Hi,
I'm thinking about buying an Ipod classic 160 gb.
I like the big capacity but what about the sound?
Some people claim that it's inferior to previous
ipods... due to the new sound chip they used.
So what do you think?

I have no previous iPods to compare it to, but mine sounds fine. I can have the volume on full, feeding the aux input of my car stereo, with no distortion. I think it sounds superior to my previous player, an iRiver H340 with Rockbox, however that's a subjective judgment not backed up by any ABXing.

The general consensus seems to be that the iPod classic is the best iPod regarding sound quality, up there with the iRivers, Cowons and Creatives.
I wouldn't switch it for my good old H120, though...

You are mainly going to find subjective thoughts about the sound quality of iPods. In general, people regarded the 5G iPods as being pretty high quality. Many said that it was the best sounding full sized iPod released. The 5.5G continued that sound quality and now people are saying that the iPod classic improves the sound quality by a little bit. I don't think you are going to have any sound quality issues with the iPod classic. Again, you can read all the reviews that you want but all the tests are going to be subjective or the opinion of the review writer.

I can point you to a handful of reviews all praising the iPod classic for having improved sound quality over the 5G/5.5G iPod. I can also point you to a handful of reviews that give the iPod classic a couple of negative marks for "inferior" sound quality. I had a 160GB iPod classic for about a month before I returned it for my 16GB iPod touch. I also have a 3G 40GB, a 4G 40GB, and a 5G 60GB iPod. I compared the sound quality of the iPod classic to each and, from my own unscientific test, I thought the iPod classic was at least on par with the 5G and better than the 4G and 3G. Again, that is just my own opinion.

I have an iPod classic and my only complaint is when I turn it up all the way, I can hear a hiss over the headphones

That's probably due to your headphones or the encoded file.

I have owned a 3G dock iPod and an 80GB iPod classic and confirm that the classic has very good sound quality in my opinion. I use it with Shure e4c's, Sennheiser CX-500's and my car's auxiliary input with the sound cranked up to max.

Very pleased with the sound quality of the iPod classic.
JXL

If you're going to be using your DAP in noisy environments like in a car or on the bus or train most of the time, then just about anything but the shoddiest player is going to sound pretty much the same, with the same headphones.

I have the 80GB Classic with $12 Skull Candy earbuds and absoutely love the player and the sound. I also hook it up to my stereo via the aux input, and with the iPod cranked up high, it sounds great as well.

(In the interest of full disclosure, I do NOT have golden ears. )

Interesting article about the iPod Classic's sound quality: http://homepage.mac.com/marc.heijligers/au...asurements.html

I have heard reports (on various ipod forums, google them for more info) that the newest iPod classic firmware, 1.1.2, "improves" - or, at least, changes - sound quality. Of course, this would require more testing to confirm it.

From the mentioned website:

I was under the impression that most people were unlikely to be able to distinguish changes of 1dB, much less 0.1dB. Am I mistaken?

There have been firmware issues with the Classic, I've had iTunes apply about 5 different updates to it since purchasing mine last year. There were issues with hiss, noise on adjusting volume, etc, though the recent updates seem to have fixed that. There was also a more serious problem in which using one of the built-in EQ presets would cause the sound to clip and distort. This also appears to have been fixed, though I use the EQ so rarely that I can't be absolutely sure.

As far as sound-quality, I didn't notice any difference between the classic and my old 5G iPod. The headphones you use will have a far greater impact on sound.

This happens when the player is paused and I can hear it in both the head phones that come with my iPod as well as my Sennheiser HD-555s as well as a little pair of JVC ear buds I have.. Also as I turn up towards max, I can hear clicking/popping sounds. I'm using the latest firmware 1.1.2.. It's no big deal, as when I play music that loud (if ever) it covers up the hiss.


but... this is starting to make me think that something is wrong with my iPod.

The latest firmware fixes this bug, that made the ipod classic produce a loud hiss when on standby. But am not sure if the sound has improved or not, but i can not hear any hiss on it unlike on my 2G 4GB ipod nano with a pair Sennheiser CX300 earphones.

Anyway the firmware on the ipod classic is really buggy. First problem was that it did not group compilations on version 1.0. On version 1.0.1 the compilation bug was fixed, but brought in this imfamus battey drain spinning hard drive bug. On 1.0.2 hard drive bug fixed but had a bug that produces a hiss on standby, which was a real battery drainer aswell.

Anyway the current firmware seems to be fine anyway.