[Electro Point]

I was fortunate to be able to borrow the ipod touch 16GB from one of my family members. I think its a neat device, worthwhile for some good use.
Yes, I know some have already put out their review about it but here are my impressions.
I will also be comparing it to the 5th gen 60GB video.

Equipment used for sound testing:
Sennheiser CX300 out of headphone out on both ipods
Line out dock ---> Cardas mini-mini ---> Headroom Airhead amp ---> AKG K271S

This is not an in-depth sort of review but short to the point.
Test out of all headphone out --
The ipod touch has exceptionally clean highs which I noticed, It had more "sparkle" per se. Though the midrange was like flat, a bit dry and not as warm as the 60GB video. Bass is not as impactful but it extends deep as well as not as present with the other ipod. It seems a bit more attenuated.

Comparing it to the 5th gen video ipod, It is more sit-back kind of sound. Not that much of in your face warm type of midrange (sort of colored sound) as the video ipod has. The ipod touch has brighter highs over the video ipod. Though the video ipod has a smoother sound because of the warmer not-flat sounding midrange.

Test using line out with headphone amp--
With the line out and connected to an amp the ipod touch has this clean, detailed sound but the cause might be the brighter highs and dry midrange. The bass is about the same with the headphone out.
Sound is around the same as with the headphone out, just more opened up and detailed using line out and amp.
IMO the ipod touch has more light sparkling clarity then the ipod video throughout the frequency bandwidth but the sound of the ipod video has tighter bass and better presence of the sound as well as warmer midrange.

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Edit: Review on iPod touch

I have to say its a great product but some will disagree with my points.
They used the same chrome metal back that is vulnerable to scratches easy. The ipod touch is thin as anything for its thickness.
Its just like an iPhone but without the "phone". The interface is extremely easy to use and convenient. Using it sometimes can be laggy since you have to wait for it respond if you do things too fast. Like switch from Safari back to music. The software has some glitches they need to fix. One I noticed is that sometimes when a song is not playing it will say its playing with the play icon on the top bar. Thats just about all there is to say about the ipod touch.


Picture comparing ipod touch to video 60GB and 1st gen mini.

 

[big-fi]

Nice review.

That touch looks scratched already! lol...


What rockbox theme is that btw?

 

[fyleow]

I've had my 16GB Touch for about a week now and I've been using it on and off. While it's a very impressive device I can't recommend it and I'll probably be returning it to pick up a different player.

Sound Quality:

I compared the Touch to my usual DAP which is the Creative Zen Touch and also to my home system (X-Fi digital out -> Zhaolu D2 -> M3 w/ OPA 637s). Headphones used on the DAPs is an unamped HD 600.

I agree with Electro Point about the mids, they seemed pretty flat to me. I also thought that maybe it was a little bright and the bass a little out of control at times. Compared to my home system I felt that on some tracks the bass on the Touch wasn't as tight and kind of boomy. The Creative's bass is a little anemic I think, but overall I like the sound of the Creative over the Touch. The Touch doesn't sound terrible by any means but it is nothing to write home about.

Bugs:

There seems to be quite a few quirks in this player that still has to be worked out. Some things I've noticed thus far is the sound cutting out when listening to music and browsing the web using Safari at the same time. There are also some tracks that won't play properly on the Touch, even though they play fine in Itunes.

Positives:

The screen is really nice and the player is very small for a portable media player type device. If you're going to be watching a lot of videos on this thing then it might be worth it because it has a large screen while remaining compact in size.

There are some bonuses you'll fine on the Touch that aren't as readily available on other players. Safari is nice and can be useful if you're near a Wi-Fi access point and need to check something really quickly. Youtube is also a nice addition and so is the Itunes store.

Negatives:

The biggest deal breaker for me is the lack of dedicated volume controls and next track buttons. I consider being able to have this level of control without having to look at the player to be essential. Pressing the home button two times brings up these controls so it might be possible to control the Touch blindly with practice but it is still extremely tricky.

Another issue I have with the Touch is that it's almost impossible to control with one hand. The buttons are all over the place and it's difficult to get your thumb or finger into place without risking dropping the player. I think this issue of requiring two hands to use affects other players as well like the Meizu M6 and Creative Zen, but I've never used either so I can't say.

Safari is kind of gimmicky. The browser does not support flash or java and videos that require real player or windows media player will not work. This means that most websites will not work at all as flash is used extensively on the web. Websites that require you to click and drag to function will also not work correctly. An example is Google maps. You can't drag the map around on the touch.

The back of Touch is the easily scratched finish, I really wished they used a more resistant back like the Iphone instead.

Conclusion:

If you're going to be using your player for mostly audio then go for something else. In my opinion the greatest strength of the Touch is its large screen and video playing capabilities. If you are going to be watching a lot of videos then the Touch might be worth considering. I strongly advise potential buyers to wait for the second generation of the Touch. I think the current Touch is a departure from normal Apple products which are usually carefully constructed with parts that fit well together. The Touch feels more like a hacked Iphone with the phone function removed. It's a nice device, but it doesn't feel like something built from the ground up to be a touchscreen media player. It's a rushed product and I'm willing to bet that when Apple is able to spend more time and really build a 2nd generation Touch it will be a lot better.

Well, I hope this helps.

EDIT:

I'll probably end up with the new Creative Zen 16 GB instead. I use my player mostly for audio so I think it is a better fit for me because it has a smaller footprint and it's also $150 cheaper than the Touch. It also has tactile controls so controlling volume and skipping tracks should be possible in the blind. The layout of the player worries me because one handed operation is going to be hard. SD expansion is also poorly done but hopefully a firmware will fix the issue.

 

[urabus]

Quote:

Originally Posted by fyleow /img/forum/go_quote.gif .... I'll probably end up with the new Creative Zen 16 GB instead. I use my player mostly for audio so I think it is a better fit for me because it has a smaller footprint and it's also $150 cheaper than the Touch. It also has tactile controls so controlling volume and skipping tracks should be possible in the blind. The layout of the player worries me because one handed operation is going to be hard. SD expansion is also poorly done but hopefully a firmware will fix the issue.

One handed operation is fine with the zen, just hold in portrait orientation and you can easily work the volume and forward/back buttons. Obviously what's one the screen will be rotated by 90 degrees but once the music starts, controls are all by one handed touch.

I'm not too happy with the SD card integration with the player but I also doubt that creative will do any firmware changes to fix that problem. I also only have the 4gb so i don't have much invested in the player and can justify the SD situation.