[Joelby]

Something tells me these guys loved the old iPods too...

 

[lungStruck]

I have an iPod Classic 80GB.  Purchased Nov. 2007, still going.  I figure it's going to give up the ghost soon, either battery or hard drive.  I've been very happy with it.  Using headphones with the built-in amp results in occasional hard drive noise, but most of the time it's either hooked up to my Total Bithead DAC or connected to the car so it isn't an issue.  When it finally bites the dust I'll likely replace it with another one.

 

[tdunks]

Which gen ipod classic actually has the best sound quality?

 

[qohelet]

 
Quote:

Which gen ipod classic actually has the best sound quality?

 

ipod 5th gen. the one with wolfson audio chip.

 

[PinoyPogiman]

oh yes, please refer to this:
 
http://macintoshhowto.com/itunes/which-ipod-has-the-best-audio-quality.html
 
and it says:
Ipod Classic 5th gen and 5.5gen has the best audio quality among the ipod tree. because of the more defining Wolfson Audio Chip.
 
worst SQ?  the 3rd generation iphone.

 

[danimoca]

Isn't it a question of preference?
 
The 5G - Warmer sounding
 
The 6G/7G - More analytical

 

[PinoyPogiman]

well, me owning a Ipod Touch 3rd generation
and a 5.5gen Ipod video (ipod classic)
 
Ipod Classic 5-5.5gen: More warm, more detail to sound. which there is more depth of sound.
which actually seems to improve the soundstage for some headphones.(in my opinion).
 
Ipod Touch3rd gen,(and other ipods without wolfson chip):
more treblely sounding, higher pitched. not as detailed, which has less soundstage sounding(IMO)
 
 

 

[proton007]

I use the Nano 4g and Classic 7g.
Different IEMs for each, so can't really compare, but all I can say is neither is bad in terms of quality. Perhaps I'll do a blind test someday to compare.
 
There are two problems I can think of,
1) Have to use iTunes + ALAC, which means converting all my FLAC to ALAC.
2) No option to delete files on the iPod itself. If some album you didn't want to sync got transferred to your iPod, you'll have to stick with it until you sync the  next time.

 

[Brooko]

@ PinoyPogiman - way to go, resurrected an almost 10 year old thread - guess that's close to being a record

 
BTW - the chips in today's iPod Touch are Cirrus Logic chips - not Cisco.  I'd also question the 'because it's a Wolfson it sounds better' thought process.  I've heard the 5th Gen (5.5 Video), and while it was definitely warmer sounding than my G4Touch and iPhone4 - I actually preferred the SQ on the 4th Gen Touch/iPhone.  They may be Cirrus chips - but they sound great to me.  As usual YMMV.

 

[wavoman]

Nothing wrong with a 10-year old thread.
 
Some answers (I've got multiple 4G nanos, 5 and 5.5G Wolfson-based babies):
 
-- If you are on Windows, then XPLAY3 (not free but worth it) lets you manage your iPod just like a USB drive, using Explorer.  No need to "sync", just copy, delete, etc.  Piece of cake.
 
-- ALAC 48000 uncompressed sound great on the 5 and 5.5 G's, using an LOD and any good portable amp.  They sound sensational modiftying you iPod to be an iMod and using a great portable amp.  Or using a Wadia or Oknyo digital doc.  ALAC 48000 is near reference quality.
 
-- When I buy 96000 FLACs from a HiRes service, the down-convert to 48000 ALACs is really more like a decimation, not a conversion (every other sample, well not really, but an interpolate of every other).  Hot A/B switching between the original 96000 FLAC from a PC and the 48000 ALAC from the Wadia dock and I hear no difference (the DAC, amp, etc. are all constant).  I use FB2K (which some people say is not the best FLAC player, but I could never hear a difference) and a silent Windows PC, top of the line USB-to-SPDIF converter, pro audio SPDIF switch, Wadia 170i, Benchmark DAC SPDIF in, Benchmark Balanced Analog Out to Balanced Beta 22 to HD800's to make this comparison, so I think the rig is up to the test.  I have also gone balanced into a Stax 717 with O2's and HE60's ... still no difference.
 
-- Now this will be controversial:  I rip all my CDs with EAC, and then take the 44.1 WAV and upsample to 96000 FLAC via SOX with aliasing on.  I then decimate to 48000 ALAC as in the last step, and now I have fantastic sound with full metadata and album art.  Again A/B of the 44.1 WAV against the 48000 ALAC reveals no difference, or preference to the ALAC (the magic of upsampling, or more likely placebo, but who cares).
 
Strongly recomment XRECODE (also not free) for the best FLAC to ALAC conversion on a PC.  FB2K loses the embedded album art.
 
Long live 4 and 5/5.5 G!! 

 

[aroldan]

You can always rockbox your iPod Classic

 

[skamp]

Again A/B of the 44.1 WAV against the 48000 ALAC reveals no difference, or preference to the ALAC (the magic of upsampling, or more likely placebo, but who cares).

Then why in gawd's name are you going through the hassle of upsampling 44.1 to 96 and then downsampling to 48??

 

[kenman345]

Yea, I am completely confused by that explanation. The upsampling may actually change the data to be less accurate, especially when you are taking a format that I believe is supposed to be a top notch lossless format, and then eventually downsample your upsample to the original bitrate and sample rate. Kinda seems like an unnecessary step. Any conversion method shouldn't have difficulty convert something from Wav to another lossless file format. 
Quote:

Then why in gawd's name are you going through the hassle of upsampling 44.1 to 96 and then downsampling to 48??

 
I also do not understand why a thread that started in 2003 and hasnt had a post since then, has surfaced once again. While this information may be useful to someone, the OP and many of the others that originally posted in this thread probably don't need a response after 9 years. The iPod is played out, I love mine, but it's likely not to be a continued product from Apple in the coming future. No new updates to the device besides a change in HDD size has been made in about two years (I think more actually). 

 

[yodanyo]

How much of the "because its a Wolfson audio Dac" > Cirrus argument like saying "Geforce" is the best video card or "Porsche"s are the best cars. Doesnt different make/models of the company differ such that they all differ and the brand name itself doesn't matter?

 

[lostid]

 I didn't know anything about the wolf's son until I was blown away by the SQ of rockboxed ipod video. Immediately I lost interest in my iphone 4s.