[yliu]

Quote:

Hence the AirPlay, feature, so you stream material you own from another Apple device, ideally something low-power connected to a NAS or server. Their Time Capsules or whatever they're called are insufficient,and connecting an external HDD to an iMac or Mac Mini is sort of inelegant... they should work on that. Rentals is a good for things where you might only want to check out a film or TV in your own time before committing to buy. You can totally see it being a way to play iOS games on your TV too in the future, using the iPhone as the controller. A trick the other boxes wouldn't have.

The airplay is said to be compatible with B&W products, does that mean that there is going to be a new Zeppelin or a new iPod dock?

 

[Somnambulist]

AirPlay is supposed to be something of an open standard, so that companies can release compatible products. I think there's been speakers announced already, forget who make them though. I guess the idea is that you have your iPod/Pad/Phone with you as a control device and providing you have say, AirPlay enabled speakers in every room, you could move between listening to internet radio in the kitchen as you do the washing up, the toilet as you do your morning constitutional and so on and not have to use the iOS device's speakers or headphones.
 
What would be really nifty though is if you had a central media hub with all your music and video on (i.e. your NAS connected to computer with iTunes with all of it in the library), that could be controlled via an iOS device and then streamed from iTunes to any AirPlay device in the house. A bit like the Remote App + Airplay. That way you would truly have a seamless household media system that was only restricted by your wallet (and possibly wife/girlfriend).

 

[penartur]

Quote:

Neither mean that iPods should have good sound.
I assume apple could put a good amp into an iPod, but then it would cost a lot more, and nobody, except the audiophiles, will pay that amount of money for an iPod.

Zune sounds much better than ipod. The price is exactly the same.

 

[Uncle Erik]

Somnambulist, that's exactly what I'm trying to build. I plan to pick up the new Apple TV (already have a giftcard for $100), then run an optical connection to the Pass D1 clone and into my rig. I'll use my iPad as a remote control. I've been wanting a Sooloos-type of system for a long time, but now I can have one as soon as I finish ripping everything into lossless.

 

[yliu]

Quote:

Zune sounds much better than ipod. The price is exactly the same.

But the Ipod is just better for someone. It's like buying a mac, you can get a much much faster system for the same money if your buy a PC, but someone just want a mac.

 

[penartur]

Quote:

But the Ipod is just better for someone. It's like buying a mac, you can get a much much faster system for the same money if your buy a PC, but someone just want a mac.

The point is that it doesn't cost much for manufacturer to make not terrible (like in ipod) but good SQ.
You said:
 
 
Quote:

I assume apple could put a good amp into an iPod, but then it would cost a lot more, and nobody, except the audiophiles, will pay that amount of money for an iPod.

and i'm saying that such ipod could cost nearly the same, not "a lot more".
Why then you're saying that some people are buying ipod just because it is ipod? How it is connected with "I assume apple could put a good amp into an iPod, but then it would cost a lot more"?

 

[Galatian]

AirPlay is supposed to be something of an open standard, so that companies can release compatible products. I think there's been speakers announced already, forget who make them though. I guess the idea is that you have your iPod/Pad/Phone with you as a control device and providing you have say, AirPlay enabled speakers in every room, you could move between listening to internet radio in the kitchen as you do the washing up, the toilet as you do your morning constitutional and so on and not have to use the iOS device's speakers or headphones.


 


What would be really nifty though is if you had a central media hub with all your music and video on (i.e. your NAS connected to computer with iTunes with all of it in the library), that could be controlled via an iOS device and then streamed from iTunes to any AirPlay device in the house. A bit like the Remote App + Airplay. That way you would truly have a seamless household media system that was only restricted by your wallet (and possibly wife/girlfriend).

Actually I beliefe it is just a Revival of the Airtunes feature. One had the ability to stream music to standalone speakers for quite some time by simply connecting the speaker to the line out socket on the airport express base station. You could already stream different music to different speakers and the apple remote always worked with it too. Also you could already stream to the old apple tv from any itunes library you had so far. Simply put i don't see how this is a new feature. They just decreased the hardware on the new apple tv (no hard disk, slower processor) and hence are able to decrease the price tag. It is now truly worth buying it, because the first apple tv always seemed like a stripped down mac mini with an accordingly high price tag on it. Though with the new mac minis having a hdmi out I'd still rather get that, because that way I could also surf the Internet in my couch, play DVD's and have it as a true streaming server through additional external hard disks as it supports USB.

