag and drop.
 
The only problem I'm having is the lack of a powerful equalizer as I love to fiddle with the EQ. The iPod's EQ is just a crappy preset EQ which doesn't give you control over anything and I hate that.
 
I've even gone as far as considering returning the Nano and putting down another $100 for an iTouch 5th gen, since maybe it has an EQ app?
 
My question is, does the apple app store have an equalizer that works on apple's default music player?
 
Off the record here, why the hell does apple not just build a serious equalizer and make the iPod literally one of, if not the best player out there? Cowon has it right with their awesome equalizer support but their interfaces are pure crap and their resistive touch screens are annoying.
 
P.S. Getting my V-Moda M-100's in the mail soon, so excited

 

[SeanDavid010]

There are a few equalizer apps on the App Store.  Some are more effective than others, but I've heard good things about EQu.  I never mess around with them, but you might see some improvements.  Good luck!

 

[jazzman7]

I've got the Nano 7th gen and use it for podcasts.  For music, I use either a 3rd gen iPod Touch or an iPod Video 5.5g.  
 
I agree with you on the EQ options.  I need real EQ for my portable devices.  If you are buying new from Apple, the only EQ option is an iOS device with an app.   Another option is an older clickwheel device running Rockbox. 
 
If you do go with an iPod Touch, get the 4th generation, not the 5th generation.  The 4th generation's advantage is its 30-pin dock connector, which has an analog line out.  You can connect this to an amp and get as loud as you want with it with harder-to-drive headphones, or use the regular headphone out for typical headphones.  The 5th generation's Lightning connection is digital-only -- a big step back, IMO.   
 
If you want to use the 4th gen iPod Touch with a high-end amp/DAC, you can do that, too.   It also runs the iOS apps.  Apple sells the 16GB/32GB versions new for $200/$250, although they kind of hide them away from their newer 5th gen player on the web. 
 
Then, pick up an equalizer app.  The one I use is called (simply enough) Equalizer.  It is by Audioforge Labs.  It is a true 7-band parametric EQ with full control (gain, center freq, and Q).  You can design the presets by touch and then email them to yourself to back them up.  Good stuff!
 
[EDIT] One thing, though -- all the equalizer apps that I know of in iOS are players themselves.  So, you'll end up using the equalizer app as the player instead of Apple's default player. 

 

[PsychoGenetiX]

Thanks for the replies dudes. Man, it sucks to know that to have a good EQ I'll need to replace apple's great player with something that might not run as smooth. We should start a petition to get apple to put an equalizer into the music app. I mean, it won't even be that much work. For example you might be able to build your own preset EQ setting on iTunes with iTunes' onboard equalizer then sync it on to your iDevice.
 
Do you think the Nano might have trouble driving my new V-Moda's?
 
EDIT: Holy crap.
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/399487/ipod-custom-eq-yes-it-can-be-done
 
This is like the funniest thing that has happened to me all week. I was thinking, like, "How is it possible that people can't already do it if iTunes has it's own EQ?" and then I find the thread.
 
Strange that you have to coax the iPod into syncing it onboard by changing it to one of the factory preset names.

 

[ExpatinJapan]

Thanks
EDIT: Holy crap.

http://www.head-fi.org/t/399487/ipod-custom-eq-yes-it-can-be-done

This is like the funniest thing that has happened to me all week. I was thinking, like, "How is it possible that people can't already do it if iTunes has it's own EQ?" and then I find the thread.

Strange that you have to coax the iPod into syncing it onboard by changing it to one of the factory preset names.

sorry.its a myth and doesnt work. Read the later posts in the thread.
Many headfiers including myself have been excited by that kind of thread.

 

[scuttle]

Quote:

sorry.its a myth and doesnt work. Read the later posts in the thread.
Many headfiers including myself have been excited by that kind of thread.

 
The thing to understand about DAP eq is that most DAPs - unlike good smart phones - have very weak CPUs - if the term is even relevant. So if they have eq, it's the eq built into the DAC chip.
 
Which puts a big limit on what any software fix can do - for example, even with Rockbox my Clip is limited to 4 band eq, because that's what the DAC can do. And I don't think any DAC chip has better eq - and some have none at all. The only way to get eq with, say, 10 bands - the sort of thing most people are used to - is to use a smart phone or tablet and a suitable app. That the iTunes app for a tablet or full size computer has a 10 band eq is irrelevant.

 

[Achmedisdead]

Quote:

 
The thing to understand about DAP eq is that most DAPs - unlike good smart phones - have very weak CPUs - if the term is even relevant. So if they have eq, it's the eq built into the DAC chip.
 
Which puts a big limit on what any software fix can do - for example, even with Rockbox my Clip is limited to 4 band eq, because that's what the DAC can do. And I don't think any DAC chip has better eq - and some have none at all. The only way to get eq with, say, 10 bands - the sort of thing most people are used to - is to use a smart phone or tablet and a suitable app. 

Um, what are you talking about? For a long time there have been 5 bands, and it recently was expanded to 10 configurable bands in Rockbox.
 
 

 

[jazzman7]

Um, what are you talking about? For a long time there have been 5 bands, and it recently was expanded to 10 configurable bands in Rockbox.

Thanks for this comment! I was looking to use seven true parametric EQ bands in Rockbox, having gotten used to that configuration in the Equalizer iOS app. I have confirmed that the 10 band EQ is in the dev builds at rockbox.org, and it does run (just barely) on an old Nano 1G. The UI slows to a crawl, though, if all 10 bands are active. So, one has to not use some of the bands to keep the UI snappy. Time to update my EQ curves for use in Rockbox...

 

[Achmedisdead]

Quote:

Thanks for this comment! I was looking to use seven true parametric EQ bands in Rockbox, having gotten used to that configuration in the Equalizer iOS app. I have confirmed that the 10 band EQ is in the dev builds at rockbox.org, and it does run (just barely) on an old Nano 1G. The UI slows to a crawl, though, if all 10 bands are active. So, one has to not use some of the bands to keep the UI snappy. Time to update my EQ curves for use in Rockbox...

I'm glad the comment helped somebody out.

 

[skamp]

So if they have eq, it's the eq built into the DAC chip.

The Rockbox EQ is software based, and it's 5 bands (or 10 bands with a patch that's floating around). It's precisely 5 bands only on targets like the Clip+ because it's CPU intensive.

 

[PsychoGenetiX]

Do you think the Nano might have trouble driving my new V-Moda's?