Can an iPod provide an audiophile experience?

There's a stigma around iPod listening and the quality of the sound. It's like they aren't supposed to be used for an audiophile experience, much like how listening in the car is. Can't an iPod be optimized for an audiophile experience? If one uses lossless files and uses decent headphones like the Sennheiser HD203 and up, shouldn't iPods provide an audiophile experience?

 

If you run a line out of the bottom of the iPod (USB) to another device, then you can in my opinion. The headphone jack on an iPod isn't very good. I listen to lossless ALAC files from my iPod via USB to my Marantz receiver at home, or the same way in my car.

 

Stereophile seems to think so. . .

 

Depends on the amount of alcohol involved.....

just my 2cents worth...

 

I dunno... what do you have it loaded with?

If it's mp3s, no. If it's lossless, perhaps?

My opinion is that the iPod is an anti-audiophile device just by it's very nature.

I'm someone who uses (and generally loves) Apple professional hardware but I have no use for their consumer crap.

 

Of course. With lossless files, a portable external DAC/headphone amp and of course a pair of decent cans, it can sound amazing. It's going to be expensive and quite bulky though.

 

I suspect the complete question would be, "Can any common commercial portable music player provide an audiophile experience?" We have an iPod 5 and I think it sounds great. I think it sounds better than my Sansa Clip, but it doesn't take FLAC and I have no desire to convert thousands of FLAC's to Apple Lossless, so I continue to use the Sansa (my wife uses the iPod for her music and several other applications).

There's nothing wrong with a modern iPod that good media and good headphones can't fix.

 

Of course!

An iPod (or other modern portable music player) loaded with the right music and paired with an appropriate set of headphones can provide a stunning musical experience. Add to that the fact that you can bypass the internal DAC, you've got a device that can compete with (or exceed) the quality you can get out of most CD players.

 

Absolutely! Even out of the headphone port, the iPod is virtually transparent with a properly-powered headphone. A wonderful device!

 

If you consider 16/44 audiophile, then a HRT iStreamer DAC which takes the digital output from the iPod is pretty nice.

 

Sure, and if you don't consider 16/44 audiophile, well then there are no audiophile CD players in your world. Which is a ridiculous proposition in my opinion.

 

An iPod can give an audiophile an acceptable portable listening experience for convenience. However, it does not have the sort of sound qualities that an audiophile strives for. On that end it falls short. Far short.

The iPod with basic headphones is more like listening to music on the PA system at a high school dance. The music is playing, it is sounding good for the purpose at hand, but there is no regard for the finer aspects of audiophile sound. An audiophile attempts to get an expansive soundstage, imaging, speakers that disappear sonically, gear that lets the music come through effortlessly, etc. None of that happens at the high school dance. None of that happens when listening on an iPod with basic headphones.

Audiophile headphones with a suitable amp and DAC can achieve an expansive headphone soundstage, imaging with depth and dimensions, and ear cups that sonically disappear. Even using the iPod just as a DAC source will limit the performance of an audiophile amp and headphone. My $100 Schiit Modi USB DAC is a better DAC than my iPod Classic. The Schiit Modi has noticeably better and more open soundstage, better dynamics, better other features. Switching from the little Schiit DAC to the iPod DAC as source is a significant step down in audiophile performance. Soundstage shrinks, stereo separation is less separated, dynamics are not as clear or dynamic, etc. Comparing the iPod when powering headphones from its headphone jack is even more of a step backwards in audiophile quality.

Yet even with that I have used my iPod as a source when demoing or auditioning headphones. I'll use the iPod as a source (as a DAC using a line out dock cable) plugged in to various amps while auditioning headphones. And my iPod just has MP3 files on it, I have never ever even put an ALAC file on it. The iPod is very handy and I love it. But as audiophile gear I place it way down on the quality scale. Still a very good thing to listen to, especially when used with just a basic external portable headphone amp and reasonable headphones.

 

This is my approach. Lossless files and earphones connected through one of these or something like it.

 

I'm someone who uses (and generally loves) Apple consumer crap and has plenty of amateur-hour use for Decibel software playing hi-rez and mostly lossless files, or MOG streaming, via USB DAC to headphone amp or desktop speakers or hi-fi. Also line out of iPod Touch and iPad as perfectly decent sources. For people who define audiophile as high-end or professional only, these behaviors are, of course, somewhere between gauche and depraved.

