Why your awesome IEMs sound bad from your iPod and what YOU can do about it!

[khbaur330162]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pete7 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'm trying out this software now since you suggested it. I'm converting all my ALAC files to 400 kbps AAC. It takes about a minute per song. My Ipod only gets 4 hours battery life with ALAC files and I should be able to double the amount of music on the Ipod. I'm hoping maybe I won't be able to detect much of a difference. We'll see in 33 hours when the conversion process is finished.

LMAO.

dB PowerAmp is up there in quality from my experience. There are people who argue the idea that most can't hear a difference between a CD and well encoded 192kbps mp3. I'm not one of them, but I honestly think you'll be just fine (that is, not noticing any degradation in sound quality) with the new AAC files. Good luck.

 

[Febs]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pete7 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'm trying out this software now since you suggested it. I'm converting all my ALAC files to 400 kbps AAC. It takes about a minute per song. My Ipod only gets 4 hours battery life with ALAC files and I should be able to double the amount of music on the Ipod. I'm hoping maybe I won't be able to detect much of a difference. We'll see in 33 hours when the conversion process is finished.

Wouldn't it make sense to test a few tracks before converting your entire library?

 

[Pete7]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Febs /img/forum/go_quote.gif Wouldn't it make sense to test a few tracks before converting your entire library?

When I'm getting 4 hours of battery life? I didn't delete the original ALAC files after conversion, so they'll still be there. I've got a 500 gb hard drive on my computer with plenty of space. The new files went into a different folder. This way I can test the sound and the new battery life. If I don't like it, I can always go back. I'm 30% of the way there,already. I'm also pleasantly suprised with this db poweramp,too. It's not using much of the CPU at all.

 

[Jokieman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by khbaur330162 /img/forum/go_quote.gif LMAO. dB PowerAmp is up there in quality from my experience. There are people who argue the idea that most can't hear a difference between a CD and well encoded 192kbps mp3. I'm not one of them, but I honestly think you'll be just fine (that is, not noticing any degradation in sound quality) with the new AAC files. Good luck.

I would argue that it is true on a DAP. We all know that DAPs like the iPod don't have the best sound quality to begin with. Getting CD quality sound straight out of an iPod is just not going to happen.

 

[IPodPJ]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Edwood /img/forum/go_quote.gif Funny how things can change in a relatively short period of time. You are now with the Triple.fi and have your iPod without EQ's and with an Amp? -Ed

LMAO!

Too funny! But nonetheless true. I still maintain that reducing the dB on your files is of utmost importance if you plan to EQ. I found that my -2 dB setting in Audacity was an 18% volume reduction. Most of the songs in my library are still at those reduced settings and they sound fantastic with the Triple.Fi, amp, and no EQ. Eventually, I will go back and re-rip them, as I have most of the original level files on my Mac.

Yeah, you certainly learn a lot here. You also spend a lot to get the results you are looking for. I am quite satisfied for the moment with my current rig. I certainly can't go back to the sf5pro now. I listened to them today, and they just didn't make the grade at all.

 

[Pete7]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jokieman /img/forum/go_quote.gif I would argue that it is true on a DAP. We all know that DAPs like the iPod don't have the best sound quality to begin with. Getting CD quality sound straight out of an iPod is just not going to happen.

The Redwine imodded Ipod comes awfully close with ALAC. Not sure how it'll sound with 400kbps AAC, guess it'll come down to how noticeable that missing 5% will be with my ES2's.

 

[tbritton]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pete7 /img/forum/go_quote.gif When I'm getting 4 hours of battery life? I didn't delete the original ALAC files after conversion, so they'll still be there. I've got a 500 gb hard drive on my computer with plenty of space. The new files went into a different folder. This way I can test the sound and the new battery life. If I don't like it, I can always go back. I'm 30% of the way there,already. I'm also pleasantly suprised with this db poweramp,too. It's not using much of the CPU at all.

Pete- Did you download the Sveta Portable utility to try out?

Terry

 

[Pete7]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tbritton /img/forum/go_quote.gif Pete- Did you download the Sveta Portable utility to try out? Terry

Yeah, seems easy enough to use. Had to download Nero Digital as well which supplies the conversion engine. Did I say that right?

 

[spinali]

Really nice first post - please keep posting.

I kind of wish I'd taken advantage of this information while I still had my UM2 or E4G. Then I realized I kind of did have the info, and decided not to act on it.

