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Question about iPod Classic

If it's loaded with lossless files (e.g., .wav or ALC), what do you think about the sound quality of an iPod Classic vs. a CD player of $500 or less? Have any of you paired an iPod with the Wadia 170iTransport and an external DAC or used an external preamp such as the NuForce Icon Mobile to improve the signal strength coming off the iPod? What do you think of the sound quality potential?

I like the sound of my iPod Touch with ALC, and the output seems to at least equal the quality of my Sony ES SACD/CD player (at least when playing CDs). I've also heard a Classic and a Nano docked to a Wadia 170iTransport feeding the DAC in a Peachtree Nova, and the sound was quite remarkable.

Yet I've encountered an acquaintance who says his iPod Classic, playing .wavs and ALC files can't match the quality of his $50 Discman, and that doesn't match my experience.

Thoughts? Feelings? Opinions?
johnnyb53

Showing 1 response by johnnyb53

johnnyb53 OP
3,510 posts
 
07-23-09: Ejlif
I agree that the ipod sounds better than a CD transport when docked to the
Wadia and feeding a digital signal to a DAC. However it does not sound even
close to as good as almost any CD player when plugged straight into a system
via the headphone output jack.
What if the iPod is in a
garden-variety docking station that extracts the line level signal from the
docking pins, bypassing the iPod's op amp at the headphone jack, and is sent
on via high quality RCAs?

Or the new breed of adapter cable, the analog iPod dock jack at one end and two
RCAs at the other? Then how would the iPod's output compare to a similarly
priced CD player?
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