[Knocturnal]

I have a couple interesting questions that I have searched for and just cant find an answer to. I have and iPod 10 gig with the touch wheel, it is NOT the new one with the dock. I am going to buy the ETY ER-4P or S, it depends on the answers I get from this post. Since my iPod does not have a line-out, how would the music sound going through the iPods integrated amp and then through another amp, probably the META42. I have read many mixed points of view on this. Many people say that the sound will be very distorted. But others say that it sounds great. I want to know if it will sound awful or if its worth getting an AMP if its going to gt amped twice. I will get the Ety ER-4P if I dont need an amp and the S if I do need an amp. I would really appreciate answers to this. Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[lextek]

The sounds would not be distorted at all. I had a couple of non-dockers and used them with amp and amplified speakers. I use the Ety 4ps. With the 4Ps an amp is not need at all.

 

[Knocturnal]

Lextec: I see you have the ER-4Ps and the HD600s, which ones do you like more. What amp do you use with your HD600s. Thanks

 

[iamdone]

I have a 20gig Ipod with a ER-4p. It sounds great without an amp. I also bought an adapter for $25 from fixup.net that converts it to a 4S. You can also find a more expensive adapter at headphone.com. This is etys official adapter. With the adapter, you can hear even better detail but you lose a little of the bass and you have to turn the Ipod almost all the way up.

I like the improved detail enough to invest in an amp to fill out the bass and increase the soundstage. I just bought fixup's supermini V6, which should arrive any day. I had it ordered with a free 4P to 4S converter in it so I won't have to attach the extra adapter. I can still use the adapter when I go to the gym and don't have room for the amp.

I will let you know about the sound difference once I receive the amp. I'll compare the 4P without amp, 4S without amp, and 4S with amp. I cannot test the 4P with amp since the converter will be built in.

So if you are unsure. Start with the 4P and buy an adapter or amp later.

 

[Knocturnal]

Thanks and I look forward to reading your review

 

[MacDEF]

Remember that the iPod's headphone out is a digital circuit, so if you set the volume at an approximate line-level, it's going to be much closer to a true line-out than that of a traditional headphone jack.

 

[Knocturnal]

Quote:

Originally posted by MacDEF Remember that the iPod's headphone out is a digital circuit, so if you set the volume at an approximate line-level, it's going to be much closer to a true line-out than that of a traditional headphone jack.

Around what volume is that?

 

[BoardC3]

Im not an expert on the insides of electronics, Duncan can you explain what you meant by that?

 

[proneax]

Quote:

Originally posted by BoardC3 Im not an expert on the insides of electronics, Duncan can you explain what you meant by that?

Yes, please clarify.

edit: autonotify

 

[usc goose]

as i understand it, iPod's and md players use digital attenuation for their amps. so if you set them to max, it's equivalent of a unadulterated line out. that's what my hacked 707 tells me anyways...

 

[usc goose]

welcome to head-fi proneax you sneaky first posting lurker

. (non standard greeting around here)

 

[proneax]

Quote:

Originally posted by usc goose welcome to head-fi proneax you sneaky first posting lurker . (non standard greeting around here)

heh, yeah I've been lurking around here for a little while. Hopefully I can get some decent equipment and get out before I go broke

Anyway, my understanding of attenuation means that in order to get anything less than the max volume, they cut the power to the ipod amp, kind of like knocking the signal down instead of building it up?

In that case, I can see how the max volume would be the purest signal. It raises another question however. By most accounts, the ipods (non-EU

) are pretty loud at their max volume. In this case how much would an amp help you?

 

[usc goose]

ah, the sign of the new one. it's not about loud. it's about cleanliness, separation, punchiness, richness, detail, and all that other crap we delude ourselves into hearing after we sink the ridiculous amount of money we do into amps and other such headphone gear.

 

[proneax]

Ok, it seems I'm missing something here. I know that the purpose of a headphone amp is to bypass the source's amplifyer and use a higher grade amplifyer.

However, It seems that in the case of the iPod that you would need a device to do a better job than the player of attenuating the signal, rather than amplifying it, because the signal is already so loud that amplifying it would make it too loud.

Unless i misunderstand what attenuation is and how it works on the iPod.

 

[usc goose]

all right, the theatre major is stepping down. can we get some double e's up in here on this?