Reading a quote on this thread, I decided to post up my little sound quality results from using my iPod devices within my household.
I too read that article a couple years ago, and was recently reminded of it when i got my iPhone 4, and realized how good it sounded as an iPod. It made me think of that article (linked in the previous post), and I decided to hit up ebay for a 512mb iPod shuffle.
Now a proud owner of this little white piece of trident (I don't recommend chewing on your ipod shuffle though), I too am blown away by the sound quality as compared to the rest of my iPods. The overall richness of the sound, is quite good, despite it lacking many of the modern features all of us expect on current iPods.
The biggest draw to this iPod to me is the deep rich bass. I am not talking bone shattering ghetto base (no offense intended), but crisp, clear, rich sound, that makes any well recorded song sound amazing.
I used a song that may seem a bit strange, but works well as it is a digitally recorded song that has rich crisp digital highs, and sub woofer level lows that accompany some rich mids and vocals. The song is Crazy by Seal, and I used the last 58 seconds (or around there since the shuffle has no screen) of the song. It is a small portion that eventually has deep lows, crisp highs, and vocals. It (for me) has been a great song to test stereo systems, speakers, and headphones for over a decade as it seems to be hard for many systems to reproduce correctly without sounding too tinny, boomy, or otherwise bad.
I do use other songs (classical, electronic, and some jazz) to test audio systems (for my taste) too, but I find this song to be really hard to sound right to my ears, on many devices! I used Apple's in ear headphones (yes I know not the best out there), but it is what I have, and I actually like them for the cost.
My Personal results (based on my opinion of little value)
- 15gb iPod 3rd generation
The first true touch only iPod, but never called the iPod Touch. This was also my first ever iPod, and got me hooked on the entire ecosystem. As far as sound, it has great clarity overall, however has really weak lows when compared to the first generation Shuffle. I do like how bright the overall sound quality and clairity is, but it suffers at higher volume.
I used this iPod religiously until the drive started to go bad. Currently have kit on order to make it a Compact Flash ipod.
- 30gb iPod 5th Generation [with video]
I love this device, first time I was able to bring video with me almost anyplace. Got addicted to video podcasts, and bringing Movies / TV shows with me anyplace.
How does it sound compared to the shuffle? With it's version of the Wolfson chipset, it actually comes quite close in highs and mids, but lows are still subtle compared to the shuffle. This iPod is much better than the 3rd generation iPod in sound reproduction on lows.
iPod shuffle 2nd generation
Flat and weak is the only way to describe this device. I still use it often due to the fact that it can clip onto my riding gear (I ride / race Motocross), and it is actually quite a durable little device. Without the clip, I think I would leave it home indefinitely.
The sound is that bad.
- ipod Touch 2nd Generation
Similar overall sound quality to the shuffle, actually comes far closer than any other iPod I have tested (even beating out my 5th gen Nano). While the lows are really good on the Touch, it lacks the ability of producing a super rich deep low that the Shuffle is somehow a master at.
- iPod Nano 5th Generation
A good device, has great mids and good highs, but the lows are not quite at the level of the shuffle still!
As far as iPods go, this is my favorite "true" iPod. While the video camera is a neat little toy, it isn't what won me over with this iPod. It has great sound, lots of music related features, built in mic, speaker, plays video, voiceover, and supports headphone controls. if you want a good affordable full featured iPod with good sound quality, I strongly suggest getting this one.
It is loaded with features no other iPod has, and sounds quite good to boot!
- iPhone 4
I honestly think this matches the sound quality of the 1st gen shuffle, possibly outperforming it in both clarity, and overall bass output. While not a true iPod, it does the job better than any other iPod / iPhone I have tested before with regards to sound quality. That being said, it isn't the best music player, as the internal radios do interfere with some audio equipment when the phone feels the need to send or receive data.
While I LOVE the sound quality in this , it can't replace my iPods for pure music. I simply can't stand the Morris codeish "da da dot, da da dot, da da dot" sound coming through my audio devices while the phone is sending cellular data. Granted, you don't hear this with headphones or well built audio equipment, it does come through with many amplified speakers, or low to mid range stereo equipment.
_____________________________________
What iPods have you used, and really liked? I don't claim to be an expert, but would love to see other's user experiences as I may have to go out and try some of the other iPods I don't currently own
.
