Can an iPod provide an audiophile experience?

Absolutely yes
If lossless and from the dock connector via headphone amp with lots of good gain
Even HD 600/650s can be driven to audiophile standard.
Apple DACs on many portable devices will now drive difficult loads to adequate levels
I can music edit on my MacBook with HD650 with no amp.

 

I've never tried my iPod Classic 160GB with anything but my Bose QC-15 headphones - the iPod is pretty much just for listening to on the plane.

I used to carry this with a Headroom Airhead II for quite a few years, connected to the iPod with a line-out cable from ALO. I started having trouble with the connection - not sure if the problem was with the cable or the mini-plug socket into the Airhead (wiggling made the music come and go) but I stopped using the Airhead and just plugged the headphones into the iPod.

On the plane, as it turned out, I did not feel that this simpler setup lost much quality. So now I just carry the iPod in the Bose case with the headphones, and it's far easier to transport and works as intended.

I may get a different headphone amp one day, but for my purposes, it's not necessary.

 

I do remember seeing this list on-line at one stage - DAC by model number.

I don't recall seeing this when you boot the iPod into maintenance mode (backwards Apple logo). You will see details of the iPod and the O/S and maybe the processor, but I don't think the DAC was there.

 

You might have to google it. I know that the 4G and 5xG classics were Wolfson, and then the 6G at later ones should be Cirrus Logic.

 

Everything on my iPod Classic 160G is in Apple Loseless. I connect it to a Wadia 170 dock and the dock to my PS Audio Perfect Wave DAC.

I have no issues with the sound quality.

 

If you feel that it sounds good it does. There is too much Snobbery in this hobby where people and their equipment get put down and ridiculed by some who would have you believe that only a $100 000 vinyl setup can sound good.

If it sounds good to you however you play it than it is an Audiophile experience.

An audiophile is a person enthusiastic about high-fidelity sound reproduction, and this definition differs for each individual.

 

I agree.

 

a quick search found this listing

iPod 5G Wolfson WM8758
iPod 4G Wolfson WM8975
iPod 3G Wolfson WM8731
iPod 1G/2G Wolfson WM8721

 

I rip to lossless files and use a Nuforce - iCON Mobile - Headphone Amp or USB/DAC with good headphones to listen in my car on lunch break. Not as good as in my living room with a real stereo, but really quite good for a portable listening system

 

I've got to agree. I too use an iPod Classic 160GB using "Apple Lossless", through a Wadia 170i bypassing the iPod DACs, into a Simaudio Moon 300D DAC using a Kimber D60 coax cable . It sounds good to me. Gives me an inexpensive digital server. Depending on whose definition of audiophile you use YMMV. The difference between the iPod and the original CD using another D60 from an Oppo DVP-83SE as a transport into the same Moon DAC is indistinguishable to me.

 

I use a third generation iPod Touch, 32Gb. Very, very happy with it. Excellent performance and - yes - an audiophile one at that. I use it with a pair of Motorheadphones Triggers (don't snigger at the Triggers, they're great too), and either Spotify Premium or WAV files on iTunes. Might be giving Deezer Premium a shot soon too as it's the most significant threat to Spotify I've seen.

Interesting the comments about iPods that you see. However, I have always found mine to offer up a really excellent audio experience. I thought I'd have a look around and see what else is out there around the audio capabilities and came across this site which offers up some comparisons with my version of the iPod and its DAC and the NuForce DAC-2. The two links below are from the same site. The first one relates to Headphones Amps and DACs, scroll down a little to see the iPod DACs comments. Then go over to the second link to see why the NuForce DAC2 comes out of it badly....

http://nwavguy.blogspot.co.uk/2011/02/gain-and-headphone-ampsdacs.html

http://nwavguy.blogspot.co.uk/2011/02/nuforce-udac-2-drama.html

 

Thanks - often wondered what was in mine. Nice to know that the company just up the road from me are in there.

 

I thought people who use the dock output, instead of the headphone jack, use it for a digital out (e.g. to another dac), not as an analog output.

 

Pins 1, 2 and 3 have the audio, I think. Going from memory. There is a pin-out diagram posted on a Russian site. I tried to make a dock once, soldering to the pins of a male dock connector I bought from a Dutch web site. But it was very hard and I messed it up.

 

The 30 pin dock connectors are usually analog. You can also get digital output from the 30 pin dock, like what Wadia and other manufacturers do. But the vast vast majority of docking stations are doing analog audio line out. The new Lightning connection on new iDevices changes things and prefers to do digital.

 

I see, thanks.

 

Hi - great thread, I saw the reference to the Pure i-20 however this is a 30 pin termination. Has anyone seen anything similar which provides a lightning termination, and digital coax or HDMI output?

 

The Nuforce Icon ido provides a digital out. It also has a nice headphone amp as well as an adjustable analog out. I enjoy the heck out of mine for headphone listening in the bedroom. AudioAdvisor has them on clearance for $99. Tempted to buy another and run the digital out to the dac in my main system.
http://www.audioadvisor.com/Nuforce...phone-Amp/productinfo/NUICONIDO/#.UsttEPt0kaY

 

I thought the iPod sounded a lot better when run through the dock connector too.

 

When's the Pono coming out

 

Thanks for the quick reply. Maybe I should be more specific. I've got an amp which has digital coax or USB or TOSlink input. So - direct digital, and then the amp has a built-in DAC. Standard for high end amps, right? So is the sound I get now via the USB connection equivalent to finding a (powered) dock that outputs digital coax?

 

24/44 HDtracks sound great on an iPod Classic.