[lescanadiens]

Thank you @imod & @fleasbaby.

I could not tell whether the lod had a cap in it.
The previous owner used the imod ipod with this lod and a vcap dock from alo.

I feel lucky that the ipod worked well otherwise I was afraid it would harm the amp without the capped lod.

Finding a reasonable priced capped lod is not easy these days since the imod craze is over now.

Any impressions for red wine imod vs diy imod (capless)?

 

[DMinor]

Thank you @imod & @fleasbaby.

I could not tell whether the lod had a cap in it.
The previous owner used the imod ipod with this lod and a vcap dock from alo.

I feel lucky that the ipod worked well otherwise I was afraid it would harm the amp without the capped lod.

Finding a reasonable priced capped lod is not easy these days since the imod craze is over now.

Any impressions for red wine imod vs diy imod (capless)?

 
You can plug the lod to your imod (turned on) and measure the dc offset from the 3.5mm plug using a multimeter. Without cap in you lod, you should get about 2v of dc output from your imod. With cap you should get zero. 
 
You may be able to verify it by just opening the lod without using a multimeter. I don't recommend doing this if you could break it. 

 

[fleasbaby]

Thank you @imod & @fleasbaby.

I could not tell whether the lod had a cap in it.
The previous owner used the imod ipod with this lod and a vcap dock from alo.

I feel lucky that the ipod worked well otherwise I was afraid it would harm the amp without the capped lod.

Finding a reasonable priced capped lod is not easy these days since the imod craze is over now.

Any impressions for red wine imod vs diy imod (capless)?

Technically, if both are being operated capless, there should be no difference between a DIYMod and an iMod. @DMinor has done some interesting work in this regard though, soldering the wires directly to lifted pins as opposed to the board in the iPod and can speak to any improvements he might have heard.

 

[DMinor]

I would like to say this from my experience and experiments after having tried many different caps and modded the 5g/5.5g differently. I was the one who first tried Kemet film caps and found them to be good sounding caps and later some head-fi'ers tried them as well and agreed with me. That said, I was surprised by the dynamic and clean sounding when I finally experimented one without caps and from there never looked back. To my ears, the audio path completely free of caps (diymod, lod cable and amp are all capless) sounds the best.
 
Regarding the difference between modding the board only (aka imod) and soldering to the lifted pins, both have their own personalities depending on the op amps used in the amp. For my case using the UHA6S, I found excellent results from using AD8610 for the diymod soldered to the pins and using OPA209 for the diymod soldered to the board only. Even the lod cables using different wires sounded noticeably different to my ears with best results from the one using solid silver in cotton sleeves by Homegrown Audio.
 
The improvement over the stock ipod 5g/5.5g and ipod 7g is not even a question. When going out, I sometimes grab a slim 7g (with CF) for portability (thin, light and abuse-resistant). Boy, the stock 7g sounds like 2D flat in comparison but that doesn't stop me from enjoying the music.
 
I have not tried any TOTL daps simply because I feel I don't need to given the results I have with these capless combs. I am sure the TOTL daps must sound amazing given their price tags, but it gives me some comfort when I read posts from guys who tried the TOTL daps saying no significant difference from ipod classic using iem's.
 
I only use iem's and to me excellent sounding must be clean and dynamic (aka 3D staging, spacious, airy)  with energetic extensions on both ends for treble and bass.
 
Of course, YMMV.

 

[webstaa]

I searched the thread, but didn't find the information I was looking for, so I'll just ask here.
 
I've got a thick 5.5g 80gb with an iFlash SD adapter - can this fit the 1900 mAh or 2000 mAh batteries that seem to be floating around ebay/alibaba (I've got links from a few weeks back in this very thread)?  Ye olde iPod battery gives me only 2 hours of playback time after nearly 8 years.
 
Likewise, does anybody know how to decipher the date codes on these aftermarket batteries?  I don't want a li-on that's been sitting in a hot warehouse for 3-4 years and already degraded 50-60%.

 

[rgarjr]

The 80GB's have the thick back, so yeah it does fit.   Which iFlash adapter do you have though?

 

[webstaa]

iFlash CF (orignal style) with the SD (single) adapter.

 

[rgarjr]

if you have the silver adapter it won't fit, u need the slim black.

 

[webstaa]

D

  if you have the silver adapter it won't fit, u need the slim black.

 
This is exactly what I thought, thanks!
 
 
I guess I'll have to see if I can find a slimmer one - I don't see it stand-alone on Tarkan's site.  

 

[rgarjr]

  I guess I'll have to see if I can find a slimmer one - I don't see it stand-alone on Tarkan's site.  

