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Ipod Into The Main System

I decided to play with my toys to try something new. I have a 4GB Ipod Nano, it's OK. I'm a 55-yr old 2 channel old-school type. No surround sound, still listen to vinyl, you get the picture (I hope;). In my bedroom I have this modest headphone set-up ; a Sony DVP7000 going into a MSB DAC III going into this Pro-Ject headphone amp (used to use an Musical Fidelity V2 but replaced it on the cheap when some problems on the PC board arose, but I digress..). Cardas cable going to my Senn 600's. Recently I bought a cable to enable me to listen to the Ipod thru the amp/dac combo(The CD/DAC thoroughly spank the IPOD/DAC just as the MF spanked the Pro-Ject, but I digress...;). I decided to hook up the IPOD/DAC/Headphone amp to the main rig just for kicks. All I can say is, after 2 listening sessions I yanked it out. The only good thing about it was the unpredictability of the song sequences when set on shuffle. Otherwise, the sound, while pleasant enough, was totally uninvolving. Made my rig sound like a fancy boom box! I had hoped for more, the DAC was fed into my Audio Research LS15 (tube preamp) which then goes to my Music Reference RM9 (tube amp). I hoped all the tubes and the DAC would give me sound that I could live with but, it was like puttin' perfume on a turd!!!

Talk about a prime example of your sound only being as good as your source!
128x128chazro

Showing 1 response by sfar

sfar's avatar
sfar
1,756 posts
 
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If you're connecting to the headphone output of the iPod the digital signal has already gone through the DAC and amplifier inside the iPod and the sound is never going to be any better than those two ultra-miniaturized, inexpensive chips produce. You can bypass the amp by taking the signal from the dock connector rather than the headphone jack but you're still going through the DAC in the iPod.

The point of having an iPod is to have relatively inexpensive access to music in situations where you wouldn't otherwise, not to try to duplicate the sound of a home audio system.
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