Topic: iPod upgrade for better audio?

[jmz93]

http://www.redwineaudio.com/iMod.html

What do people think of that? I'm tempted. All I have currently is the 1GB Shuffle.
If I could Rockbox it and have the audio output upgraded by them ... sounds sweet to me.

[Tim]

Keep an eye out for the new Wadia docking station

http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/04/wadia-digital-intros-itransport-the-audiophiles-ipod-dock/

[Sanjay]

With a 1 gig shuffle you are wasting your money since you wouldn't be able to fit much music in non mp3 form, enabling you to really hear the difference.  Now if you had a 160 gig ipod it might be worth it, but keep in mind, its still coming through your headphone jack, not the most ideal transmittal.

[Frank in JC]

Red Wine Audio only works on two models, see below.  I understand the results are worth it, but you'll be giving up the headphone output.


"Please Note -- The iMod is only offered for the 4th Generation and 5th/5.5 Generation iPods, as they contain the high-quality internal Wolfson dac chip that makes doing the iMod worthwhile.

We DO NOT and WILL NOT modify any of the other iPods, including the new 6th Generation iPod Classic, iPhone, iTouch, or any of the Nanos."

[cheshirecat]

No headphone jack makes your ipod rather useless for portable audio.  I think for home playback it is still difficult to beat the Squeezebox.

[Frank in JC]

No headphone jack makes your ipod rather useless for portable audio.  I think for home playback it is still difficult to beat the Squeezebox.

The intention is to use it for home playback and/or with a quality headphone amp. An iPod + tiny headphone amp combination is still very portable.  I think you're right about the Squeezebox, though.

[BC]

Red Wine Audio only works on two models, see below.  I understand the results are worth it, but you'll be giving up the headphone output.


"Please Note -- The iMod is only offered for the 4th Generation and 5th/5.5 Generation iPods, as they contain the high-quality internal Wolfson dac chip that makes doing the iMod worthwhile.

We DO NOT and WILL NOT modify any of the other iPods, including the new 6th Generation iPod Classic, iPhone, iTouch, or any of the Nanos."

this mod disables the headphone output? Is it just me or does that seem totally ridiculous to kill the headphone out on a portable music player? 
I don't know what these guys were smoking when they came up with this decision, lol.

[BC]

ok, just noticed this, makes a little more sense to me.


Unlike the 4th Generation iMod (see above), the 5G/5.5G iMod does NOT in any way alter the stock headphone output… it is not modified or disabled. Its functionality and sound quality of the headphone output remain “stock.

[Church-Audio]

http://www.redwineaudio.com/iMod.html

What do people think of that? I'm tempted. All I have currently is the 1GB Shuffle.
If I could Rockbox it and have the audio output upgraded by them ... sounds sweet to me.

Really sounds like a lot of bullshit to me... Increased sound stage... please its a freaking ipod... if you were concerned about audio you would not be listing to a compressed format in the first place Dont waste your money on snake oil. Why dont they have a before and after sound sample so you can hear the differences? I wonder why.... Red wine audio hummmm makes me think how much red wine do I need to drink before things actually start to sound better.. lol....
 

[Frank in JC]

ok, just noticed this, makes a little more sense to me.


Unlike the 4th Generation iMod (see above), the 5G/5.5G iMod does NOT in any way alter the stock headphone output… it is not modified or disabled. Its functionality and sound quality of the headphone output remain “stock.

Thanks for pointing that out... I didn't know they changed their approach.

[Frank in JC]

http://www.redwineaudio.com/iMod.html

What do people think of that? I'm tempted. All I have currently is the 1GB Shuffle.
If I could Rockbox it and have the audio output upgraded by them ... sounds sweet to me.

Really sounds like a lot of bullshit to me... Increased sound stage... please its a freaking ipod... if you were concerned about audio you would not be listing to a compressed format in the first place Dont waste your money on snake oil. Why dont they have a before and after sound sample so you can hear the differences? I wonder why.... Red wine audio hummmm makes me think how much red wine do I need to drink before things actually start to sound better.. lol....
 

Before and after sound samples???  Uh... isn't that kinda like demonstrating a new television's picture quality by displaying a picture of the TV on your existing set? 

"Wow, that does look better than my TV!" 

