[Chudalicious]

Hi everyone - kind of new here so please bear with my ramblings. . .

Being a total NooB to the audiophile world, I have stepped up my game one piece at a time from ipod, to se530s to all lossless to D2+ to RSA p-51 amp and most recently, AKG 702s. That said, I have some questions regarding the SQ between an unmodded iPod, a RWA iMod and amp and the D2+ as shown below:

1. I find the iPod Touch 2nd gen and the 5.5 80gb video (w/amp and w/o in mp4a) to be VERY boring (via HO) with NO bass and little detail - flat almost.

1. In fact, I absolutely prefer the D2+ and would ditch the iPods altogether BUT (BIG BUTT) I LOVE iTunes and all my music is in Apple Lossless which syncs with a 320gb Apple TV to my main, home rig.

1. This means maintaining two separate libraries, which is a tedious process. I CANNOT use Jetaudio as I have a Mac and tirelessly tried to find an app that would allow synching - I even tried using Parallels to get a PC interface and install Mediamonkey, Jetshell and a slew of others but no luck as the Mac USB would not recognize nor sync. Drag and drop is SO tedious that I cannot go on changing files across all these platforms every time I add or update my music.

BOTTOM LINE: I want to sell my D2+ but will miss the great bass, SQ and EQ settings in hopes that an iMod and LOD + amp will produce a similar soundstage and great low bass with my se530s. Don't want to drop the $$$ on the iMod if no hope is in sight.

Can anyone who has heard both the RWA iMod AND the D2 let me know if this is a pipe dream or if I should try to continue to support multiple libraries. If so, any ideas on how to sync the D2+ on a MAC without drag and drop?

Thanks so much, sorry for the lengthy post!

 

[shigzeo]

i hate to assume, but with a possible port of rockbox for the d2 coming soon, you could have all you want from your lovely d2+!

 

[Bojamijams]

The D2 was great for me and I did prefer its sound to the ipod's HP out but an imod+amp is a league of its own. Its also however quite a bit bulkier but to me, its unquestionably worth it. Thus, I've delegated the D2 to the girlfriend.

 

[Bina]

I dont have RWA iMod, I just have my diyMod, but if I compare it to my Cowon D2, it is like Cowon have only 60% of all information that I have from diyMod.

 

[Chudalicious]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bojamijams /img/forum/go_quote.gif The D2 was great for me and I did prefer its sound to the ipod's HP out but an imod+amp is a league of its own. Its also however quite a bit bulkier but to me, its unquestionably worth it. Thus, I've delegated the D2 to the girlfriend.

When you say "a league of its own" do you mean in overall clarity or bass response? I only ask because I find the iPod acceptable in mids and highs, just lacking in bass.

Thinking about getting an iModded LOD so that if/when I can be convinced that it will be a better SQ than the D2, I'll already have burned the caps in and won't need to spend more on another LOD. (A good test will be if the unmodded iPod performs better with the ALO LOD > p-51 than just with the HO male to male IC with the p-51)

 

[Chudalicious]

Quote:

Originally Posted by shigzeo /img/forum/go_quote.gif i hate to assume, but with a possible port of rockbox for the d2 coming soon, you could have all you want from your lovely d2+!

Do tell!?? More info please!!

Love the D2+/BBE sound but making all the cover art and converting all the mp4a to Flac and keeping the folders neat and dragging and dropping is just so maddening!!

Thanks for the responses thus far - keep em coming! I'm LOVING this forum

 

[Bojamijams]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chudalicious /img/forum/go_quote.gif When you say "a league of its own" do you mean in overall clarity or bass response? I only ask because I find the iPod acceptable in mids and highs, just lacking in bass. Thinking about getting an iModded LOD so that if/when I can be convinced that it will be a better SQ than the D2, I'll already have burned the caps in and won't need to spend more on another LOD. (A good test will be if the unmodded iPod performs better with the ALO LOD > p-51 than just with the HO male to male IC with the p-51)

Ipod lacking in bass is due to its op-amp that serves as an amplifier.. whatever that opamp is, is not very good (low current due to battery life is just one of its issues) .. the DAC is a very high quality dac so the bass lacking doesn't come from there.

So when you take out the crappy amp in the ipod and just take its clean line level signal from the dac and feed it into your own standalone amp that's the size of the entire Ipod, well, then you get a sound thats in a league of its own. Its quite a bit better then standard ipod/d2/any standalone DAP that I've heard.

Of course, its also a lot bigger then any of them too

 

[Chudalicious]

Ah - OK so a HUGE improvement with an LOD versus an HO and then even more goodness with the iMod cherry on top?

Sounds like a delicious solution! I can't wait to just hear it with the LOD to the p-51, nevermind what Vinny could do with it when he iMods!

Thanks Boamijams! (P.S. your pic gives me the heebie-jeebies)

 

[Bojamijams]

Also if you have an auxiliary input on your car stereo, then bring your imod+lod there and enjoy yet ANOTHER sound upgrade... though, I will recommend getting a mini extension as teh LOD doesn't extend very far unless you want your imod danging in mid air