iPod vs. PowerBook mini-review

[hadron]

My iPod (40 GB, 4th Gen) was in serious need of charging, so I grabbed the Firewire cable and plugged it into my 15" PowerBook (1.5 GHz G4). iTunes popped up, so I figured, why not take a listen (using the Ety ER-4P).

Note, all songs were being sourced from the iPod, and all are MP3s at 256 kbps ripped from CD.

Listened to some stuff like Massive Attack's Mezzanine and a bit of Björk's Telegram, and it was sounding pretty good. But then I put it on shuffle and Miranda Sex Garden's "Sweet Honey Sucking Bees" came on. Wow, the PowerBook fell down hard trying to play this (3 female Madrigal), flat staging with almost nonexistant seperation between the 3 vocalists. Direct from the iPod phone out and the depth and seperation returned, plus there was greater dynamic range.

Trying some heavy classical, Penderecki's Cello Concerto through the PowerBook is simply lifeless, the sonic attack just isn't there, the PB's amp seems unable to drive sharp transients into even a fairly easy load like the Etys. I listen to this piece frequently and the iPod does quite well, while it misses the subtleties of a good DAC it does hit the aggression fully.

Just now, Haydn's Cello Cencerto started playing, this is quite enjoyable being a more laid-back composition.

The PB does seem capable in terms of frequency range, and is OK for music that isn't too demanding in terms of soundstage or imaging. On complex layered pieces, it is seriously lacking.

Take this review for what it's worth, a late night comparision between the two components I was playing with at the time.

 

[blessingx]

Thanks for the review hadron. I did a short test of the Airport Express against th e iPod recently, and although I used different music, I found similar results in favor of the Airport Express. Maybe the Apple rankings are AE>iPod>onboard.

 

[hadron]

That's interesting, what did you use for the source and output with the Airport Express?

Being a *nix sys admin, I keep the PB near at all times, ssh/X11 and all that...
Not that it's much of a burden

This comparision was more for my own benefit, and it turns out that I should always remember to tuck the iPod into my bag...

 

[EdipisReks]

i also have an airport express, an iPod and a PowerBook, and i think the AE sounds the best and the PowerBook onboard and iPod sound different but are both pretty good. to bad the AE is a little unwieldy to take with you for the purposes of listening to headphones. to me, the iPod is more neutral, but the powerbook is more...fun. and the PowerBook might be slightly cleaner, but it's close. the iPod certainly drives phones better than my PowerBook.
the fact that the ipod has a line out makes a huge difference, however.

in the past year and a half i've had a 1 GHz TiBook and a 1.25 GHz Albook (it's a long story of many repairs and 2 absolute lemon machines), and they all sounded different. the TiBook was kinda lackluster, and the 1.25 had a very quiet output. it may just all come down to luck of the draw, since i believe all 3 versions that i've owned lately have had different revisions of the same sound chip.

 

[blessingx]

Quote:

Originally Posted by hadron That's interesting, what did you use for the source and output with the Airport Express?

AIFF files (needed for third contender which had no ALAC support) to AE/4G iPod/Roku M1000 to SR71 to Zu HD650s. Used primarily Neko Case and Kate Rusby as I was eyeing the mid range, but the AE also won on detail, fullness, etc.