[powertoold]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pcyl /img/forum/go_quote.gif i have actually tried IMod with ALO dock with RSA and also plug in a 5 Gen without mod (sound like some china cheapo MP3) of course we are on losses file we should stick to 47uf 6.3V dun need BG

So you were comparing an iMod with ALO dock AND an amp vs. a regular iPod headphone out? I doubt it, but I'm just making sure

Anyway, in the comparison, were you listening to the exact same tracks at the same volume? It's easy to confuse detail, soundstage, impact, and whatnot with volume.

I am apparently, I am getting my signal directly from the DAC with my silver coated teflon 28awg wires (only used 1-2 strands for contact), but I'm not hearing much of a difference at all. I am comparing the direct Line Out signal with no amp vs. the headphone out. If the difference was "big" at all, I would notice it without having to concentrate. Maybe all of us on head-fi are on a wild goose chase to find things that cause our perception to be skewed into liking it, haha.

 

[EightTrack]

Hey guys/gals,

So I'm sitting at my home rigged station *not an engineer by any means Im a building maintenance guy so its minimal at best but Im confident I can accomplish the task w/ what I got.
and Ive got my pod split open and just looking over everything to make sure I have a solid well drawn out plan for when my parts arrive and Im looking at the Wolfson chip (minds been freed at this point) and the thought occured to me and this isnt something Ive seen mentioned here or maybe I missed it but would it be posible to Upgrade the chip to something Uber nice
(i dont know enough about this to know what that would be..but I do know that technology is considered Old after meere weeks if that so there would have to be...right??)

Could this even be possible ? and if so would it be difficult and worth the "Upgrade" ?

just my $0.02

 

[joneeboi]

Theoretically, you're right, FatHairyWomyn. As long as the chips are pin-compatible, swapping makes sense. But theory leaves us and in comes practicality. Maybe Apple made some design decisions that make chip swapping impossible even if the pin-compatibility test checks out. My best guess at how to remove the current chip and replacing it with the hopeful substitute would baking the board, but you end up screwing with this and that. Perhaps if you had a specialized desoldering gun with a wide stance and sharp tips you may be able to desolder it, but then you'd have to use two desoldering guns at the same time on the same limited board space. Out goes practicality and in comes the point of diminishing returns. It may just be easier, cheaper and more effective if you bought a broken iPod and fixed/replaced the broken parts. Granted, some options will not be available from one iPod generation to the next, but then the alternative is intimidating enough to make the compromise worth the saved effort. Then again, Edison failed 100 times before discovering our beloved light bulb.

Way to think outside the box, though. Nevertheless, it would require more brain juice than I'm able/willing to squeeze at the moment. =T

 

[EightTrack]

Thanks man , gonna do some lookin into, see what I come up with

 

[iQEM]

Quote:

Originally Posted by KoKoKrunch /img/forum/go_quote.gif Hahaha, I experience the same thing as you. Oh well, but if you can't really hear the difference straight away, it should be considered subtle. I think it's more of a mind thing when you're saying this sounds better than that, when it's the same thing, blind tests have proved it. I've been comparing again and again, A-B... nope... subtle difference, other than the noise part. And again, it may be me, but that's what I hear.

what you've use to hear from ipod+amp ? i mean earphone/headphone ?!

 

[oicdn]

I'm interested in hearing the DIYmod A-B'd to an iMod...I'm contemplating pulling the trigger on a 4th gen just so I can have somebody mod me one and I can compare back to back...


In any case, like powertoold says, the difference is subtle, hence the reason why I usually just listen to my nano...

 

[pcyl]

Quote:

Originally Posted by KoKoKrunch /img/forum/go_quote.gif Hahaha, I experience the same thing as you. Oh well, but if you can't really hear the difference straight away, it should be considered subtle. I think it's more of a mind thing when you're saying this sounds better than that, when it's the same thing, blind tests have proved it. I've been comparing again and again, A-B... nope... subtle difference, other than the noise part. And again, it may be me, but that's what I hear.

is this your set up or using other lowend AMP !!!
5G mod
Final test and rig up we play the same song with the same setup
first Imod with ALo supercotton with RSA Hornet IEM UE superfi 5
second my mod(DIY) i call it P mod which i done it with the same setup
we have the equal as Imod as feed back from Gary sommother,warmer,tighter bass,more staging of juicer !!!!

Peter
singapore

 

[pcyl]

Next mod on the list i will be modding 47uf 6.3V willbe installing Caps
in the 5gen Ipod,so can use with other dock
will be sourcing mateial in thes couple of days
should i be join the team of DIY?