 
Actually if you order the silver one, he'll send you the slim black one.  Just put a note for reassurance . 

 

[lescanadiens]

Hi DMinor,
 
I have admired your work from the portable pics thread and you are one of the people who inspired me to dig deeper on the potential of Ipods.
Having said that, I just realize how technical ability (more than soldering) to explore the Imods, since there are not many who are still into it.
 
Did you also mod the Leckerton UHA6S to make it capless?
I wonder if an amp like JDS C5D can handle capless Imod? Just can't risk to buy an amp and then blow it
 
There are a few sellers like Audio Minor who I found on Ebay and they offer the mod as well.
Wonder they are doing the same capless mod like you do.
 
Quote:

  I would like to say this from my experience and experiments after having tried many different caps and modded the 5g/5.5g differently. I was the one who first tried Kemet film caps and found them to be good sounding caps and later some head-fi'ers tried them as well and agreed with me. That said, I was surprised by the dynamic and clean sounding when I finally experimented one without caps and from there never looked back. To my ears, the audio path completely free of caps (diymod, lod cable and amp are all capless) sounds the best.
 
Regarding the difference between modding the board only (aka imod) and soldering to the lifted pins, both have their own personalities depending on the op amps used in the amp. For my case using the UHA6S, I found excellent results from using AD8610 for the diymod soldered to the pins and using OPA209 for the diymod soldered to the board only. Even the lod cables using different wires sounded noticeably different to my ears with best results from the one using solid silver in cotton sleeves by Homegrown Audio.
 
The improvement over the stock ipod 5g/5.5g and ipod 7g is not even a question. When going out, I sometimes grab a slim 7g (with CF) for portability (thin, light and abuse-resistant). Boy, the stock 7g sounds like 2D flat in comparison but that doesn't stop me from enjoying the music.
 
I have not tried any TOTL daps simply because I feel I don't need to given the results I have with these capless combs. I am sure the TOTL daps must sound amazing given their price tags, but it gives me some comfort when I read posts from guys who tried the TOTL daps saying no significant difference from ipod classic using iem's.
 
I only use iem's and to me excellent sounding must be clean and dynamic (aka 3D staging, spacious, airy)  with energetic extensions on both ends for treble and bass.
 
Of course, YMMV.

 

[DMinor]

Originally Posted by lescanadiens /img/forum/go_quote.gif
 
Hi DMinor,
 
I have admired your work from the portable pics thread and you are one of the people who inspired me to dig deeper on the potential of Ipods.
Having said that, I just realize how technical ability (more than soldering) to explore the Imods, since there are not many who are still into it.
 
Did you also mod the Leckerton UHA6S to make it capless?
I wonder if an amp like JDS C5D can handle capless Imod? Just can't risk to buy an amp and then blow it
 
There are a few sellers like Audio Minor who I found on Ebay and they offer the mod as well.
Wonder they are doing the same capless mod like you do.

 
The UHA6S has been designed to be capless using a servo capable of compensating for the 2v dc offset. The amp also allows you to swap op amps to your liking (which I think every amp should be designed with this feature). No comments on the JDS as I never used it. If you buy one (amp or imod) from a seller just ask the question if it's capped or not. Before I went with the capless experiment, I was assured by Nick at Leckerton the amp can handle 2V bias with no harm to the amp or iems. 

 

[lescanadiens]

Many thanks all,
 
Surely learn a lot from you guys.
Now the hunt begins!
 
Cheers

 

[groaninjock]

  I've found a (temporary?) work-around for my issues with the Kingston 256GB SDXC cards in the 5.5G Rockboxed Classic.
 
I've been letting iTunes transfer the files to the iPod in the usual way, then having Rockbox build its database when that is done.
 
No transfer or playback issues so far after transferring 19,000+ tracks.
 
I now have one question - will the iPod still crap out at ~50,000 tracks even if I'm not using it for playback? Or will it be stable enough to let the transfer via iTunes take place, then I can use Rockbox for playback?

So far so good doing it this way - 44,000 tracks transferred to the Rockboxed iPod Classic using iTunes then loading the database in Rockbox. No playback problems, no file skipping, no crashes.
 
Is there any way of getting Rockbox to recognise album artwork automatically added by iTunes? It's picking up embedded artwork (basically all the albums that iTunes didn't provide artwork for), but probably 2/3 of my music has artwork automatically added by iTunes.

 

[jdotfite]

Wrapping up my latest iPod Mini:
 
Powder Coated Gold Shell
Black 5G Wheel Mod
128GB SD w/ iFlash CF adapter
Designed & 3D printed vent mount