 

I've always disliked the term"audiophile", it seems to mean different things to different groups. The MP stuff was designed, I always thought, to enable one to store a lot of music for portable, personnel use. I do not see how this format would qualify as audiophile on a forum such as this. While all recorded music is compressed, some is much more so, the MP stuff probably the most, and the more compressed, the less there is to experience. You loose spacial qualities, there's no "air" between the instruments, no dimension to the presentation. Having said this, I really enjoyed my little AM transistor radio back in the day, loved the music then no less than I do today on my bigger budget system, but it was not audiophile, but I enjoyed it! My advice, if ya' like what you got, just leave well enough alone ........... the "audiophile" road is a never ending, money devouring journey.

 

uncompressed files is a MUST. With the right IEM, it is very enjoyable straight off the headphones jack. I really like the Sony MDR-EX1000.

 

iPod 5G / 5.5G (Wolfson chipset) w/lossless files + LOD + a good headphone amp + a good set of cans = you're in the zone.

Add Rockbox to complete the package. The only thing you're limited to is 16/48 or 24/48 (I think?) as there's a hardware limitation with the older chipsets. Rockbox will playback 24/96, but I think it downsamples.

 

Absolutely. I play my needle drops on my iPhone, plugged right into my tube amp. Sounds wonderful. The plus side is there is no power cord, just pure B+ from the battery. The minus side is the crappy $0.25 interconnect I use from my 1990's Discman.

 

If you want better sound quality, get a dock with a digital output. The i-20 by Pure is pretty neat. It has both optical and coaxial digital outputs and is only $99 on Amazon. You'll have to use it with an iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch or iPod Classic to get the digital out. This dock has a 30 pin connector which won't work with the current generation of iPhones or iPod Touches. Assuming you load uncompressed .wav files on your device, you'll get a 44.1kHz/16 bit signal out of it.

It's way too long to go into here but I did a similar trick last year with a car stereo and a 4th Generation iPod Touch. It was more difficult because I also had to keep the 30 pin plug available to operate the iPod from the head unit in the dash. After much experimenting, I got the Touch to send a digital stream, with no D>A or A>D conversions, to the signal processor in the system and keep control on the Alpine deck. I rarely listen to CDs in the car anymore. I just have two 64Gig iPod Touches loaded with CD quality music instead.

 

I think if Apple wanted to make an audiophile iPod, that Audioquest would be a perfect partner right now. An iPod with Dragonfly guts? Doesn't need to be much bigger and perhaps not even that much more expensive.

 

Me thinks yes, but it really comes down to the tunes. Garbage in garbage out. Converting flac to ALAC is free and fast, so I just convert from my master music server to another PC on which itunes is installed. Change them up every now and then and I'm all good. My Hyundai care stereo sucks bad, but the great recordings I have make up for it. It's not like at home with amps, speakers, SACD and vinyl, but it's pretty dang good all things considered. I now use a LOD, straight to RCA and into a Grado can amp. I don't think I could ask for much better sound on the fly, playing poker, and being stuck in a hotel room on the road for work.

For me, audiophile is more about the recording and mastering. Gear is about synergy, listener preferences, tastes, etc.....individual needs, wants, and expectations.

Hang out in here for a while and you'll see that most of the time we can all agree on the source material that's best (except the occasional vinyl vs cd thread). It's the gear that really gets the blood boiling and opinions flying.

It's much easier to make a great recording sound right than a bad one, if that's even possible.

 

Yes if due care is exercised.

 

Audiophile? Maybe not. Is my flac>Benchmark DAC1 USB>AKG K702s with modami cable audiophile? That seems to be for 'others' to define. But I find my iPhone 5 with Etymotic HF-3 phones playing (gasp!) highest level VBR MP3s to be a VERY pleasant experience.

 

Personally I think it's entirely subjective - if you find you're enjoying listening to music through an iPod, then that's the important thing - not what anyone else thinks. I can happily go from my "audiophile" vinyl set up to my iPod (both through the same amp and speakers) and even though the turntable sounds way better in audiophile terms, I find the iPod good enough to enjoy listening to music with too. It's the experience of having and enjoying music that matters to me; as long as it doesn't sound like cats screwing, I'm cool.