Ipod Classic 160gb audio quality? Options

[ArtMustHurt]

How's the audio quality on the Ipod Classic 160gb 7th generation?
I read some reviews saying the audio quality had gotten worse in the newest classic model(compared to the older models).

[greynol]

If you're claiming audible differences in the iPod's DAC then let's see your ABX results.

This post has been edited by greynol: Oct 7 2010, 21:01

[higherlove]

If you're claiming audible differences in the iPod's DAC then let's see your ABX results.

Are there any handy ABX test tool running on iPod?

[Arnold B. Kruege...]

If you're claiming audible differences in the iPod's DAC then let's see your ABX results.

Are there any handy ABX test tool running on iPod?

Doing ABX testing of portable players is not easy if you approach it the most obvious way. By obvious way, I mean get two players, load them up with the same songs, start then both playing, somehow match levels and song playback timing, and then blindly and manually swap listening to the players in accordance with a randomized script, and write down your reactions.

If you actually try to do this, you will find that synching the playback and switching between the players is really awkward, time consuming, and frustrating. You see if you want the maximum sensitivity for your test you have to be able to switch quickly between the players when you want to and instatntly. I'm talking switch over in a fraction of a second. If it takes more than a few seconds to switch, your ability to hear differences flushes right down the porcelain convenience. You can listen to each altnerative for seconds or hours or whatever floats your boat, but if you can't switch quickly when you want to you won't be able to work at your peak. Going along with this is the fact that both players have to be playing the same music, with timing consistency on the order of a musical note or less.

The first level of added sophistication would probably be to set up a randomized box for switching the headphones between the two players. ABX boxes that are capable of switching headphone or speaker connections have been around for almost 4 decades, I built the first one ever built in the late 1970s.

Time-synching players and keeping them time synched within a fraction of a second isn't very easy, either. It's actually even harder than the fast switching when you want it part of the problem.

There's an easy solution for all of these problems, but you have to agree to some things that will be very counter-intuitive until you've done some actual ABX testing of audio equipment, and figure out what in life sounds different, and what sounds the same, and how to know which is which.

[greynol]

Doing ABX testing of portable players is not easy if you approach it the most obvious way.

Record the output of the two players as separate files and perform your ABX from there. You've been telling us that modern ADCs should give transparent results, have you not?