Has anyone used an iPod in comparison to a high end CD player? How do they
compare if using the AIFF or Apple Losless playback?

B&D wrote:
Has anyone used an iPod in comparison to a high end CD player? How do they
compare if using the AIFF or Apple Losless playback?

Stereophile tested the iPod DAC's. IIRC, the iPod DAC's measured very
well, better than many stand-alone players. I certainly find the iPod
extremely satisfying playing high-bitrate files or uncompressed files.

Of course, if your high-end CD player sounds different to you than the
cheaper ones, then your experience with the iPod may be different than mine.

On 7/30/04 1:49 PM, in article , "chung"
wrote:

B&D wrote:
Has anyone used an iPod in comparison to a high end CD player? How do they
compare if using the AIFF or Apple Losless playback?

Stereophile tested the iPod DAC's. IIRC, the iPod DAC's measured very
well, better than many stand-alone players. I certainly find the iPod
extremely satisfying playing high-bitrate files or uncompressed files.

Of course, if your high-end CD player sounds different to you than the
cheaper ones, then your experience with the iPod may be different than mine.

I have 2 portable CD players - one is c. 1994 and chews through batteries -
and sounds pretty good, even can drive my Grado headphones. The other one I
have is more recent, and doesn't sound as good but the batteries last a
pretty long time and has trouble with my Grados. I was thinking of getting
an iPod, heard good things about it, but before parting with the folding
ones, wanted to know.

B&D wrote:

On 7/30/04 1:49 PM, in article , "chung"
wrote:

B&D wrote:
Has anyone used an iPod in comparison to a high end CD player? How do they
compare if using the AIFF or Apple Losless playback?

Stereophile tested the iPod DAC's. IIRC, the iPod DAC's measured very
well, better than many stand-alone players. I certainly find the iPod
extremely satisfying playing high-bitrate files or uncompressed files.

Of course, if your high-end CD player sounds different to you than the
cheaper ones, then your experience with the iPod may be different than mine.

I have 2 portable CD players - one is c. 1994 and chews through batteries -
and sounds pretty good, even can drive my Grado headphones. The other one I
have is more recent, and doesn't sound as good but the batteries last a
pretty long time and has trouble with my Grados. I was thinking of getting
an iPod, heard good things about it, but before parting with the folding
ones, wanted to know.

The biggest sonic difference between portable CD players is from the
output driver stage: the low-power ones often do not have sufficient
drive capability. The iPod is reasonably good, but if you want to listen
at very high levels using high-impedance headphones, you may need a
headphone amp.

The latest iPod has a 12-hour battery life spec. 50% higher than before.

On 7/31/04 2:34 PM, in article , "chung"
wrote:

I have 2 portable CD players - one is c. 1994 and chews through
batteries -
and sounds pretty good, even can drive my Grado headphones. The
other one I
have is more recent, and doesn't sound as good but the batteries last
a
pretty long time and has trouble with my Grados. I was thinking of
getting
an iPod, heard good things about it, but before parting with the
folding
ones, wanted to know.

The biggest sonic difference between portable CD players is from the
output driver stage: the low-power ones often do not have sufficient
drive capability. The iPod is reasonably good, but if you want to
listen
at very high levels using high-impedance headphones, you may need a
headphone amp.

The latest iPod has a 12-hour battery life spec. 50% higher than
before.

Does the battery have more capacity - or has one of the other major
draws of
power (output amp, hard drive, microprocessor) been reduced?

I am a little skittish about laying down $300-400 if the sound quality
has
been compromised.

I am currently eyeing an older generation iPod at a store that is deeply
discounting it - I may jump in, though I may not...

"B&D" wrote in message
...
Has anyone used an iPod in comparison to a high end CD player? How do
they
compare if using the AIFF or Apple Losless playback?

I'm not sure what prompts your question, but are you thinking about making
an iPod your primary music source both at home and when mobile? To me it
makes more sense to store music on a fixed hard drive in some sort of music
server system - mine is a PC - so you can easily play music around the
house. You can easily keep a mobile device synched to the server, disk space
considerations aside. I don't like Apple's DRM -
http://www.itwriting.com/blog/?postid=61 - which is one of the reasons I use
an iRiver iHP-140 and the jRiver media center (no connection between the
two, despite the similarity in name). It works well for me. I also prefer to
use compression on the device, because I'd rather have more choice vs a
difference in sound quality that is hard to quantify.

Tim

I am using Itunes on a mac and my ipod as server for my stereo system. I
can't tell the difference between compressed and uncompressed either,
but Stereophile recommended
...aiff as the best. It is rare that I would l play more than eight hours
straight, so uncompressed gives me a jazz station when there is none in
the afternoon. Mine is not nearly as good as the Spirit of Jazz out of
San Francisco on shoutcast.

Tim Anderson wrote:

"B&D" wrote in message
...


Has anyone used an iPod in comparison to a high end CD player? How do


they


compare if using the AIFF or Apple Losless playback?



I'm not sure what prompts your question, but are you thinking about making
an iPod your primary music source both at home and when mobile? To me it
makes more sense to store music on a fixed hard drive in some sort of music
server system - mine is a PC - so you can easily play music around the
house. You can easily keep a mobile device synched to the server, disk space
considerations aside. I don't like Apple's DRM -
http://www.itwriting.com/blog/?postid=61 - which is one of the reasons I use
an iRiver iHP-140 and the jRiver media center (no connection between the
two, despite the similarity in name). It works well for me. I also prefer to
use compression on the device, because I'd rather have more choice vs a
difference in sound quality that is hard to quantify.

Tim