[warrior05]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheNew007 Is this true even for earbuds such as E500? Is it mandatory or is it recommended to improve the listening experience

keep in mind that after the iMod you no longer have a volume controllable headphone output, only a line out. hence the need for an amp. it's like having a separate source that you need to hook up to a stereo or amp.

 

[TheNew007]

can't i use the e500 volume control knob to control the volume?

 

[isamu]

guys what the hell is an "iMod"? Link and explanation please?

 

[immtbiker]

Seek and ye shall find:

http://www.redwineaudio.com/iMod.html

 

[abeautifulife]

To answer Jayjayz, yes, to me it's worth it.

I have a very minimal standard for Music (although that didn't stop me from spending loads

)... So long as the sound passes a minimal standard, be it mp3 or lossless, I'm fine with it... I listen mostly for enjoyment and relaxation.. I took a brief listen on the ipod before sending it off and thought it sounded sweet... something I could certainly live with on the move (yes even via the headphone out

). But now I've my imod, I've to say it's the way to go. The sound is certainly more detailed, resolving and the highs are much clearer. It's not a subtle difference.

To answer TheNew007. I did use the E500 and volume control directly with the imod. For my listening level however, at the lowest setting, the volume was still slightly louder than I was comfortable with. Using higher impedance phones (HD-600) certainly gave more comfortable listening levels. So yes it's possible but I didn't do so long enough to evaluate the sound quality. I was more concerned with battery life

FWIW, the imod sounds great with the porta corda

 

[TheNew007]

Quote:

Originally Posted by abeautifulife To answer Jayjayz, yes, to me it's worth it. I have a very minimal standard for Music (although that didn't stop me from spending loads )... So long as the sound passes a minimal standard, be it mp3 or lossless, I'm fine with it... I listen mostly for enjoyment and relaxation.. I took a brief listen on the ipod before sending it off and thought it sounded sweet... something I could certainly live with on the move (yes even via the headphone out ). But now I've my imod, I've to say it's the way to go. The sound is certainly more detailed, resolving and the highs are much clearer. It's not a subtle difference. To answer TheNew007. I did use the E500 and volume control directly with the imod. For my listening level however, at the lowest setting, the volume was still slightly louder than I was comfortable with. Using higher impedance phones (HD-600) certainly gave more comfortable listening levels. So yes it's possible but I didn't do so long enough to evaluate the sound quality. I was more concerned with battery life FWIW, the imod sounds great with the porta corda

So what you're saying is that the resistance isnt enough? Does anyone know the potentiometer value on the E500 control knob and also if there are any portable control knobs with higher resistance?

 

[Brent Hutto]

It's nothing to do with resistance. The gain of the amplifier is too high. That's an almost universal problem unless you're using a very high impedence and/or insensitive headphone.

For most of the headphones commonly mentioned on this forum, the line-level output from the source has sufficient voltage to drive the headphone to uncomfortably loud volume. Yet we all use headphone amps with voltage gains of 2.5 or more which results in having to use a good bit of the volume control's range to knock it back to a listenable level. I know my HD595 will absolutely scream if fed directly from the line-out of my CD player.

For those of us with headphones of 50 ohms impedence or less (or even 64-ohm ones that are sensitive) what we really want from a headphone amp is current-supply headroom (relative to a typical weak line-out source) and ability to control the complex load presented by the headphone. It is my understanding (with the caveat I'm no electronics techie) that op-amp based headphone amps can experience instability problem as the gain is decreased toward unity. So we end up with a lot of amps that would work fine with a 120-300 ohm (or more) headphone but have to kept at a low volume setting.

NOTE: All of this assumes a moderate-to-high sensitivity of the headphone, which is often the case. There are some insensitive models for which everything I said is much less of an issue. Keep in mind that "hard to drive" does not mean "insensitive", though.

 

[PeeeMeS]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brent Hutto It's nothing to do with resistance. The gain of the amplifier is too high. That's an almost universal problem unless you're using a very high impedence and/or insensitive headphone.

??? Ummm... maybe I'm reading this wrong?

Nothing to do with R?

 

[nfusion770]

I just bought a 4g and sent it off to Vinnie. So you really can use headphones straight out of the jack? If so wouldnt something like the Shure attenuator help control excessive volume?

 

[Brent Hutto]

Quote:

Originally Posted by PeeeMeS ??? Ummm... maybe I'm reading this wrong? Nothing to do with R?

Well, I suppose you can always put an attenuator of some kind in line to decrease the volume. But using a simple resistive volume control is going to be unsatisfactory. A line output is not designed to drive the sort of load presented by a headphone with or without an inline volume control. For good quality sound, you need an amplifier or at least some sort of robust output stage and you need the gain to be appropriate for the impedence and sensitivity of the output device (headphone).

Let's put it this way, if someone's going to spend $200 on the assumption that the line-out in their iPod is not of sufficient quality they're way out in the far end of the cost-vs-quality curve. To turn around and try to make that line-out drive a headphone and use a resistive volume control to tame the resulting level mismatch is kind of like buying a Ferrari and putting a set of bias-ply retread tires on it. You could probably drive it, but when it doesn't handle like a Ferrari it's obvious what the problem is.

 

[warrior05]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brent Hutto Let's put it this way, if someone's going to spend $200 on the assumption that the line-out in their iPod is not of sufficient quality they're way out in the far end of the cost-vs-quality curve. To turn around and try to make that line-out drive a headphone and use a resistive volume control to tame the resulting level mismatch is kind of like buying a Ferrari and putting a set of bias-ply retread tires on it. You could probably drive it, but when it doesn't handle like a Ferrari it's obvious what the problem is.

i agree with brent. you are spending a chunk of change for a fantastic mod but then you are trying to choke the advantages it brings. the latest version of the go-vibe just came out and it is only around $80 shipped. heck, even getting a PA2V2 will do better than what you are thinking of doing. if you want really low profile, get a supermini.

 

[Brent Hutto]

Personally, I'd rather rather listen to a stock iPod's line-out through a decent amp ($200) portable amp than have the iPod modified and then connect it straight to the headphone. If you were using a really easy-to-drive headphone it would work, I suppose, but you'd be really shooting yourself in the foot if you used something that presents a demanding load.

 

[JayJayz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brent Hutto Personally, I'd rather rather listen to a stock iPod's line-out through a decent amp ($200) portable amp than have the iPod modified and then connect it straight to the headphone. If you were using a really easy-to-drive headphone it would work, I suppose, but you'd be really shooting yourself in the foot if you used something that presents a demanding load.

I don't think you get it; you NEED an amp for the imod to work. The imod is just another upgrade; and is much better than an ipod dock line out to amp.

The imod will not work without an amplifier.

 

[Brent Hutto]

I understand completely, JayJayz.

We were just explaining to New007 why one would not want to hook earbuds directly to the line-out of the modded iPod, with or without an attenuator. Nothing but trouble in it. My point was that if you don't want or need or can't afford an amplifier then you don't want to mod your iPod.

 

[warrior05]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brent Hutto I understand completely, JayJayz. We were just explaining to New007 why one would not want to hook earbuds directly to the line-out of the modded iPod, with or without an attenuator. Nothing but trouble in it. My point was that if you don't want or need or can't afford an amplifier then you don't want to mod your iPod.

exactly.