[Dobber]

Well I have had the Ipod for 2 or 3 weeks now, And thought I would finally jump in to the world of headphone amps. I have a Super Mini Moy on the way, And my SiK Din just arrived today. So I hooked it up to my older Yamaha Int. Amp. It sounded so much better, With more depth & detail.
Then I decided to hook it up to my Sony N510 MiniDisc. Plugged it in, Hit Rec & Pause and took a listen. Definately more to my likeing than the Ipod Headphone out. Though not quite as clean as the Yamaha. Dire Straits, Your Latest Trick/Why Worry sound more open, Private Ivestigations- Knopfler's voice doesn't sound flat. I noticed the biggest improvement with my Sr-60s, The Ipod does not seem to like these? The Sportapros & KTX-1 Also sounded noticeably better.
If the Super Mini sounds at least as good as my MD as an amp I will be very satisfied.

 

[OneMalt]

My guess is that ATRAC just sounds better that whatever compression format your iPod is using. I say that because most newer portable MD units have noticably weaker headphone outputs than their ancestors (MZ-R50 or 55 for instance). Thus, I credit the ATRAC compression format.

 

[Dobber]

Well, I don't want to open that can of worms up. And in this case it really isn't a factor. Atrac has no part of this. I was merely useing the MD's amplification circuitry. Just passing a line level signal into it's line-in jack, And out it's headphone jack. I had it in record mode only to fool it into doing this.

 

[Twombly]

ATRAC? If you take a look at the hydrogenaudio.org forums, it's probably one of, if not the most reviled compression formats in existence. Most testing places equivalently encoded LAME MP3's, WMA, AAC, OGG, and such a good deal ahead of it.

 

[Dobber]

OK I get it. Please let this thread die. I am sorry I posted.

 

[Cthulhu]

There are acknolwedge problems with the ipod headphone jack and low impedance headphones.

Where by problems, I mean it cannot drive them correctly.

An intresting test would be to try a higher impedance set of headphones and see if you can notice the same difference with them in a blind test.

 

[JiiEf]

My MD walkman sounds pretty good too, but is really low powered - I have to run even low impedance earphones at nearly max volume. It's still way better than my PCDP, which should have double the power

. No comments on compression, though.

/JF