Thing is, I'd listen to music with my IEM, and also listen on my headphones (K701) when I got home. I have about 2500 songs of all different types, and only about 10% could be re-done as lossless files.

My gripe with the iPod has always been that you can't import custom EQ settings - even when cheaper flash players enjoy the feature. As a result, I'm not getting much use out of my iPod as I might, and spend most of my music listening time at home.

 

[tbritton]

I'm still kinda wondering at what stage the "Volume Adjustment" setting tag that you can set in the "Get Info" dialogue affects the volume level. That is, where does this tag have its effect - in the preamps BEFORE the EQ section, or on the final gain stages AFTER the EQ section? Anybody hear anything on how this works?

Terry

 

[Claus-DK]

You can alter the preset eq in itunes, you can´t get more bands but the ones there are you can alter all that you want..

 

[redshifter]

Quote:

Originally Posted by IPodPJ /img/forum/go_quote.gif blah blah blah... I think a little humility on your part is in order. PJ

wow, welcome to head-fi. jude, we're going to have to widen the door to let this guy's head in.

 

[spinali]

Quote:

I'm still kinda wondering at what stage the "Volume Adjustment" setting tag that you can set in the "Get Info" dialogue affects the volume level.

Me, too.

 

[tbritton]

I am happy to report that the free application, dbPoweramp (http://www.dbpoweramp.com) has several DSP's that can be run on a file while it is being converted, and has a "Volume Quieten" DSP that serves our purpose here perfectly, working to lower the db on-the-fly during a conversion.

(It will also upsample 16 bit files to 24 bit before running them through an equalizer DSP, and then downsample with dithering (a good thing) back to 16 bit for conversion to whatever codec you desire. I haven't tested it yet on a file that gave me trouble in the iPod Nano (though the ability to also make a custom EQ version for the iPod of Joe Satriani's stuff is a most welcome idea!), but I will experiment some, as Pete is also doing. There are a ton of codecs that work with this thing. It comes with LAME built in with the usual host of presets (including the extremes and insane), and you can download Apple Lossless, m4a, oh heck - a ton of codecs! http://www.dbpoweramp.com/codec-central.htm)

Pretty amazing program!

The author is in the midst of a major upgrade that will permit secure ripping and many other features, if you like playing with betas: http://forum.dbpoweramp.com/showthre...9&page=1&pp=15 -- Read the forum info before deciding.

To help out the author, you may wish to order the Powerpack he offers for 15 bucks as well.

For the purposes of our discussion here, the "Volume Quieten" DSP, set to 79% for a -2 db reduction, seems to be what the doctor ordered to overcome the gain staging woes presented by the iPod's EQ amplifier sections. It will apply this volume reduction on-the-fly.

I will experiment with it converting my Apple Lossless CD archive files on the PC into LAME ABR MP3 or high-quality ABR AAC files for my iPod Nano, or sometime will just convert lossless-to-lossless for demanding recordings if I can hear a difference.

FYI - from what I understand, in some of these DSP's, it upsamples to "original size" (.wav essentially I guess) into a temp file before later conversions, so have some temp hard drive space ready for it.

I hope this solves the problem for many, automating a task that our hardy OP was generous enough to trail-blaze for us using Audacity and point a way for the rest of us to the solution of a cumbersome problem (actually, that affects DAPs in general, I'll bet!)

Terry

(PS - still wanna know if that IDV3 "Volume Adjust" tag would work to affect the EQ gain staging! That is, does it kick in pre or post EQ, or post/during-final amplifier stage like the volume control (which would make it worthless for our purposes, but probably is how it is implemented)? Anyone know any engineers at Apple who would be willing to share that information?)

 

[markopolo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tbritton /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'm still kinda wondering at what stage the "Volume Adjustment" setting tag that you can set in the "Get Info" dialogue affects the volume level. That is, where does this tag have its effect - in the preamps BEFORE the EQ section, or on the final gain stages AFTER the EQ section? Anybody hear anything on how this works?

I went throught this a while back. The Volume Adjustment within iTunes affects only final gain stage (post-EQ) and I believe is also bypassed by the iPod's line out. The only solution I've found is the MP3Gain/AACGain option previously mentioned, which analyzes and adjusts each individual file's "loudness" using the ReplayGain algorithm. The difference between these programs and the OPs method is that MP3Gain/AACGain stores the changes it made to each file as a tag (APE I believe), and is therefore reversible by a command within the program. As someone already mentioned, none of this would be necessary if Apple would just implement a pre-amp fader setting on the iPod as they do currently from within iTunes.