[moofs]

So I need a new Ipod. Reason I need the ipod is I have a lot of songs on itunes licensed by them so I can't transfer them all over on something else. Either way, I want an Ipod. I like them, easy to use.
But I need to get a new one. Something that holds around 7000+ songs.
I was thinking the 6th gen that hold like 20k songs maybe.
But heres the thing. What can I do to improve the ipods sound quality?
Are there any mods I can do?
I know about the red wine imod but thats too expensive.

So,
Do you know of any mods I can do to an ipod to improve it? If so, what gen ipod? 4,5,6?
Can I do anything internally? I heard of ppl getting amps and Line out docks. What's that do. Anything else to consider?

USES:
I use my ipod for 2 things rly.
1: Listen on the train, while walking around, while studying and sometimes b4 bed.
2: I plug it into my car stereo via AUX cable.

Keep those in mind bc thats how I listen to it. Either through car stereo or through headphones. No other speakers etc.

Is there anything you can think of?
Thanks! (if not I'll probably get a 6th gen)

 

[fenixdown110]

No existing mods for anything other than the 5th gen iPods. Apple stopped using Wolfson dacs after that point if I'm not mistaken. You can always diy a Red Wine iMod a 5th gen iPod yourself you're technically inclined. You can pick up a mint condition stock 5th gen for around 50 dollars if you're lucky.

 

[moofs]

I think I might get a 5th gen but can u tell me a few things.
Other than an amp I see ppl getting:

Line out docks and using rock box. Can you tell me what the advantages are to both of these? Like what does a line out dock do?
And does rock box let u use better quality music?

I have a broken ipod mini. I was thinking of fixing it and using rock box on it.

(keep in mind I only use headphones and car stereo. It seems an LOD is more for external speakers) Think I might try the rock box and an amp with the mini.

 

[estreeter]

WhyRockbox < Main < Wiki

LOD will allow you to pipe your music into an amp or DAC/amp (or a DAC plus an amp ...) without resorting to the headphone out on the iPod - in many models, the HP out is the weak link and you will get a better result from the line-out.

 

[Kpalsm]

I'm very happy with my Rockbox'd 5.5th gen iPod. It's 80gb, which currently is half full, mostly of FLAC files. I'm going to have a Pico Slim to go with it soon ($350 external amplifier) and then my portable rig will be complete, at least for now.

Generally speaking, Rockbox won't give you better sound quality, but I couldn't live without it now. I bought the 5.5g just so I could Rockbox it and still use an LOD (explanation below). You can use pretty well any file type with Rockbox, which is why I like it, plus it supports ReplayGain which I also use on all of my portable music. That said, I don't know if you can use iTunes songs on a Rockbox'd iPod, you might not be able to use Rockbox if you can't use the music you bought in iTunes outside of Apple software. Maybe someone else can comment on this? Or perhaps you already know the answer...

As for the hardware side of things, I believe all current iPods can use an external amplifier via the line-out dock (the port on the bottom of the iPod), commonly shortened to LOD as I used above. You use an LOD cable (also commonly shortened to just LOD) to bypass the internal amp, rather than going through the headphone jack and amplifying an already amplified signal. This way you usually gain sound quality as well as volume, dynamics (the difference between powerful/soft sounds, or loud/quiet) and other possibilities such as gain settings and hardware bass boost, which I prefer to equalizers.

Even this is just scratching the surface; as fenixdown mentioned (quit making me want to play FF9, you!! Ahem..sorry about that

) you can get iMods as well, which I believe are all 4th or 5th/5.5th gen iPods. I don't know exactly what they are or what their purpose is but they're quite expensive. I believe they completely disable any internal processing of the music files and you have to use an external amp with them, maybe even an external dac (is this correct?). You can buy them from Red Wine Audio; they will either mod an iPod you already own or you can buy a modded one right from them for more.

If any of this confuses you post again and I'll explain in more detail.