[Church-Audio]

http://www.redwineaudio.com/iMod.html

What do people think of that? I'm tempted. All I have currently is the 1GB Shuffle.
If I could Rockbox it and have the audio output upgraded by them ... sounds sweet to me.

Really sounds like a lot of bullshit to me... Increased sound stage... please its a freaking ipod... if you were concerned about audio you would not be listing to a compressed format in the first place Dont waste your money on snake oil. Why dont they have a before and after sound sample so you can hear the differences? I wonder why.... Red wine audio hummmm makes me think how much red wine do I need to drink before things actually start to sound better.. lol....
 

Before and after sound samples???  Uh... isn't that kinda like demonstrating a new television's picture quality by displaying a picture of the TV on your existing set? 

"Wow, that does look better than my TV!" 

Yes before and after samples I know its a novel concept for some people that charge that much for a simple mod.. but yeah. Its not rocket science.. You take your ipudd plug it into a recorder play the same song back. Then you mod that same ipudd AFTER THE MAGIC MOD LOL.... and play back the same file.. corrected for level.. So that its a fair comparison. And then people way way to much money on there hands can make a good educated comparison.. Wow that would almost be a first for the mod business..

[BC]

Yes before and after samples I know its a novel concept for some people that charge that much for a simple mod.. but yeah. Its not rocket science.. You take your ipudd plug it into a recorder play the same song back. Then you mod that same ipudd AFTER THE MAGIC MOD LOL.... and play back the same file.. corrected for level.. So that its a fair comparison. And then people way way to much money on there hands can make a good educated comparison.. Wow that would almost be a first for the mod business..

haha, fat chance of that happening.

[Tim]

Really sounds like a lot of bullshit to me... Increased sound stage... please its a freaking ipod... if you were concerned about audio you would not be listing to a compressed format in the first place

I have no idea how this sounds but for the record let's be clear - you can play uncompressed audio on the iPod as well as lossless compressed audio on a stock ipod (Apple Lossless). You can also utilize Rockbox and listen to flac's on an otherwise stock ipod.

If you're going to just flat out mock products that you've never heard it would be a good idea to have knowledge of the basic facts.

edit:
I'm guessing you are missing the irony of your position. You are mocking people who would pay for such an upgrade and attacking the "mod" business over "before & after" samples when you, yourself, have never heard this product. So it's okay for you to call a piece of gear that you have never heard "snake oil"? Does the term "double-standard" mean anything to you?

Like I said, I've never heard this and I'll never buy one but I don't think it's asking too much for critics to show a little consistency.

[BC]

I have no idea how this sounds but for the record let's be clear - you can play uncompressed audio on the iPod as well as lossless compressed audio on a stock ipod (Apple Lossless). You can also utilize Rockbox and listen to flac's on an otherwise stock ipod.

good point, the larger storage models have enough space where you could use lossless files and still have a decent # of shows on there.

[Church-Audio]

Really sounds like a lot of bullshit to me... Increased sound stage... please its a freaking ipod... if you were concerned about audio you would not be listing to a compressed format in the first place

I have no idea how this sounds but for the record let's be clear - you can play uncompressed audio on the iPod as well as lossless compressed audio on a stock ipod (Apple Lossless). You can also utilize Rockbox and listen to flac's on an otherwise stock ipod.

If you're going to just flat out mock products that you've never heard it would be a good idea to have knowledge of the basic facts.

edit:
I'm guessing you are missing the irony of your position. You are mocking people who would pay for such an upgrade and attacking the "mod" business over "before & after" samples when you, yourself, have never heard this product. So it's okay for you to call a piece of gear that you have never heard "snake oil"? Does the term "double-standard" mean anything to you?

Like I said, I've never heard this and I'll never buy one but I don't think it's asking too much for critics to show a little consistency.

There is no double standard.. Here what so ever. And my comment was there are better sounding devices to play back uncompressed files then an ipod I have more then a few of them.. And I actually do believe if your going to charge $250 to do a simple mod you should have before and after samples.. I am not attacking the mod business at all... There are lots of guys here at T.S that do a great job of doing mods.. But I dont think I would bother trying to do a mod to a product that really is not all that good to begin with, and hell the mod costs more then the fucking ipod does. I guess I am allowed to have my opinion like you are.


