Aug 19, 2008 at 9:33 PM Thread Starter Post #1 of 9

Sanjaygolf

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I have a pretty decent 2-ch setup w/ Emotiva RPA/RSP, Cambridge 640C cd player, and Onix Ref1 speakers. I was wondering how comparable it would be to my cd player to have my ipod connected via a good LOD (ALO or similar) to the rest of my system.
 
Aug 19, 2008 at 10:31 PM Post #2 of 9
I did a direct A/B level matched comparison between a midrange Sony CD player and the Philips 963sa DVD/SACD/CD player against my iPod and there was no appreciable difference when I used the exact same lossless file on both.

See ya
Steve
 
Aug 19, 2008 at 10:43 PM Post #4 of 9
Quote:

Originally Posted by bigshot /img/forum/go_quote.gif
I did a direct A/B level matched comparison between a midrange Sony CD player and the Philips 963sa DVD/SACD/CD player against my iPod and there was no appreciable difference when I used the exact same lossless file on both.

See ya
Steve



I compared my 5.5G iPod to my Denon CDR(CDR-W1500). I sent both into my Central Station listening with various headphones that I own. I would have to do the comparison again to say exactly what I heard but for me the Denon was simply "cleaner" sounding. When I compared the iPod to using the CS DAC it was more obvious because I can hear a clear improvement with the CS DAC over the Denon DAC . I never tried to get the levels matched exactly.
 
Aug 20, 2008 at 12:07 AM Post #5 of 9
It's extremely difficult to compare sources unless the volumes are exactly matched.

See ya
Steve
 
Aug 20, 2008 at 12:28 AM Post #6 of 9
Quote:

Originally Posted by bigshot /img/forum/go_quote.gif
It's extremely difficult to compare sources unless the volumes are exactly matched.

See ya
Steve



I know but the difference that I hear with my CS DAC is too great. I have played with my RS SPL meter for this but I didn't use test tones for a perfect match. IME sometimes the difference is just too great to be ignored...like comparing $20 IEMs to $200 IEMs.

I'm not saying that the iPod sucks in comparison.
 
Aug 20, 2008 at 10:09 AM Post #7 of 9
in my system, on both headphones and speakers, my cdp bests the iPod lineout. in both cases the cdp is more resolving, more engaging and a touch more real sounding. ipod is still decent though, once i have finished my second setup, it will be the source.
 
Aug 21, 2008 at 6:39 PM Post #8 of 9
Quote:

Originally Posted by GreatDane /img/forum/go_quote.gif
I know but the difference that I hear with my CS DAC is too great. I have played with my RS SPL meter for this but I didn't use test tones for a perfect match. IME sometimes the difference is just too great to be ignored...like comparing $20 IEMs to $200 IEMs.

I'm not saying that the iPod sucks in comparison.



A small volume difference really can be perceived as a big quality difference.

For instance when I do comparisons between (high quality) MP3 files from my PC via a separate DAC and the same tracks on my CD player the MP3 files really do sound better, which they should not , but that is because they are slightly louder on the external DAC - a slight volume difference really can be a very powerful effect !
 
Aug 22, 2008 at 6:15 PM Post #9 of 9
Quote:

Originally Posted by GreatDane /img/forum/go_quote.gif
I'm not saying that the iPod sucks in comparison.



It does in that respect but there's nothing wrong with that. It's a tradeoff for file size and portability.
 

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