ipod owners: please visit this thread
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Posted on Sep 01, 2007 07:00 am
fortymile
Member Since: Jan 18, 2003
anyone have any thoughts about ipod's sound quality generally? i am trying to figure out if i'm crazy.
i never have thought of myself as an audiophile before, but there's something funny about my ipod's sound quality. mine's a gen 5 80 gb black ipod with video, and there's just something wrong with the sound. i think i grew to notice it. i didn't, at first.
hard to put a finger on. something lacking, and sometimes things sound damaged. there seems to be a lack of sparkle in the high end for one thing. but some tracks are just fuzzy, a blown speaker sound. my bitrates range from 128 to 192 and higher (different for different albums: some of this is my younger self's fault). i'm sure that's part of the cause, but i'm also wondering if anyone has looked into this before, if anyone has thought that maybe the ipod has a little problem.
i could just be a bad encoder, but i don't know. it's driving me batty.
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Sep 01, 2007 11:27 am after a very brief search at the slutz, i can't find anything regarding the ipods decoding methods. i would chalk up the quality to the individual mp3 that you're listening to....compressed files naturally sound 'off'. if you really wanna get into the nitty-gritty of it, i'd take a standard 16/44.1 audio file and encode the mp3 with itunes, then use a different (read better) encoder, like wave lab, then do a null test with them both.
Sep 01, 2007 03:08 pm I've got a toshiba gigabeat, and the software used to transfer?convert mp3's compresses anything over 192, if it get's compressed , the is sounds absolute crap tinny garbage. My metal should be heavy not thin crap.
Don't know too much about Ipoop, but that's why some tracks on my gigabeat sound like crap.
Hope this is of some assistance.
Been considering looking into something else anyone have any recommendations?
Sep 01, 2007 04:33 pm Quote:
a blown speaker sound
Are you sure it's not the earphones? Those wimpy little wires go south easily.
Just a thought.
Sep 01, 2007 04:44 pm herb: yeah, i'm sure its not the headphones. i have about five pairs here, all different brands, etc
wyd: yeah i will do some tests next time i have an album to convert
fendersr4: i'm not sure what you mean. you mean if you try to load tracks that are denser than 192 into the gigabeat, the gigabeat compresses them further?
Sep 02, 2007 12:35 pm forty,
precisly!
Sep 03, 2007 12:18 am Yeah, it think its D/A on the New ipods. I had the 1st gen ipod and it was awesome. That one f'd up and now i have a video. It sounds pretty average.
And if you boost the bass for tinny earphones it clips the output. Not the speakers, the ipods actual output.
Sep 04, 2007 11:11 am My 5th gen sounds fine to me (though that's not saying a lot)
TadpuiI am not a crook's headMember
Since: Mar 14, 2003
Sep 04, 2007 01:16 pm My little silver Nano 2Gb sounds fine to me as well...
And I found that the bass boost does make my earbuds distort too. I just use the treble cut instead, and it works the same way...I can turn it up louder, get more bass and mids, without the earache of more highs.
Sep 04, 2007 03:53 pm some articles are saying that the shuffles sound better than the full size ipods.
Noize2uCzar of MidiAdministrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002
Sep 05, 2007 05:04 pm forty, the 80g has a micro drive does it not?
I'll have to dig but somewhere I came across an article stating that one of the bigger video ipods had an issue with getting interference from the drive itself. Not sure if that is the case with yours or not. I'll dig a little bit later.
I know the boyz have a pair of Sony's little 1 gig players. No moving parts and they sound great compared to big ipods I've listened to.
Sep 05, 2007 05:20 pm yeah if you can find anything on that let me know. today all new ipods were announced. touch screen,w00t.
Noize2uCzar of MidiAdministrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002
Sep 05, 2007 07:47 pm forty here is one from today that sounds similar to what I had read before. But the other article related it to something with the Toshiba HDD in the unit. I think it boiled down to about the same thing. It was a slow build to what they ended up hearing as bad files.
Does your sound OK until its been playing awhile or is it just certain files that sound like crud?
Sep 05, 2007 08:21 pm certain files sound like crud. possibly none of my tracks--even the high bit rates one--sound as good as i think they should. in the tracks that sound mostly good, they still don't seem quite as sharp as cds to me.
so there's two phenomena. some tracks sound distorted or cruddy or hollow-just generally flat and fuzzy in very slight but noticeable ways--and higher bit rate songs (190) sound like they lack definition or sparkle.
partly i might just noticing things, at last, which other audiophiles have always noticed. some of this might just be the nature of mp3s. but something, i think, must be going on with the pod, too. i wont really know until i do tests.
i dont see an article there, noize
Noize2uCzar of MidiAdministrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002
Sep 06, 2007 08:25 pm Sorry forty.
discussions.apple.com/thr...17&tstart=0
I still haven't found that other one. It was much more direct and sounded more like what you are experiencing. Although I think if I am not mistaken it was a constant noise in that issue. But I won't swear to that.
But indeed, as you are finding out. The nature of compressed audio is haphazard at best. Even the high end mp3 compression software has quirks at times. I have actually noticed that I can compress a file one time and its fine. I might make a slight change in the mix and it is a completely different sound when converted the second time.
And if you are using iTunes to do the conversion that could as well be the culprit.
Sep 06, 2007 09:27 pm hmm that sounds scary. hope that's not what's starting to happen to mine. mine's 8 months old, only, however, and so far this doesn't describe my problem. i'll keep an ear out for it. i suppose it could just be beginning or something. next time i listen to the thing, i'll listen a bit harder and see if it really even is static.
Sep 08, 2007 09:25 pm The EQ actually clips the output of the iPod. I've played it through PA's, my genes etc. and it always plays distorted with the any boosting EQ on. I think I have the first gen video ipod.
Sep 08, 2007 09:32 pm Quote:
I've played it through PA's, my genes etc.
You played it through your genes? Where can I get that technology?
Sep 08, 2007 10:20 pm Little trick I picked up on the road herb, just stick the jack in your ear and press play.
Disclaimer: Arie takes no responsibility for injuries resulting from the participation in this activity.
Sep 08, 2007 11:08 pm My ear is already the jack.
Sep 08, 2007 11:35 pm wow, through your GENES? i'm sending an email to richard dawkins. this demands further exploration!
hey but excellent point. i was wondering if it was the EQ, as well. i have suspected that. man, each generation has its own problems.
Sep 14, 2007 02:02 am i cant understand anything technical ever since the surgery
RandalMcFloydI wish I had a profile pictureInactive
Since: Nov 11, 2007
Dec 01, 2007 01:53 pm I know this is an old topic but I'm posting anyway. I have heard both good things and bad things about iPod sound quality. I personally have no problem with it. My uncle had one and thought the sound was terrible. I tried to figure out why and the only major difference I found was the sources of our music. Most of my music was from iTunes or from new CDs while most of his music was from older CDs. That could be the problem.
