iPod Classic 160 GB - is it worth using lossless files?

I am thinking about using lossless files on an iPod Classic 160 GB, but I'm wondering if the output electronics on the device are high-quality enough to make it worthwhile. Has anyone had experience with this and do you feel it is worth it from a sound quality perspective?

I would appreciate hearing your thoughts, thanks.

 

I rip everything lossless so lossless is what's on my classic.

 

I assume you are using ALAC? Do you use the headphone output or do you run the line out into another amp?

 

My iPod Classic is for the road. I playlists files via airplay and an airport express to my Rotel amps. Need to add a DAC soon.

 

You would have to spell our your intended usage for said pod. Is it for portable use on the bus? In the Car? At your desk? etc etc. My iPod 160 is strictly for on the go usage with cheap phones for bus/train commutes etc. Within that environment - lossless makes no sense. Matter o fact - due to the very dull average electronics in this thing - any usage with headphones won't make a bit of difference. I have tried many times to put some ALAC on there - and I cannot hear any difference whatsoever between the ALAC and the same via well done MP3 copy.

I would rather have choice vs quality in my case - so everything is done in LAME Extreme MP3 to jam more stuff on there - and everything sounds as good as I will ever need it to on a noisy bus.

VP

 

I had this set-up for a few years. Keep in mind that the iPod keeps having to cache those huge files a lot more often so battery life is not so good.
I eventually went back to 320kbps because the trade-off wasn't worth it.
These days, I stream from Synology. It gives me direct access to everything I've bought in 30 years. Even the classic couldn't do that.

 

I've only ever had Apple Lossless files on my iPod until recently. I use it only when flying, with Bose QC15 nose-cancelling headphones from the headphone socket. I had the same collection of albums on the iPod for a number of years, being to lazy to add any more. In the last year I have ripped all my CDs in AIFF to a Mac Mini setup feeding a Metric Halo LIO-8 over Firewire. A few months ago I realized that I could easily load up some more albums by simply connecting the iPod to the Mac and transferring some AIFF content. I have been listening to these when traveling.

Now perhaps it's just the fact that these are new albums that I have never heard on headphones when flying (the thrill of the new) - but they do sound fantastic, and they "seem" to sound better than the ALAC files.

There was a big difference in the hardware used for ripping but iTunes was used in each case. I only say this to indicate that the iPod is a pretty revealing device, even using the built-in headphones amp.

 

Sound quality is like stacking panes of glass-each one may look clear, but stack enough and it starts to become hard to see through.

Lossless is like a very clean high quality piece of glass. Satellite radio is like a smoke-hazed old pane of ripply float glass. Your "eyes" (actually ears) determine how important the lossless is. Even under great conditions, few people would call high-bit-rate MP3 or WMA or AAC etc "unmusical" so there is indeed a big temptation to stuff the limited storage full of that, instead of lossless.

BUT #1: it depends on the compression. 320k is maybe a bit over 2:1 compared to lossless, depending a lot on the specific music. To me, that's not enough difference. So since I personally find 192k MP3 still nice to listen to* I rip at 224k for a bit of margin. That's like 3:1 smaller file size, which becomes significant.
--> You need to do some of your own listening tests.

BUT #2: You also need to decide if you want to muck around making re-rips from lossless to MP3. I use XLD and it's pretty easy, but still takes some time which adds up. I now rip only to lossy, since my rips are basically for portable use and I still have the original discs if I need "lossless."

BUT #3: Yeah, the associated hardware makes a difference. A hemi dragster engine in an otherwise stock Honda Civic is not really going to work, and lossless files on, say, a jet plane via $2 headphones would be a waste. That would be like trying to look through glass + a piece of panty hose: whether the glass is pretty clean or super-duper clean won't really help you see better.