 

[KoKoKrunch]

Okay... it might be my set up as well. Pretty Average.

Anyway, installing Caps in 5gen iPod? Sounds like drilling required.

 

[ishtob]

I've A B between my ipod classic and diymodded ipod nano (roughly 70 hours burn-in now), this is what I thought:

DIYmodded nano: better bass handling, more detailed highs.

ipod classic: a slightly more expansive soundstage

 

[joneeboi]

I've thought long and hard about the sound quality comparisons I've been reading about diyMod vs. iMod vs. regular iPod and I came to this conclusion. I don't care if I can't tell the sound difference, I just know that the signal is cleaner than what it used to be. In audio, there is at least one spectrum where you have to decide which end you prefer to be on, and that spectrum is the battle between signal fidelity and musicality. Some people enjoy listening to the headphone jacks of their iPods listening with their SR60s on 128kbps MP3, which is more musical than anything while the signal quality is not up to par with what many of us are used to. Then you have the fellow listening on his $2000 SACD player through his balanced Benchmark DAC1 outputs through his balanced First Watt F1 for his balanced K1000s. We would consider that a highly pure signal in comparison to the iPod headphone jack listener's music. This juxtaposition is meant to illustrate the differences we have in signal fidelity and musicality. One dude's setup is meant to keep a pure sound, while the other guy just wants to have fun. Would the average Joe be able to tell the sound difference between setups? I'm sure most of us would like to think so.

But what we're looking at here is the difference in signal quality. With the pre-diyModded iPods, you have the congested signal through the iPod's bad circuitry (whose schematic no one here really knows). Then you have the post-diyModded iPods, whose signal goes through better parts and a better amplifier. We're not looking for a difference in musicality here, but a difference in signal fidelity. We can't even be sure what the sound difference will be like, but we do know that the signal will be much cleaner and closer to what the iPod/Wolfson is actually putting out. So while the sound difference may be subtle, what we're doing here is looking to get a cleaner signal, and the sound signature will follow. We put the signal through BGs and an amp like the Mini^3, which has a ruler flat frequency response, and we can trust that whatever we're hearing is relatively closer to what it's supposed to be compared to the original signal. Then some of us will put the signal through VCaps and a Beta22 for more fidelity. What I'm saying is that even though we can't tell the difference and we may think it was all just a rip-off and waste of time, we actually should be comforted in the fact that we cleaned up the signal and took a step further in the direction of signal fidelity.

What all this can come to mean is I've tainted some of us in terms of psychoacoustics. Try not to think about what you're listening through so much as what you're actually hearing. Don't think or focus on whatever your setup looks like or how much money and effort you spent on it. Just listen.

 

[TSF]

Anyone tried to do a DIYmod 6th Gen? Is it even possible? I'd be really interested in it.
And do anyone know where to get spare parts for the nano 1st gen in Europe? I managed to kill both my screen and the click wheel...

 

[joneeboi]

Try eBay for spare parts.

As for the 6G, there haven't been any reports of successful attempts, but I'm looking into it.

 

[powertoold]

"What all this can come to mean is I've tainted some of us in terms of psychoacoustics. Try not to think about what you're listening through so much as what you're actually hearing. Don't think or focus on whatever your setup looks like or how much money and effort you spent on it. Just listen."

I do just listen and say it like I hear it, hehe. I spent a lot of time and money on this mod, so if anything, I should have placebo'ed myself to make it sound better, but I didn't - sounds very similar. I think your philosophy of just listen leads to people listening to 128kbps MP3s because the difference between 128kbps MP3 and lossless is very minor, so if you just listen, then I don't think you'd care much about the bitrate. With some mods and changes, there are obvious but minor improvements. So far, I haven't been able to pick up any improvements. I've tried to only listen to the highs, bass, soundstage, imaging, etc. But this doesn't change the fact that I've enjoyed doing the mod, even with the frustrating times hehe.

Hey, I have a question: is the Line Out after the caps suppose to be loud? It can drive my HD580s to a loud volume.

 

[joneeboi]

You're right about the difference in bitrates. I can't really tell the difference between WAV and 320kbps besides the loads of space the waves take up on my hard drive. I'd go with ALAC since I'm all about the iPods, but ALAC sucks for sending to friends who don't have iTunes, and I don't think my Creative ZVM supports ALAC.

Line outs are pretty loud, from my experience. The strange thing is that my diyMod 4G's line out is slightly quieter than my friend's diyMod 5G's. *shrug* Keep in mind the gain of your amp affects the effective loudness as well.