I too read that article a couple years ago, and was recently reminded of it when i got my iPhone 4, and realized how good it sounded as an iPod. It made me think of that article (linked in the previous post), and I decided to hit up ebay for a 512mb iPod shuffle.
Now a proud owner of this little white piece of trident (I don't recommend chewing on your ipod shuffle though), I too am blown away by the sound quality as compared to the rest of my iPods. The overall richness of the sound, is quite good, despite it lacking many of the modern features all of us expect on current iPods.
The biggest draw to this iPod to me is the deep rich bass. I am not talking bone shattering ghetto base (no offense intended), but crisp, clear, rich sound, that makes any well recorded song sound amazing.
I used a song that may seem a bit strange, but works well as it is a digitally recorded song that has rich crisp digital highs, and sub woofer level lows that accompany some rich mids and vocals. The song is Crazy by Seal, and I used the last 58 seconds (or around there since the shuffle has no screen) of the song. It is a small portion that eventually has deep lows, crisp highs, and vocals. It (for me) has been a great song to test stereo systems, speakers, and headphones for over a decade as it seems to be hard for many systems to reproduce correctly without sounding too tinny, boomy, or otherwise bad.
I do use other songs (classical, electronic, and some jazz) to test audio systems (for my taste) too, but I find this song to be really hard to sound right to my ears, on many devices! I used Apple's in ear headphones (yes I know not the best out there), but it is what I have, and I actually like them for the cost.
My Personal results (based on my opinion of little value)
- 15gb iPod 3rd generation
The first true touch only iPod, but never called the iPod Touch. This was also my first ever iPod, and got me hooked on the entire ecosystem. As far as sound, it has great clarity overall, however has really weak lows when compared to the first generation Shuffle. I do like how bright the overall sound quality and clairity is, but it suffers at higher volume.
I used this iPod religiously until the drive started to go bad. Currently have kit on order to make it a Compact Flash ipod.
- 30gb iPod 5th Generation [with video]
I love this device, first time I was able to bring video with me almost anyplace. Got addicted to video podcasts, and bringing Movies / TV shows with me anyplace.
How does it sound compared to the shuffle? With it's version of the Wolfson chipset, it actually comes quite close in highs and mids, but lows are still subtle compared to the shuffle. This iPod is much better than the 3rd generation iPod in sound reproduction on lows.
iPod shuffle 2nd generation
Flat and weak is the only way to describe this device. I still use it often due to the fact that it can clip onto my riding gear (I ride / race Motocross), and it is actually quite a durable little device. Without the clip, I think I would leave it home indefinitely.
The sound is that bad.
- ipod Touch 2nd Generation
Similar overall sound quality to the shuffle, actually comes far closer than any other iPod I have tested (even beating out my 5th gen Nano). While the lows are really good on the Touch, it lacks the ability of producing a super rich deep low that the Shuffle is somehow a master at.
- iPod Nano 5th Generation
A good device, has great mids and good highs, but the lows are not quite at the level of the shuffle still!
As far as iPods go, this is my favorite "true" iPod. While the video camera is a neat little toy, it isn't what won me over with this iPod. It has great sound, lots of music related features, built in mic, speaker, plays video, voiceover, and supports headphone controls. if you want a good affordable full featured iPod with good sound quality, I strongly suggest getting this one.
It is loaded with features no other iPod has, and sounds quite good to boot!
- iPhone 4
I honestly think this matches the sound quality of the 1st gen shuffle, possibly outperforming it in both clarity, and overall bass output. While not a true iPod, it does the job better than any other iPod / iPhone I have tested before with regards to sound quality. That being said, it isn't the best music player, as the internal radios do interfere with some audio equipment when the phone feels the need to send or receive data.
While I LOVE the sound quality in this , it can't replace my iPods for pure music. I simply can't stand the Morris codeish "da da dot, da da dot, da da dot" sound coming through my audio devices while the phone is sending cellular data. Granted, you don't hear this with headphones or well built audio equipment, it does come through with many amplified speakers, or low to mid range stereo equipment.
_____________________________________
What iPods have you used, and really liked? I don't claim to be an expert, but would love to see other's user experiences as I may have to go out and try some of the other iPods I don't currently own
.
