[Low Fidelity]

why, oh why can't I list albums by release date?

 

[MonolithTMA]

Yes, it would be nice if we could sort items using all the tags in iTunes.

 

[Drag0n]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MonolithTMA /img/forum/go_quote.gif Yes, it would be nice if we could sort items using all the tags in iTunes. Please feel free to recommend me an amp for $250 or so for my HD595's.

Corda MOVE , I think its under $250 even with shipping.

 

[MonolithTMA]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Drag0n /img/forum/go_quote.gif Corda MOVE , I think its under $250 even with shipping.

Thanks! I've looked at that one. I'm wondering which DAC is better, the Move or the iBasso D1.

 

[_j_]

This thread is enticing me to get one of the new Classic 160GB. I do need more space for my colelction, but the comments about the sound are what is really going to make me click the buy button on apple.com.

Has anyone done a comarison yet between the Classic and the Shuffle G1 regardng headphone out? I love the HP out on the Shuffle G1 with no amp and would love the convenience of that type of sound if I don't have the luxury of sticking an amp in my pocket.

Also, can anyone point me to a comparison regarding the standard line-out (read: no 5G imod) on the Classic vs. the iPod w/ Video 80GB?

 

[Wookie]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MonolithTMA /img/forum/go_quote.gif My work around for that one is to put each artist on the compilation CD in the Album Artist tag. I recently ripped the soundtrack to Across The Universe. I copied all the Artist tags to the Album Artist tags using one of Doug's Applescripts (I run iTunes on my Mac). I then changed the artist tag to Across The Universe Cast. I did this after seeing what the iPod artist view looked like, since that is the way I access most of my music. I have a 2G Nano.

The best way I've found to get around the problem (at least in coverflow) is to use the 'sort artist' box with various artist. This allows you to keep the real artist name in the artist box. The problem is you have to tag each one individually. On the mac I think you can get a script to do this. Doesn't work for the artist list though, why I don't know.

 

[akira281]

Quote:

Originally Posted by _j_ /img/forum/go_quote.gif This thread is enticing me to get one of the new Classic 160GB. I do need more space for my colelction, but the comments about the sound are what is really going to make me click the buy button on apple.com. Has anyone done a comarison yet between the Classic and the Shuffle G1 regardng headphone out? I love the HP out on the Shuffle G1 with no amp and would love the convenience of that type of sound if I don't have the luxury of sticking an amp in my pocket. Also, can anyone point me to a comparison regarding the standard line-out (read: no 5G imod) on the Classic vs. the iPod w/ Video 80GB?

For what it is worth I have listened to several Classics and a 5G with the headphone and line out side by side. The headphones used were Ety 4s and the amp was the Corda MOVE.

My conclusion is that the general SQ problems eminate from both jacks. That is that the overall sound is thin, harsh and metallic. The higher frequencies might be the first thing you may notice as I did. They don't seem integrated with the rest of the spectrum and are too prominent. As a result the midrange seems somewhat recessed and lacks any warmth. People who are fond of vocals may be particularly disappointed as this suffers the most to me. The bass, however, was very well defined and in good standing.

In general I found the Classic to be anything but musical. It is sterile. The sound I heard from it is unlike real life accoustic music. It may sound like it is more defined than the 5Gs but I believe that is because it lacks that player's natural harmonics. To me listening to the iPod Touch was a relief after the Classic as it sounds closer to the 5G and more natural (i.e. more real) and less gimmicky.

Of course, YMMV, as there is no right or wrong here, just opinions.

 

[yourtoys7]

Interesting to read...

 

[IPodPJ]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Buckster /img/forum/go_quote.gif glad you are happy with it ... Apple said "The tech support guy at Apple told me this unit has a better CODEC than the 5th gen though." ??? better CODEC in this one ? has the Classic added FLAC ???? Mark.

Just telling you exactly the words the guy used. I never said he was correct.

Just telling you what he said.

 

[IPodPJ]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MonolithTMA /img/forum/go_quote.gif Thanks! I've looked at that one. I'm wondering which DAC is better, the Move or the iBasso D1.

From what I've read, the DAC on the D1 is supposed to be much better than the Move. The Move has a pretty crappy DAC. But the amp on the Move got better reviews than the D1 with it's stock opamps. So it's a toss up. You should read the reviews on the new HeadAmp Pico, taking preorders now for a release date in November. It sounds like it is the best (and smallest) portable amp on the market. If it gets good comparitive reviews to the Corda Opera, I may just get one instead at half the price of the Opera.

