[Brimstone]

I am trying to substantially improve my audio experience.

I have used an 80gb Ipod 5th Gen with SkullCandy Ink'd phones for the past year or so.

I have some new Etymotic ER-4p on the way this week.

My question is: What else can I do to help this combo?

Specifically:

Portable Amp? (currently only have a Fiio)
Cables?
Rockbox? (How will this improve my experience?)
Audio Formats?

Any ways that you can point me in the right direction would be appreciated.

 

[dazzer1975]

portable amp, take ya pic, largely dependant upon your monetary limits but check out ray samuels audio, graham slee, iqube et al

use these amps in conjunction with a line out dock which connects to the bottom of your ipod and should increase the signal quality and thus sound quality over and above the headphone out.

money no object send it off to red wine audio to be imodded and get yaself a vcap dock.

with the er4p, they dont require an amp, try and pick up a 75ohm resistor cable or jack, although the cable provides less stress on the socket, and then you can turn your er4p into an er4s which do benefit from amping.

audio formats, lossless is always good, but it depends on the ability of your set up, im not sure you will benefit from lossless listenign through an ipods head out, however, what you could do, is try different compression rates of mp3's and then compare against a wav or whatever lossless format you like and see for yourself where you can no longer discern a degradation of sound.

 

[zazz+54321]

Well, in my mind there are two steps you can take on the path to sonic bliss: The first, more economical step would be to get a Line Out Dock (LOD) which uses the port on the bottom of the iPod rather than the headphone out in order to by pass the internal amp. This combo then requires a portable Amplifier, which is usually attached to the bottom of the iPod. Some examples of LODs include offerings from ALO ( ALOaudio - Audio Line Out: Interconnect cables and portable line out docks for iPod ) , Qables ( Qables.com*»*WHAT'S NEW ) , as well as some of the DIY'ers here. As far as an amp, those range in price as much as the LODs you will see. A great amp is the Headroom Total Airhead (100 USD) all the way through higher end amplifiers such as the Ray Samuel's Audio The Predator (475 USD). There are a great variety of portable amps on the market, some of the companies include Headroom ( HeadRoom - Right Between Your Ears ), RSA ( News - Ray Samuels Audio ). I've only offered you a small look at the various amplifiers available, for a more compressive look, I would recommend you look at the Portable Amplifier Thread: http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f5/com...e-amps-101425/

The Second option, since you own a 5G iPod is the service provided by Red Wine Audio ( Red Wine Audio iMod ) - The iMod. I'm a bit fuzzy on the details of what they do, but It involves replacing Capacitors in the iPod and relocating them to a special LOD, which are made by ALO, and this option requires a portable amplifier as well. I personally have yet to experience an iMod, but I am told the experience is amazing...

Feel free to PM me if yo have any further questions

Taylor

 

[monolith]

A portable amp will help, but I warn you that the difference will be minimal.

Cables don't make a difference sonically, so if you want to get an amp, get an LOD made by someone on these forums to your aesthetic specifications.

Rockbox is a matter of preference. If you feel the added format support and better EQ and better browsing are worth the drop in battery life, go for it.

Audio formats and bitrates also don't make a big deal as long as you're not using very low quality (ie. 128kbps) files. I use lossless, but that's just because I'm too lazy to reencode for my portable devices from my lossless library at home. I'd suggest using V0 mp3s if you're going to start fresh.

 

[tldoxmf87]

I thought amp doesn't really help..
I had a Cowon U2 and Westone UM2 and nobody told me to buy an amp..
Maybe it differs by what headphone you use?

 

[hatethatgiraffe]

Monolith the cable not making a difference is much argued!
Equally argued for and against and does not answer the question from the OP.
What we know for certain is that the line out sounds better than headphone and whether sonic difference is placebo or justification for blowing as much on a cable as an iPod is another argument altogether!
Let the OP be his own judge

 

[monolith]

Quote:

Originally Posted by hatethatgiraffe /img/forum/go_quote.gif Monolith the cable not making a difference is much argued! Equally argued for and against and does not answer the question from the OP. What we know for certain is that the line out sounds better than headphone and whether sonic difference is placebo or justification for blowing as much on a cable as an iPod is another argument altogether! Let the OP be his own judge

Well, I suppose some people still debate that, but what isn't debated is that the differences (if they exist) are very small, and that it's the last thing the OP should be worrying about, particularly since he's using Skullcandy's. The cable could be cutting off everything above 10kHz and you probably wouldn't hear it with those things. The ER-4Ps are worlds better, but they're not magic.

And it does answer the question. Cables won't help his combo, certainly not significantly. I had a 5.5G iPod, an excellent portable amp and ER-4Ps, and the switch from Starquad to Jena cryo copper was totally inaudible.

Anyway, this isn't a debate to start here.

 

[hatethatgiraffe]

I agree its for another time and place and subject to some massive hypocrisy!!
Think can all agree that ipod benefits from a decent amp from the line out and whether dock cable is sonically or aesthetically beneficial it is a neccessary part of the equation!!

 

[Brimstone]

Quote:

Originally Posted by hatethatgiraffe /img/forum/go_quote.gif I agree its for another time and place and subject to some massive hypocrisy!! Think can all agree that ipod benefits from a decent amp from the line out and whether dock cable is sonically or aesthetically beneficial it is a neccessary part of the equation!!

Thanks for the feedback guys. I am wondering if the amp will help or hurt the ER4p. Will it increase the audio performance or is it not necessary due to the design. Does anyone currently use the ER4p with an amp?

 

[ingwe]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brimstone /img/forum/go_quote.gif Thanks for the feedback guys. I am wondering if the amp will help or hurt the ER4p. Will it increase the audio performance or is it not necessary due to the design. Does anyone currently use the ER4p with an amp?

Live with the 4p's for a while--acclimate. If you can, try to go to a local meet. Play with different formats. Teach yourself.

 

[Orcin]

In my opinion, the biggest single improvement that you could make is to increase the bitrate of your files. This is especially true if you have older mp3's ripped at 128mbps. Using files at 192 or better created by a recent encoder might be enough to keep you happy with just your ER4p's.

 

[hatethatgiraffe]

good call orcin
Take it step at time and enjoy any improvements!

 

[Brimstone]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Orcin /img/forum/go_quote.gif In my opinion, the biggest single improvement that you could make is to increase the bitrate of your files. This is especially true if you have older mp3's ripped at 128mbps. Using files at 192 or better created by a recent encoder might be enough to keep you happy with just your ER4p's.

I believe that this is very good advice. I have a lot of 128mbps files. I am definitely going to go through and fix all of my classical/opera/unplugged music immediately. I will see how that goes and then see if the difference is worthwhile for Marilyn Manson and Pantera.

 

[hatethatgiraffe]

i have a classic loaded with high bit mp3 and apple lossless and the difference is clearly audible!
still enjoy the occassional blast on the touch purely for the user interface!
wish we had chance of a 160gb touch or maybe should be selective with what put on the touch!
either way there is great improvement coming out the line out into amp probably equal to or greater than the added bitrate!
but that will be player specific....iPods just sound better out the line out...FACT!!