Better sounding iPod?

Well I got the Classic and have to say it's not bad, but not as good as my Nano 3g either. It seems to have some treble roll-off and doesn't quite have the holographic sound of the Nano - been only listening on earphones. I might exchange it for the new Nano or Touch, have to decide, or wait for my rDock and hope things improve on the hifi.

Also have to confirm - I've got both CX300s and Shure SE110s and the latter still sounds rubbish on the Classic. I think I'm the only one who's not impressed by the SE110s - and I've been ripping ALAC.

Then again I do prefer a slightly bright sound - to me warmth is nothing without imaging or depth.

Using a dock does not defeat the EQ setting

I had the Shure SE210 and they sounded pretty bad.  Not flat in a good sense, but in the lifeless, boring sense.  CX300 are better, Denon C351 even better.  Surprised no-one ever mentions the Denons.

I know, but I don't use the EQ anyway, in that regard the bass was ample and quite punchy with the CX300s. It's just that this Classic lacks a bit of transparency. Think I will trade up to a Touch.

After the previous posts I have been playing with the EQ. I had everything on jazz as I liked the brighter sound. I am now starting to slowly work my way through my albums and change the EQ. It has made a big difference with Radiohead's 'Kid A'. With jazz there was distortion, especially on the treble. I had tried re-importing at lossless as it was originally 256kbps AAC, but that did not work. I tried all the settings and settled on EQ off. I know it sounds like a lot of hassle but I am enjoying finding the improvements in sound by customising individual albums to have their own EQ.  

It has had a far greater impact than upping the bit rate as I had re-imported a lot of albums. Recently I paid my money and got the plus version of Kula Shaker's album 'K' off itunes. It now sounds a bit flat, which seems to be the opposite of what I would expect. A fiddle with EQ and that has made it much more listenable. The dominant view on this forum has been to get the best out of an ipod use a higher bit rate. My attitude is now to get the best sound out of an ipod is to use the EQ to get the best sound for each album.

I have been deciding on which EQ to have by first, on the ipod go to settings, select EQ and then you can try the different settings by scrolling and selecting as you play a track. The sound of the track will change as soon as you click select. Once you have decided which one sounds best you need to set it on itunes. Highlight the album you want to change, right click and then get info. Go to the options tab and then in the drop down box for equaliser preset select the setting you want and OK.

manicm:

And Che1, did you experience ALAC problems with your Touch? Others on the net have reported periodic dropouts with ALAC playback.

I did, but it was fixed with the latest firmware revision.

Che1:

Using a dock does not defeat the EQ setting

I had the Shure SE210 and they sounded pretty bad.  Not flat in a good sense, but in the lifeless, boring sense.  CX300 are better, Denon C351 even better.  Surprised no-one ever mentions the Denons.

Brilliant. I thought it did! Will get straight back onto it when I get home and have a fiddle. Though I do wish there was a user definable EQ profile you could apply. Something like Rock, but with a little less boomy bass. Doesn't exist! Grrrr.

Hi Will. Just to confirm, there is one product that by-passes volume, EQ, the lot and extracts only the digital data and that is the Wadia itransport, which is £350 minimum (the cost of a PC with a good sized memeory which will do the same thing) and then you need a DAC ontop of that. The Russ Andrews GQ-24 cable, which starts at about £50 by-passes only the volume.

I wish as well that the customised EQ settings that can be created on itunes could be imported to the ipod. Hopefully that will come. My personalised setting is flat, but instaed of being at the half way point it is higher at 3/4s.

More info on the EQ here; http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2618?viewlocale=en_US

Duffy, 'Rockferry' EQ is now on accoustic. Lounge was a close second. I am finding that as I play about with the EQ, it is easier to find which one works best as you learn the effect each one has. With Duffy you want her voice to stand out and sore, but lose the zing on the high pitch. Flat was too dull, jazz too bright and rock, dance etc too thudding.

JohnDuncan:

manicm:

And Che1, did you experience ALAC problems with your Touch? Others on the net have reported periodic dropouts with ALAC playback.

I did, but it was fixed with the latest firmware revision.

John, I know I'm ultimately chasing a red herring here, but how do you find the sonics on your Touch?

Brilliant. This is with Sennheiser CX300s and 256k copies of ALAC originals. Can't say I've ever done an A/B with the wife's Nano though.