[zumaro]

Most of the chronic faults have been fixed now - just intermittent hiss when you turn it off has been introduced by the latest firmware update. The problem with the classic so far has not been the hardware, it is the lack of any quality control in the firmware, that left the device nearly unusable to begin with for many people, with subsequent updates both fixing faults and introducing chronic new ones. Most people are probably not afflicted with these problems, but a very large minority have been, and they are obviously consistent firmware problems, that Apple has had to solve - not one off complaints from idiots and people with weird usage patterns.

Take your choice as to whether it is safe to get a Classic - probably yes, but the problem is Apple not the device, which is seemingly at the mercy of its programmers. If you get one try and downgrade its firmware to 1.03, which has very few issues.

 

[rhythmdevils]

I love my new classic 160GB. It is nice and slim, battery life is crazy good, and it has never frozen on me [knock on wood]. It also is supposed to have a very scratch resistant front face, screen made of glass. people have said they dont even cover it, and it is fine. i keep a condom on mine though, just to play it safe

 

[rhythmdevils]

oh, and agree with vinnie in it being half way between the imod and unmodded 4G. I had the three side by side, and compared them

it does have more treble energy, but it is in the far upper reaches of treble, beyond where any of my headhones are prone to sibilance or sharpness. so it just adds extra detail. and I am very sensitive to sibilance

 

[uraflit]

is it worser? i think most people won't be able to tell the difference anyways!

 

[muz640]

Well ive just got my 160 classic, SQ wise all the detail is there, but it sounds totally flat not 3D at all, the 2gig Sansa clip i have just walks all over it! and thats running apple losless throught the LOD (the clips running 192kps!) im hoping the IPOD is going to get better, if not, maybe i can send it back to amazon.

 

[TickTockMan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ronnielee54 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I realize that SQ is a matter of personal preference and everyone has their own opinion. My concerns with the Classic were the operational issues I have been reading about such as freezing up, skipping, and having problems connecting to Itunes. I never use the sync options so I am not concerned about that. I just want it to work correctly. With my 55 yeare old ears I will never notice the slight difference in SQ.

I spent about 3 weeks obsessively reading posts about all the problems with the iPod Classic before I just said the heck with it and bought one.

Other than the dreaded "Headphone Hiss" introduced in update 1.1, I've had no problems. Interface is slick, and it does just what I want it to. I'm not a hardcore audiophile, but I do appreciate good sound, and to my 45 year old ears, I get it from the Classic.

First tip though, dump the pack-in earbuds and get something decent (in this case "decent" is defined as what you feel you can reasonably afford, and what sounds good to YOUR ears). Just stay around the 16 to 20 ohm impedance range and you should be happy with the sound. My first minor upgrade was to a set of Philips Virtual Surround Sound earbuds ($15) and the sound difference was pretty pronounced. Ordered some Sennheisers today though....

I also don't like to automatically sync, except on my Calendar and Contacts, so I turned off the option to automatically sync music, videos, and podcasts in iTunes and do it manually. Don't have a HUGE library... maybe 200 albums or so, so this isn't a big hardship.

Tock

 

[IvanBarista]

Get One now. I got mine today. I have a ipod Photo. The sound of the Classic 160gb to my ear is More detailed and Relaxed , and more expansive. after this, I think there are a lot of vested interest group on older iPods.

 

[Sparky191]

Do you find the interface slow on the classic after using the earlier iPods. Its seems quite slow to me. Though I've only tried a classic in the store.

 

[mahatma andi]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sparky191 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Do you find the interface slow on the classic after using the earlier iPods. Its seems quite slow to me. Though I've only tried a classic in the store.

Indeed it seems slow in the store, but that's only because it's the old firmware!
The newest (1.1.1) makes the whole menu smooth and fast.
Sometimes it laggs when loading covers in the "album-view" but i think that's my fault, cause the resolution of the covers too big and it has to downscale.
But except of that, it's fast and smooth - i recommend it!

mahatma

 

[raisin]

The sound of my 160 classic is much better suited to the Triple-fi's than my 3g ipod. The bass was actually too much before, there is a much better balance now.
Of course, I couldn't make it thru a workday non-stop with the 3g without running out of battery. Now I can get away with a once a week charge...

 

[Qosmio]

Quote:

Originally Posted by raisin /img/forum/go_quote.gif The sound of my 160 classic is much better suited to the Triple-fi's than my 3g ipod. The bass was actually too much before, there is a much better balance now. Of course, I couldn't make it thru a workday non-stop with the 3g without running out of battery. Now I can get away with a once a week charge...

For me ipod classic is 1 of the best sounding without amp..,and now im really curious about cowon a3 and zune 80..,anyone can compare with classic..?it would be great..

 

[bufo333]

I upgraded from the 5.5g ipod to the classic and although it does not have problems with line out signal I can't stand the sound.

If you compare the classic to the 5g side by side what you will notice is that the 5g has a better sound stage, you feel like you are in the middle of the band or inside the tube of a sax. The sound surrounds you, punchy highs, good mids, decent bass.

what i am trying to say is when switching from my 5g ipod to the classic I feel like it is not stereo, like it is mono. I mean obviously it is sterio but it has no depth it feel like a peace of paper flat. I am not very good at explaing these things, but it feel like you pump a mono signal into each ear.

even on songs which have effects moving from one side to another, or fade in effects, the sound is flat untextured. it lacks depth.

if I am not making sense maybe someone with a better audio vocabulary can translate what i am saying into sense.

if my 5g wasn't stolen out of the car, I would have returned the 6g. sometimes it is not about detail, or purity of input signal. sometimes it is just about this: When I put on my headphones do I feel like I am sitting in the middle of the band where I can distinctly hear seperation between instruments or am I listening to a flat sound lacking seperation or sound stage.

To me the classic ipod is flat. I just can't explain it any better then that, you get used to it but why should you have to?

 

[IpodHappy]

I have owned a number of Ipods starting with a 2G 20Gb. The Ipod Classic has been plagued with more software issues than any I've encountered before. As well, certain aspects of the sound quality have degraded while others have been improved.

From a software standpoint, v1.0.1, v1.0.3, and v1.1.1 seem to be okay. Steer clear of the others.

With respect to sound quality, the Classic has an excellent signal to noise ratio which is a big improvement when using high sensitivity head phones such as the Shure e500c's or UltimateEar Super Fi 5 Pro's. On the negative side, the sound stage of the Classic is narrower than with any previous generation of Ipod with the exception of the 2G. (When I had the 2G, I chalked the sound stage issue up to using MP3 rather than AAC encoded music. Now, I'm not so sure.) I've purchased 2 Classics, separated in date code by 6 weeks. Both have the sound stage issue.

 

[ingwe]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arainach /img/forum/go_quote.gif I've been incredibly impressed with my 160GB classic. Excellent sound quality, UNREAL battery life.....Great player.

x2

Try to use it with a decent LOD and amp.