 

[fenixdown110]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kpalsm /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'm very happy with my Rockbox'd 5.5th gen iPod. It's 80gb, which currently is half full, mostly of FLAC files. I'm going to have a Pico Slim to go with it soon ($350 external amplifier) and then my portable rig will be complete, at least for now. Generally speaking, Rockbox won't give you better sound quality, but I couldn't live without it now. I bought the 5.5g just so I could Rockbox it and still use an LOD (explanation below). You can use pretty well any file type with Rockbox, which is why I like it, plus it supports ReplayGain which I also use on all of my portable music. That said, I don't know if you can use iTunes songs on a Rockbox'd iPod, you might not be able to use Rockbox if you can't use the music you bought in iTunes outside of Apple software. Maybe someone else can comment on this? Or perhaps you already know the answer... As for the hardware side of things, I believe all current iPods can use an external amplifier via the line-out dock (the port on the bottom of the iPod), commonly shortened to LOD as I used above. You use an LOD cable (also commonly shortened to just LOD) to bypass the internal amp, rather than going through the headphone jack and amplifying an already amplified signal. This way you usually gain sound quality as well as volume, dynamics (the difference between powerful/soft sounds, or loud/quiet) and other possibilities such as gain settings and hardware bass boost, which I prefer to equalizers. Even this is just scratching the surface; as fenixdown mentioned (quit making me want to play FF9, you!! Ahem..sorry about that ) you can get iMods as well, which I believe are all 4th or 5th/5.5th gen iPods. I don't know exactly what they are or what their purpose is but they're quite expensive. I believe they completely disable any internal processing of the music files and you have to use an external amp with them, maybe even an external dac (is this correct?). You can buy them from Red Wine Audio; they will either mod an iPod you already own or you can buy a modded one right from them for more. If any of this confuses you post again and I'll explain in more detail.

I'm almost positive that iTune songs will work since I can sync my iTunes playlists originally set up on iTunes through RockBox. Replay gain really is a nice thing to have.

At the moment, Red Wine only offers services to the 4th and 5th gen iPods with the Wolfson DAC(Apple discontinued use of the Wolfson afterwards). The iMod upgrades the parts that comprise of the DAC since the Wolfson DAC is a very high quality one. I think the upgrade consists of better connections, soldering, capacitors, etc. The amp section of the iPod is indeed disabled and rendered useless, so a portable amp is a must. For the 4th gen iMod, both the headphone line out and the LOD have the same upgraded output, meaning you can run an amp from either side. For the 5th gen iMod, only the LOD has the upgraded output due to the space constraints of the slimmer iPod body. So amping from the headphone line out on those models is not recommended(You spent money to upgrade it, so use the upgraded section.

). They do sell premodded iMods of both generations, saving you the hassle of sourcing a 4/5th gen iPod and sending it in. Of course, if you're a decent DIYer, you can do the upgrade yourself. There are DIY outlines on here depicting how to do it. Hope that clears things up.

OT regarding my username: Remember to preorder FFXIII coming out on March 9th.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...pf_rd_i=507846

 

[Kpalsm]

Thanks a lot for that explanation, fenix, very concise and informative. Got rid of all the question marks in my mind about iMods

About FFXIII, already done, three of my roommates as well, thanks for the concern though

Also, quite excited for FFXIV! Anyway this is all talk for another thread

 

[fenixdown110]

Glad to have helped on both topics.

 

[moofs]

So I was thinking this:
Use itunes etc on my regular ipod and....
for the ipod mini I dont use as much I was gonna mess with that.
Tell me if I'm wrong here:
Run rockbox on the mini.
Get a LOD to connect to a portable amp.....which connects to a decent set of headphones.
Right?

 

[Kpalsm]

Quote:

Originally Posted by moofs /img/forum/go_quote.gif Tell me if I'm wrong here: Run rockbox on the mini. Get a LOD to connect to a portable amp.....which connects to a decent set of headphones. Right?

Right. I'm not familiar with the iPod Mini line, were there only two generations? The 1st and 2nd are the only two supported by Rockbox, but if that's all there is then you're fine.

 

[fenixdown110]

You can run an amp from either end of the Mini. It doesn't have to be from the LOD.

 

[Kpalsm]

The Mini puts out the same thing at both ends? Lame!

 

[moofs]

Quote:

Originally Posted by fenixdown110 /img/forum/go_quote.gif You can run an amp from either end of the Mini. It doesn't have to be from the LOD.

wont the LOD produce a cleaner less distorted sound though?

 

[Lil' Knight]

Quote:

Originally Posted by fenixdown110 /img/forum/go_quote.gif You can run an amp from either end of the Mini. It doesn't have to be from the LOD.

Not really true.

Only the iMod Mini can benefit from the headphone-out cos the caps are wired directly to the headphone out. With normal, unmodded Mini, you still have to use the dock to get the true line out.

 

[moofs]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lil' Knight /img/forum/go_quote.gif Not really true. Only the iMod Mini can benefit from the headphone-out cos the caps are wired directly to the headphone out. With normal, unmodded Mini, you still have to use the dock to get the true line out.

yeah I dont wanna mess with it internally and I dont think they mod mini's which is why I'm thinking about the LOD, to get that sound.