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quasinormal

macrumors 6502a
Oct 26, 2007
736
4
Sydney, Australia.
Out of the iPods I've owned (4th, 5th, 5.5, Classic, mini, 2nd gen Nano, 4th and 5th gen Nano, and a 2nd gen touch, I felt the touch had the best sound with my preferred brand of earphones, Etymotic.

The touch had the Cirrus DAC, as does the Classic, which I feel suffers from a weak headphone output. The touch seemed to have the strongest headphone output.
 

Mendozart

macrumors newbie
Jan 10, 2013
11
0
I heard a similar story about the iPod 5th Generation (aka iPod video). Apparently they have better audio quality than the modern iPods and iPhones. Seems strange that Apple settle for worse quality in more up to date products.

I own an original mini, a 5th gen video, and a 2nd gen touch, and I think the video sounds best to my ears. It's a 60gb model, but the hard drive acts up at times. So, I just ordered a 100gb replacement hard drive.;)
 
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APlotdevice

macrumors 68040
Sep 3, 2011
3,145
3,861
Maybe it's because they get the technology in a smaller form factor. Size is a very important issue in recent Apple products.

What exactly is the difference between the 5th and 5.5th generation iPod? Sometimes your read that the 5.5th sounds considerably better than the 5th generation.

It would be interesting to know what audio components are in the 4th generation and the iPod photo (1st (20/40GB) and 2nd gen (30/60GB)) too.

I don't think size is the factor. Apple probably just realized that most consumers would never notice the difference.
 

Consultant

macrumors G5
Jun 27, 2007
13,314
34
Edit: Where are all the last posts? Seems they have vanished... :(

A post by spambot and some comments about the post were deleted. Anyway, an excerpt from a post here:
http://www.head-fi.org/t/627111/what-is-the-sound-quality-of-iphone-ipad-ipod-touch/15#post_8705055

"On newer iDevices, the headphone output is pretty much a transparent unity-gain buffer at maximum volume. It's cleaner than the line outs of many CD and DVD players. In some cases, the low output impedance makes the headphone output work better than the line out on the 30-pin connector. For example, a passive volume control can become a relatively low-impedance load for the line out, and the effects of loading might be audible. But the same passive volume control is practically an open circuit for the headphone out. Do a blind, level-matched comparison between the line out and the headphone out going to the same amp. It's very, very close. The new iPhone 5 isn't really missing a thing by not having an analog line out."
 

Gusjobs

macrumors newbie
Nov 25, 2013
1
0
No way

Yes, there is no way to Iphone beat Ipod in sound. First because it should be a marketing shoot on foot. When Jobs idealized IPOD the "must" was: the simple, the small, the best way to storage and hear your music. And it must be like that. I think Apple´s strategy with Ipod should be increased. In technical terms they are doing the right thing, letting IPOD be superior in sound, and because it is dedicated for sound, any new improvement should be implemented on IPOD. I have a Nano and always carry it with me (on my handbag or plugging it on my car´s radio.
 

dumastudetto

macrumors 601
Aug 28, 2013
4,990
7,130
Los Angeles, USA
Advising ppl to buy Bose headphones for quality is like telling ppl to buy a sooped up Honda Civic for performance =-(

Bose is terrible and its terribly overpriced...

There are much better cans for way less than Bose

Totally agree. For me Monster Beats are the best cans on the market and they look sexy and gorgeous. Bose are horribly overrated and leak noise like crazy.
 

iPodJedi

macrumors 6502a
Nov 28, 2013
711
0
Apple Store, USA
I always thought the iPhone would have better sound quality out of all iDevices but when i put a good pair of earbuds in my ipod nano 7th gen then put the same ones in my iphone, the nano actually sounds better.
 

kidxsolo

macrumors newbie
Nov 20, 2016
1
0
Advising ppl to buy Bose headphones for quality is like telling ppl to buy a sooped up Honda Civic for performance =-(

Bose is terrible and its terribly overpriced...

There are much better cans for way less than Bose
LOL YEAH MY SR80E sound better than bose
 
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