Pico Review

 

[IPodPJ]

Quote:

Originally Posted by _j_ /img/forum/go_quote.gif This thread is enticing me to get one of the new Classic 160GB. I do need more space for my colelction, but the comments about the sound are what is really going to make me click the buy button on apple.com.

I'd say go for it! The soundstage and openness of the audio is pretty impressive for an iPod. In fact, it has really pushed me to realize how important and integral a good DAC will be to my home setup. The 5th gen really sounds congested compared to this one.

With that said, it would be even better if the sound was more 3-dimensional and didn't sound like it had a mask around it, even though that mask is pushed out far in front of you. But it is just a portable audio player after all, not a $1000 home DAC unit. For $249, I think the 80gig is a super deal. My only complaint is with the treble, as it could be better and not so splashy. It seems like most of the distortion that occurs is in the treble.

Those who plan on not using an amp will certainly appreciate the clean signal from the headphone output. Now if I travel, I probably won't need to bring my portable amps -- I'll just use my Triple.Fi from the headphone output.

I'll post more reviews later after I've had more time to listen to the iPod. I have only auditioned it with my Denon AH-D5000, so the iPod doesn't do them much justice. But perhaps my Sony and my Triple.Fi won't be as critical.

 

[IPodPJ]

Ok, I've noticed some more things about the iPod Classic that don't really make me happy. However, the line out dock doesn't seem to be affected by most of these issues. These were discovered using my Triple.Fi. Because of this, I recant my previous statement that said people who prefer to use the iPod Classic with IEMs and without an amp will be happy. It appears that there is a big difference between the line out dock and the headphone output.

1) The touch wheel isn't as responsive as the 5th gen. It doesn't seem to have the same easy-feel response to it.

2) The headphone out: You will notice that the sound doesn't mute when the volume is turned all the way down.

3) The volume doesn't start to increase until the volume bar is moved approximately past the 13% mark. Yes, my volume limit setting is turned all the way up, so it has nothing to do with that.

4) The actual audible volume level with respect to the volume bar is uneven, as you can see from my two comments above. But going an issue further: When the volume bar is moved to the halfway point, the volume isn't as loud as it was on the 5th gen. The volume only gains significantly from the halfway point on. I can't tell whether the max volume is louder on this unit than the 5th gen, because the soundstage is wider on this one, so it gives a different perspective.

5) The headphone out: The soundstage is cockeyed. The left channel sound is pushed more towards the rear of your head.


And not as important as the sonic qualities, but just things that bug me:

6) Cover flow: It's very jumpy. The album art squares are jagged, probably because of a lack of RAM or a quality GPU in the iPod. Cover flow only has a white background, when obviously it looks better in iTunes with the black background. Also, if you have some non-square shaped album art, cover flow on the iPod will turn it into a square anyway by zooming in on one section of it. An example of this is my Steely Dan box set. It is a rectangle, which in iTunes it displays perfectly on cover flow. But on the iPod it does not.

7) If you back out of your "Now Playing" screen to do anything, you really need to go back to the words "Now Playing" from the main menu. Otherwise, if you click on the album to get back into the Now Playing screen, it pulls up the song menu. If you happen to have forgotten what the song name is that you are listening to, you're screwed, as it will start to play whatever song you select, unless of course you choose the song you are listening to. This is just an extra step that isn't very user friendly.

8) Games: Apple decided to make a really smooth move and not allow any of the games you purchased for your 5th gen or Nano to work with the iPod Classic or iPod Touch. For those of you who spent money on some games (as I did), you can find yourself ******** with this iPod. Personally, I see no reason for their doing this, other than a new way to screw the customer. While no games are currently available from the iTunes store for the new iPods, rest assured there will be, and they won't be interchangable between models.

Now for some cool honorable mentions:

1) The slide show: When you have your click wheel turned to the "Music" option of the main menu, it shows a slide show of your album art. This is really cool, because I will see an album cover and think to myself, "Oh yeah. I forgot about that one. I have to listen to it!"

2) About a minute after the last time you touch the touch wheel, regardless of your backlight setting, the screen switches images to: a clock, a status indicator (if listening to music it will show the typical triangle symbol for "play"), and the status indicator of your battery charge level. This is a good screen-saving feature, but it also doesn't do much good. Most people have their backlight turn off in a minute or less, so you can't really see these 3 items. And the moment you touch the wheel again, the image goes away. While two of those items are present on the "Now Playing" screen (battery level and play status), you need to have the "Time in Title" option turned on to show the clock. By doing this, it gets rid of the title of the screen you are currently in until you touch the wheel again.