Maybe if you had as much understanding of electronics as I do * and maybe you do * you would see the irony in charging $250 to remove parts from a product and not necessarily replace anything except a few caps.. that cost maybe $10 if your lucky...

I totally respect your opinion on this subject. I just think when you do a mod to something like this you really should provide samples of the before and after. I guess that's what I am trying to say.

[BC]

Maybe if you had as much understanding of electronics as I do you would see the irony in charging $250 to remove parts from a product and not necessarily replace anything except a few caps.. that cost maybe $10 if your lucky...

sounds like a very lucrative business to me lol   

[Tim]

There is no double standard.. Here what so ever.

Sure there is - it's okay for you to bash a product you have never seen, touch nor heard but anyone who buys one is an idiot with too much money?

And my comment was there are better sounding devices to play back uncompressed files then an ipod I have more then a few of them..

You said nothing of the sort, you made a blanket statement about ipods playing compressed files.

And I actually do believe if your going to charge $250 to do a simple mod you should have before and after samples..

Agreed, it goes hand in hand with reviewers actually having heard and used the product.

But I dont think I would bother trying to do a mod to a product that really is not all that good to begin with, and hell the mod costs more then the fucking ipod does. I guess I am allowed to have my opinion like you are.

If you had just said this in the first place we wouldn't be having this current discussion. Instead you
1. Made a demonstrably false statement about the abilities of the ipod
2. Proclaimed that Red Wine Audio should be held to a standard that you are not even holding yourself to

We are all entitled to our opinions. I don't think it's too much to ask that we make statements based on facts and that there is internal consistency and logic in our statements.

Maybe if you had as much understanding of electronics as I do

[Church-Audio]

There is no double standard.. Here what so ever.

Sure there is - it's okay for you to bash a product you have never seen, touch nor heard but anyone who buys one is an idiot with too much money?

And my comment was there are better sounding devices to play back uncompressed files then an ipod I have more then a few of them..

You said nothing of the sort, you made a blanket statement about ipods playing compressed files.

And I actually do believe if your going to charge $250 to do a simple mod you should have before and after samples..

Agreed, it goes hand in hand with reviewers actually having heard and used the product.

But I dont think I would bother trying to do a mod to a product that really is not all that good to begin with, and hell the mod costs more then the fucking ipod does. I guess I am allowed to have my opinion like you are.

If you had just said this in the first place we wouldn't be having this current discussion. Instead you
1. Made a demonstrably false statement about the abilities of the ipod
2. Proclaimed that Red Wine Audio should be held to a standard that you are not even holding yourself to

We are all entitled to our opinions. I don't think it's too much to ask that we make statements based on facts and that there is internal consistency and logic in our statements.

Maybe if you had as much understanding of electronics as I do

All I can say is thank God your hear to correct me lol... And I hold my self to a very high standard... Actually I have recordings I can supply to customers BEFORE they purchase so they KNOW exactly what they are buying... I have invested alot of money into making sure what I sell actually works... and I actually can prove that my products perform exactly as published. I am not saying that's what these guys are doing but for $250 for a few caps and some wire please..

Like I said before I have the right to my opinion as do you. I respect yours you dont seem to respect mine. And that's ok.

Chris

[stevetoney]

FWIW, I just bought the 160GB Ipod classic a month or so ago.  This is my first Ipod and I couldn't be happier with this product.  I'm using the $100 Bose in-ear headphones and I think the combination sounds great.  I'd heard that they've improved the sound quality on the later generation ipods, so I can't comment on the sould quality of the older ipod generations, but I really don't have anything negative to say about the sound quality that I'm getting out of this unit.  At 160gb, I'm in the process of loading so much music that I can take with me, it's like have my entire music collection go with me whereever I go, and that's frankly so cool that even if there was a marginal bitch about sound quality (which I have none) I'd still be loving this thing to death.  Then to top it off, I haven't found one thing that I can say bad about the itunes software which is really amazingly bug free.  I'm especially senstive to this after using various Sony software that have been packaged with their hardware products.  USually what Sony puts out is so buggy that it's more risk using it than not.  This is just not the case with the itunes.  So, I honestly would rate my whole ipod experience pretty darn close to 10 stars outta 10.

[Nick's Picks]

this is the best iPod upgrade i've seen ....
for better sounding music.

some minor work to the electronics


followed by a total rebuild of the PCB  / oppamps and transport mechanism :

[Tim]

if only you could take a turntable in the car on roadtrips or on a jog or on the train...