 

Largely for use at my desk or in relatively secluded environments. In the car I'm quite happy with MP3 @ 320 Mbps, but of course there's a fair amount of road noise, fan noise, etc... At home, I tend to go with CD, SACD, DVD-A, etc either through speakers or headphones, however, when in the yard or when in a non-stereo equipped room (gasp!), I'll use an iPod or other portable player.

I use Grado phones, either straight from the headphone jack or through a portable amp, and it sounds quite good.

A related question, what is your preferred Windows-based utility for converting FLAC to ALAC? I have a lot of FLAC files and I would rather convert than re-rip.

 

I have an iPod Classic 160 gig and use Apple Lossless on all rips. it's for road and home use, so I use both my Shure in-ear phones for travel and my main cans (AKG 701's) for home. I run an ALO cable from dock to input of my Headroom Micro Amp. I wouldn't use anything else. I rip to ACC 320 for both my iPhone and Nano (used for exercise). But for listening - it has to be lossless.

 

Just be happy for what it is, the Ipod . A lightweight mobile listening device that is average at best in sound quality, that can't discern the quality difference between lossless and lossy. It is what it is. The next step is to step out of that universe (Apple) for quality listening on the go. Myself, I'm not a big listener of tunes while on the move, I find it dangerous to non sociable. I need to be in a static position (gym is my limit). Then the alternative to mobile static position is limitless. Pick your transport (PC Mac) and a hi quality DAC (Chord Hugo) or built into the transport (AK 240), and most important a sweet pair of cans (NOT Beats).

 

Lossless >cheap earphones=crap
Lossless>quality in ear monitors=bliss

 

Its worth using lossless files in any context,especially with cans,they are more revealing than most LS.

 

I use only the Line Out on my Classic, either into a portable amp (Slee Traveler) or Bluetooth speaker line in (JBL), so in this case it makes a noticeable difference. If I were using only the headphone output of the Classic I might think differently.

John K.

 

Fixed it for ya!

 

thanks to all that have responded thus far, I appreciate your insights.

Does anyone have a recommendation for a Windows app to convert FLAC to ALAC?

 

http://www.foobar2000.org/

 

thanks, I use foobar2000 for FLAC encoding but haven't been able to find an ALAC encoder... obviously I'm missing something.

 

I was under the assumption that as of version 1.1.10 it supports Apple Lossless natively (without downloading additional components). I could be wrong though.

 

Apparently foobar2000 now natively supports decoding of ALAC but not encoding.

After some digging about for a foobar encoder, I found an ALAC encoder called "refalac", latest version can be found here:

https://sites.google.com/site/qaacpage/cabinet

The file is called "qaac_2.04.zip"

I will experiment with this and see how it performs.

Editorial comment: if the developers of a freeware program like foobar can figure out how to decode ALAC, you'd think that the talented folks at Apple might be able to add FLAC decoding to their various pods... Just sayin' ...

 

I use dBpoweramp (http://www.dbpoweramp.com/) to do just that. Works like a charm.

and yep it is (in answer to your original question). I made a bad judgement call and transferred all my collection a while ago over to V0 MP3. This was back when storage came at a price but obviously that's changed. What I've been doing is slowly re-ripping the essential stuff over to ALAC as I'm in an Apple ecosystem and the Classic does a great job with them. I've not noticed any battery hit with it but I haven't been looking closely.

 

Your atachments make it sheer bliss!

 

I don't think it's worth it. I used to have Lossless on my iPod. Now I just have iTunes automatically covert everything copied to my iPod to 256kbps AAC (any content that's a higher resolution). It sounds great. You could always make a playlist with a group of songs, one as Lossless and a duplicate as 256kbps AAC, listen to them back-to-back, and see if it's worth having Lossless. For me, it wasn't. There's no shame in having a 256kbps AAC library on an iPod.

 

Thanks, that's actually the plan... I will convert some albums and do some comparative listening...

 

mp3 VBR may not sound different to lossless through earphones, but as I don't want to rip over 1T of music twice it's lossless all the way for me.