using ipod as source and very low output

Which output are you using? The Headphone out or the output through the dock? I used my 40G through the Dock out put into my amp and it is fine. It is lower than my CDP output but no where near as low as you are describing.

KiD

Try using the dock's output fed into your preamp, that should allow for more volume thru your home system. As for low output into headphones, you have to make sure your headphones are a good match for the output impedance of the iPod.

I have a Rio Karma MP3 player and it drives my home system quite satisfactorily when using the dock's output. In addition, I find that my Sennheiser 580s don't achieve very high volume (but still okay) when using the headphone output, but my Shure E2Cs can really blast at the same volume setting.

Get rid of the cheesy earbuds that Apple provides and try some Shures or Etymotics instead. Go to HeadFi.org for much more detailed info...

-RW-

thank you guys for the info. I'll buy the dock tomorrow and see if my primaluna and ipod can be friends. for the headphones, can you just give me a reasonably priced model(shures maybe)? like about 100-150$. and one last question. what do you use for "mini-jack x 2 RCA" connection for connecting ipod to pre-amp. I saw a Kimber Tonik mini x 2 RCA for about 40 pounds. Do you have any other audiophile ideas for the connection?

thank you so much again.

You are welcome. I use the Audience iPod cable. Check out www.audience-av.com

Good Luck,

Chris

Tvad,

Do you have the volume on the iPod turned all the way up? Is the music on the iPod encoded using the Apple lossless encoder?