IPOD STUDIO PLAYBACK???? SUGGESTIONS??

[John Haddad (Shiva Industries)]

I have a Bose Sound Dock I got for Christmas (299.99) and Im not to happy with the sound so far for listening to mix playbacks in the studio. I like to option numerous playbacks and with the IPod I dont have to burn a CD until Im done testing it in a few different systems.

ANyone have something they like the sound of for IPOD??? I believe i dont have to convert to mp3 so the song should be not Mp3 tainted upon play back....

Thanks Guys!!! N' Gals!

 

[Wolfeman]

eww Ipod.

Yet I own one, so what the hell do i know....

 

[JeffTD]

I have a set of computer speakers with a sub that I love the sound on, just plug them into the iPod headphone jack when referencing. Stereo's work well, too.

 

[Aaron Smith]

If you're asking for an alternative to the Bose (but still an iPod dock), the Klipsch iGroove actually sounds good to my ears. I tested a whole bunch at the store recently and the Klipsch was the only one I really liked at all. iPod docks tend to be either empty sounding, or overly bassy, and the Klipsch is still slightly bass-heavy, but when you set the iPod internal EQ to "Bass Reducer", the Klipsch is right on:

iGroove

Plus, it's $100 cheaper than your Bose.

 

[Fabbio]

As long as you keep the bit reate high on your clips, I think that the idea of using an iPod for multiple playbacks is good! No more useless burned CDs!

As for high quality speakers... ...I don't know, but don't limit yourself to only one source! Use the line out of the iPod with a little cable and try as many speakers as you can (car stereos, home stereos, headphones... ...if it has a line in input go for it!).

 

[James Murphy]

i just use a couple of these:

i have one feeding a boombox in another room and another one feeding a home stereo in yet another room... with these you can stream music at full quality directly and wirelessly from your iTunes, no need to even transfer to iPod. these connect via stereo mini jack or optical cable to your playback devices and they get the signal from your network... either via a connected cat5 or cat6 cable, or wirelessly. they also extend or even create a wireless network that you can use with any airport/wifi enabled computer to access the internet or connect locally for internal transfers AND they serve as USB print servers. all the computers in my home and studio, 5 of them (4 Macs and one PC), share one printer with ease using one of these... the one that also feeds the home stereo. no other computer needs to be on, because it's not "printer sharing" , just the one you are printing, or streaming audio from. they are great. i only ever burn CD's now for the car, even though i don't really need to do that since i could just put it on my ipod to listen there.

they can plug directly into a wall outlet, but i choose to mount mine in the Griffin Airbase docks:

 

[wishtheend]

What a great idea. Never thought about using the pod to check some mixes. My car does have a 1/8" input. Sweet - thanks for the idea!

 

[Pman]

What a great idea. Never thought about using the Ipod to check some mixes. My car does have a 1/8" input. Sweet - thanks for the idea!

fixed
we may all get Very confused otherwise with the line 6 pod

 

[Ice_T's_Bobblehat]

Don't have one, but......

Fatman Tube Signal Processors

A tenner says it sounds as stoopid as it looks.

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

IMO the sound out of the 1/8" jack sound like shit.

 

[Fabbio]

IMO the sound out of the 1/8" jack sound like shit.

Why?!?!?

It's just an electric signal going to one end to another.
Should we aim to use MASSIVE GIRTH jacks? To have a better sound?!?!?

 

[John Haddad (Shiva Industries)]

Thanks Guys for the Input, I went to Best Buy the other day and ended up purchasing an Altec Lansing unit (pictured Below). I like that it had a separate bass and treble control as mentioned all unit seemed to be too bassy and I thought to many highs which made them sound blown out and distorted. I second the 1/8 inch jack not being an option because now you have 2 volume sources to fool with instead of one - Which in my opinion makes it harder to find the true volume of playback without coloring the sound.

This is the Zune model but It looks identical, It appears they may have discontinued the one for the Ipod.... Glad I picked one up!!!

 

[JeffTD]

After trying out a friends, I actually just ordered this Logitech 5.1 set:

Surround - 5.1 > Logitech® Z-5500 Digital

Has an aux in on the control panel for my iPod, and optical ins for my MacBook and X-Box 360 (Gears of War while sitting near a cranked sub is so awesome). Should be an awesome addition to things!

 

[Kazrog]

Don't have one, but......

Fatman Tube Signal Processors

A tenner says it sounds as stoopid as it looks.

WTF, the sound fidelity coming from the iPod should be no less than that of a CD player, assuming you're using some sort of lossless audio format (AIFF, WAV, Apple Lossless, etc.) Would you hook up your CD player to a tube amp?

 

[JBroll]

IMO the sound out of the 1/8" jack sound like shit.

I will not comment on how little the signal transmission has to do with fuck all when you're already cutting out the majority of audio data by putting it on the bloody IPod.

Jeff

 

[JeffTD]

I will not comment on how little the signal transmission has to do with fuck all when you're already cutting out the majority of audio data by putting it on the bloody IPod.

Jeff

You've gotta be shitting me...


Why would the sound quality be any different on your computers internal harddrive than your iPod's identical (aside from size) harddrive? That's like saying you'd kill the sound quality putting the files onto a laptop from a desktop.

That's gotta be the dumbest reasoning I've ever heard.

 

[JBroll]

I'm commenting on the use of a lossy recording format, not going from hard drive to iPod. I'm a big lossless and CD nut, that's all - I don't consider MP3, AAC, OGG, or any other such format to be of use to me except when speed in transmission is a must. The comment was regarding the complaint about the 1/8" TRS plug, and I said that the disadvantages of that were far overshadowed by the quality reduction of lossy audio.

Jeff

 

[JeffTD]

I'm commenting on the use of a lossy recording format, not going from hard drive to iPod. I'm a big lossless and CD nut, that's all - I don't consider MP3, AAC, OGG, or any other such format to be of use to me except when speed in transmission is a must. The comment was regarding the complaint about the 1/8" TRS plug, and I said that the disadvantages of that were far overshadowed by the quality reduction of lossy audio.

Jeff

And that's exactly why you use Apple's lossless encoding if you've got an iPod.

Honestly, that 1/8" jack isn't going to make shit difference regardless of the encoding you've used.

If you can actually hear that, you should have your own forum next to Sneaps.

 

[Kazrog]

And that's exactly why you use Apple's lossless encoding if you've got an iPod.

Honestly, that 1/8" jack isn't going to make shit difference regardless of the encoding you've used.

If you can actually hear that, you should have your own forum next to Sneaps.

iPod docks include a digital audio out, so you aren't stuck with the 1/8" headphone out!

 

[JBroll]

I see what you're saying, but the point still seems to have been lost. I'm still using a CD player and carrying around a few discs with me at all times, on top of the dozens I have in my car, so I'm in no rush to get an iPod - I prefer not to use proprietary stuff like Apple Lossless (for silly reasons like there not being a Linux encoder and preference for FLAC). The ENTIRETY of my point in that first post was that you aren't going to hear a bit of difference because of that 1/8" output. I also doubt that the iPod digital converters are so bad that the digital out will be a night-and-day difference, but if that's a deal-maker for anyone then have fun with it.

Jeff