I don't like the new iPod touch, as they still don't deliver a 128 gb flash drive and the back camera has a very low resolution. I mean I don't care much about cameras on the PMP anyway, but if I'm already paying for it anyway why not add the good one from the iPhone 4?

The new nano seems sleek at first but they completely dropped the video support and I'm sure that's a big no-go for a lot of customers.

 

[wkamil]

Quote:

The point is that it doesn't cost much for manufacturer to make not terrible (like in ipod) but good SQ.
 

Yeah, this should happen when Sony stop making this terrible hissing DAPs, FE - X1050 and A845.
 

 

[penartur]

Quote:

Quote:

The point is that it doesn't cost much for manufacturer to make not terrible (like in ipod) but good SQ.
 

Yeah, this should happen when Sony stop making this terrible hissing DAPs, FE - X1050 and A845.

I don't notice hiss on sony (maybe because i'm not using ultra-sensitive IEMs; btw, even Kenwood HD60GD9 is known for its hiss); and this potential hiss doesn't make crappy ipod sound any better.

 

[semisight]

Quote:

I don't like the new iPod touch, as they still don't deliver a 128 gb flash drive and the back camera has a very low resolution. I mean I don't care much about cameras on the PMP anyway, but if I'm already paying for it anyway why not add the good one from the iPhone 4?

128GB is still too expensive, but we will see it in the next year or even six months (following Moore's law). The iPod touch is too thin for a decent sized image sensor. Also, the iPhone's components can be more expensive because the thing costs around twice as much.

 

[yliu]

Quote:

 
and i'm saying that such ipod could cost nearly the same, not "a lot more".
Why then you're saying that some people are buying ipod just because it is ipod? How it is connected with "I assume apple could put a good amp into an iPod, but then it would cost a lot more"?

Well, people don't buy iPods because it sound good, but because of it's looks cool, and the GUI is cool, so why would the company waste any of their time and money to improve the SQ?

 

[grokit]

 
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Well, people don't buy iPods because it sound good, but because of it's looks cool, and the GUI is cool, so why would the company waste any of their time and money to improve the SQ?

Especially when you can just bypass the internal amp and use the line out. I have read a few threads that compare, and the consensus is that the Classic model has the best line out and the iPhone 4 has the best headphone out. The new iTouch will probably be more like the iPhone 4.

 

[Dawindyk]

Quote:

I don't notice hiss on sony (maybe because i'm not using ultra-sensitive IEMs; btw, even Kenwood HD60GD9 is known for its hiss); and this potential hiss doesn't make crappy ipod sound any better.

I do notice it on both IE8 and MTPC - it's pretty annoying especially if I compare it to Sony's own S639, And ipod's sound is definately not crappy - at least not iTouch 2G/3G. Although I prefer both my Sony's I have no problem with listening to my music from iTouch 2G - and using Corda 3Move I even prefer iTouch

 

[penartur]

Quote:

Well, people don't buy iPods because it sound good, but because of it's looks cool, and the GUI is cool, so why would the company waste any of their time and money to improve the SQ?

Again, it doesn't mean that iPod with a good SQ would cost "a lot more". In fact, manufacturing costs of iPod with a good SQ could be just couple of bucks higher than now. But Apple doesn't care of their customers, Jobs says that you should not want good SQ and that you should want touchscreen instead, so lemmings are purchasing iPods because Jobs said them to.

 

[LevA]

Quote:

Again, it doesn't mean that iPod with a good SQ would cost "a lot more". In fact, manufacturing costs of iPod with a good SQ could be just couple of bucks higher than now. But Apple doesn't care of their customers, Jobs says that you should not want good SQ and that you should want touchscreen instead, so lemmings are purchasing iPods because Jobs said them to.

I think its the other way around. I think most people want convenience and touchscreen, cameras, wi-fi etc. with sound quality lower in the list...look how most people on the street with ipods using the buds or cheap alternatives. in that regard, apple is giving them exactly what people want. 
the irony is we here at headfi still complain about the quality of SQ in ipods and want to see an improvement. I think its a testament how well the design and function of their products are that we still cant let go of hoping for a fix in their SQ. 
I mean, you don't see many people still bitchin about irivers. most people gave up and really don't care that much. but not the ipod..just look at how many threads there are about steve jobs not bloody giving us upgrade in SQ!!