3) If you are a world traveler, you will appreciate the ability of having multiple clocks listed simultaneously.

4) Power off: You don't have to hold down the play/pause button for more than a half-second before the iPod turns off. This is great. WIth the 5th gen, so many times I would find myself not being able to turn the iPod on or off and thus, had to soft reset the unit.

5) Battery life: I find the battery life on the Classic to be significantly better than the 5th gen. In my first year of ownership with the 5th gen, I had exchanged it twice, which means I'm on my third unit. The first time was because the battery wouldn't hold a charge. The second time was because something in the hard drive got corrupt and wouldn't allow me to reformat, which I discovered when it started rebooting in the middle of songs and anytime I filled up the iPod to a point where there was only 700MB left available of hard drive space. Even to this day, my third unit doesn't seem to have long battery life. It is not a fault with MY unit, rather a fault in the 5th gen's battery and/or power saving features.

Ok, well that's all for now. I'll keep you informed as I play with it (the iPod, not my @*^$&

)

 

[opiumden34]

I've just recently picked up an 80 gb classic. I actually have not played with it too much, the gui pisses me off too much. I liked the 5th gen/nano so much better. The only reason i got a classic is because thieves smashed my window and took my 5g from my car. I wonder how long it will take for a rockbox port...

 

[Stoney]

Classic sounds good? Imaging? This goes against my experience today, in which the differences among pods were clear and obvious.
An hour comparing iPods and iPhone with Grados (spoiler: skip the Classic!)

I can imagine liking the classic if you wanted more treble with your particular phones and music, in which case it may bring out more imaging information. But, with Grados in the HO, I couldn't live with the Classic, as much as I wanted to like it. Midrange timbre, and treble, were just not graceful, musical, lifelike, or three-dimensional with a natural-sounding recording. For pop, synth, etc, it may not be an issue. But I found the character consistent across all tracks played... unnatural, unconvincing in terms of musical illusion.

 

[IPodPJ]

Stoney, well with your Grados, I imagine you would feel that way.

The iPod Classic requires a perfectly matched setup. I think I could even use a good copper LOD instead of a silver one. But I tried it with all three of my Go-Vibes, and the V7 still produced the most natural sound as it is the best amp out of the three.

A little further analysis of the iPod Classic:

I've been listening for several hours with my Denon AH-D5000 and my V7 and my Qables Silvercab LOD. These are some of the conclusions I've come to:

-- Turn your EQ setting to "FLAT". For some reason when in the "OFF" mode, although barely noticeable at first switch, it makes a difference. When in the OFF position, the timbre isn't normal. The treble is splashy and the soundstage is a little misplaced.

-- Let your iPod burn in for many hours, at least 10 - 20 hours. This is very important. I found that it helped calm the tone out dramatically!

-- I did an A/B comparison for a long time with the 5th gen and the Classic. The Classic is a cleaner sounding unit. The 5th gen sounds calmer because it doesn't have as much treble sparkle, has more midbass (which is misplaced), is muddier, and has a more congested soundstage. The DAC in the 5th gen may be better in some respects but the signal path is dirty and it muddies the overall sound. The signal path in the Classic is clean and doesn't have this problem.

-- Most of us prefer a slightly recessed midrange, despite what we say. I know I do. The Classic has much more midrange and mid-highs than the 5th gen. But the Classic has a natural response, and I'm pretty sure it has a flat response, too, except for a slight bump in the treble. The midrange/mid-highs of the Classic is what is throwing a lot of people off. The 5th gen is lacking that midrange/mid-high velocity, and people who are used to it are preferring that sound. But....

-- ...because the response of the Classic is very accurate, I have not gotten any fatigue (when paired with a good amp and cable). My ears don't hurt or bother me at all when I'm done listening to the Classic. Let the unit burn in for a good 20 hours, and the sibilance will go down. Human ears are naturally prone to picking out midrange tones before any others because the human voice is in the midrange. So when we hear midrange tones that are equal in volume to other frequencies, we notice the midrange the most. This may lead people to believe that the midrange is too loud even if it isn't. The Classic has a very forward midrange/mid-high, but I believe it is due to the flat frequency response of the unit.

-- The Classic doesn't have the midbass bump that the 5th gen does. To bassheads, this may seem like the Classic is lacking in bass. But the Classic has a much cleaner bass response, and is probably one of the best represented frequencies out of the whole spectrum on the Classic. With a solid bass-capable headphone like the D5000, it pairs up perfectly with the frequency response of the Classic.

I hope these further impressions help.

As mentioned in my previous posts, the headphone output has many issues. Therefore, I only use the LOD for analysis.