[audBall]

if only you could take a turntable in the car on roadtrips or on a jog or on the train...

[Tim]

that's awesome, hope he has a good suspension

[audBall]

that's awesome, hope he has a good suspension

bet it sounds great with the top down! 

[Church-Audio]

if only you could take a turntable in the car on roadtrips or on a jog or on the train...

Actually Audio Technica of all people made a portable turntable WALKMAN LOL.. needless to say it was not very successful.. The idea was you were supposed to wear this on your hip and walk down the street it came with a shoulder strap LOL... I had one only because it was given to me and well it was not very good and it did skip


http://www.retrothing.com/2005/11/sound_burger_vi.html

[run_run_run]

that turntable is A+. As far as the ipod upgrade its laughable.

[tiberiusbkirk]

that imod is hyped up like krazy on that headphone site.
I want that vinyl burger.

[Church-Audio]

that imod is hyped up like krazy on that headphone site.
I want that vinyl burger.

Man the vinyl burger is going to make a comeback we all know it, Lets face it ipod is so yesterday the Vinyl burger is the way of the future!

[Tim]

if only you could take a turntable in the car on roadtrips or on a jog or on the train...

Actually Audio Technica of all people made a portable turntable WALKMAN LOL.. needless to say it was not very successful.. The idea was you were supposed to wear this on your hip and walk down the street it came with a shoulder strap LOL... I had one only because it was given to me and well it was not very good and it did skip


http://www.retrothing.com/2005/11/sound_burger_vi.html

oh man, that thing is awesome

[F0CKER]

Not sure why all the hate for the ipod.  I've owned two and have loved both...well at least the second one.  The HD failed in the first one so I bought a 4GB solid state mini next.  Not a lot of storage but it works flawlessly and is perfect for going to the gym, short flights etc.  I wouldn't use the ipod as the primary source component for my home stereo, but it's a quite a nice piece of equipment to have if you're on the go and wanna bring some music along.  I'll upgrade again when they introduce FLAC natively and can provide me with solid state memory in a much larger capacity.  Larger HD models are doomed with a short shelf life IMO.  The only downside...outside of no FLAC support.

[Church-Audio]

Not sure why all the hate for the ipod.  I've owned two and have loved both...well at least the second one.  The HD failed in the first one so I bought a 4GB solid state mini next.  Not a lot of storage but it works flawlessly and is perfect for going to the gym, short flights etc.  I wouldn't use the ipod as the primary source component for my home stereo, but it's a quite a nice piece of equipment to have if you're on the go and wanna bring some music along.  I'll upgrade again when they introduce FLAC natively and can provide me with solid state memory in a much larger capacity.  Larger HD models are doomed with a short shelf life IMO.  The only downside...outside of no FLAC support.

We dont hate the ipod. We just want them to make a sound burger  NO MP3 required. Just good old vinyl!

[F0CKER]

mmmm iBurger....mmmmm

[pmonk66]

Not a lot of storage but it works flawlessly and is perfect for going to the gym,

 

[F0CKER]

gym.  it's a place where people go to exercise.  sorry pmonk, masturbation is not a form of exercise...unless you're using the stranger technique.

[pmonk66]

gym.  it's a place where people go to exercise.  sorry pmonk, masturbation is not a form of exercise...unless you're using the stranger technique.

Well, some people do need two hands 

[F0CKER]

 

[stevetoney]

You guys crack me up. 

I get plenty of excercise.  The fatter my ass gets, the more I excercise to lug it around!  I call it pumping lard.

[Jammin72]

I don't know what these cats are hearing but a Nano with a good set of IEM's can sound pretty darn good.

Try loading up some of your favorite recordings at 320 or lossless and stick an SE530 into the Nano.  I think you'll be pretty darn happy with what you're hearing.  Not like a full home system to be sure but I can hear things on that little setup that i can't on my big rig, the level of accuracy and resolving power of the SE530s is pretty amazing and the Nano does a good enough job as a source to make that happen. For the footprint it really is something quite amazing.

On an enjoyment and image scale give the speakers or my full size Sennheisers of course but don't go too quickly to the trash with the iPod can until you've listened with an appropriate set of quality transducers.