"The iPod's measured behavior is better than many CD players—ironic, considering that most of the time it will be used to play MP3 and AAC files, which will not immediately benefit from such good performance. But if you're willing to trade off maximum playing time against the ability to play uncompressed AIFF or WAV files, the iPod will do an excellent job of decoding them. Excellent, cost-effective audio engineering from an unexpected source.—John Atkinson (stereophile)

Article Continues: Letters, December 2003"

I read this review of the ipod, see last paragraph taken from review above; I was very surprised. Has anyone hooked an ipod up as a source to your hi fi ? The best response apparently occurs if you turn the volume on the ipod up to 100 % and eq flat, the dac in the ipod is supposed to be pretty good and according to John Atkinson better than most cd players.

I use my ipod with my system all the time both with mp3's and ripped cd's. Just use a radio shack patch cord;
http://www.radioshack.com/sm-philips-3-5mm-stereo-to-2-rca-y-adapter-cable--pi-2453699.html
Another way to play downloaded music using a wire between your computer and your system is with a USBDAC such as this;
http://www.stereo-link.com/
Another way to play downloaded music wirelessly between your computer and your system is a squeezebox;
http://www.slimdevices.com/

nextgen sources..... have fun!:music:

Aren't those "Music Servers" just another case holding a hard drive, like an iPod?
Oughta work...

pleeson, yes and no...a good music server like the MS750 allows for lossless compression (FLAC) or CD quality. I don't think ipods offer that high of quality.

It's all in the software.
I think you could use Audacity or some similar program to fill the iPod, rather than iTunes, were you so inclined.

My understanding is that to get the best audio quality from an iPod you should avoid going through the headphone jack and use a dock that takes the "pre-headphone amp" the signal from the "bottom" connector and allows you to use RCA jacks.

Another alternative is the new Wadia dock that takes the digital output from iPod so you can connect it to the DAC of your choice. It's getting great reviews.

Alberto

Didn't the Sound + Vision article by Gutenberg suggest that McIntosh would have an ipod dock?

iPods can play back aiff files which is a lossless format. iTunes can rip cd's in the aiff format and some of the higher bit rate versions of the aac format aren't too bad. They probably is a software tool that can convert flag or WAC files to aiff.

One other note on cable selection. You either need to purchase an iPod dock and use the audio out connectors or purchase a cable that has right and left photo plugs at one end and the iPod connector at the other end in order to get a line level signal out of the iPod. The one that I have cost about $12 from Amazon.com. I'll post a link to the cable later tonight.

If you use any cable that is connected to the headphone output you are not getting the best quality output.

pleeson, yes and no...a good music server like the MS750 allows for lossless compression (FLAC) or CD quality. I don't think ipods offer that high of quality.

Actually, the iPod does allow that quality, so the main difference between the MS and iPod is in the DAC.

Didn't the Sound + Vision article by Gutenberg suggest that McIntosh would have an ipod dock?

That would be cool. And a special edition black/green McIntosh iPod (like the black/red) to go along with the dock would be even cooler. The iPod already has the blue light on the screen.

Of course, it would have a VU meter option in the LCD window :-).

Alberto

My understanding is that to get the best audio quality from an iPod you should avoid going through the headphone jack and use a dock that takes the "pre-headphone amp" the signal from the "bottom" connector and allows you to use RCA jacks.

Another alternative is the new Wadia dock that takes the digital output from iPod so you can connect it to the DAC of your choice. It's getting great reviews.

Alberto

Correct: better and best.

Using the analog output through the dock port instead of the headphone jack by-passes the volume control circuits, etc.

Using a dock that recovers the digital stream from the iPod for a high-quality external DAC would be the best way to run an iPod in your high-end stereo.

I could not find such a dock when I first started looking a few years ago. Now I don't care as I have a gizmo to provide the digital data stream from any of my Macs' iTunes to my Classe HT preamp, which has excellent DACs.

However, I seldom use that as I now mostly listen to SACD, DVD-A on my MVP861 and records.

My iPod is now relegated to entertaining me while I go for my daily walks with podcasts of Car Talk or other pod casts.

Anybody know any good podcast about high-end audio?

As promised the link to the cable is:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000JG3WBY

The cable is made by Cables To Go, the part number is 35507, and it costs about $15. They also have another version that has an 1/8" plug instead of two RCA phono plugs. I have used this product and it works great.

VADE RETROS, SATANAS :nono:

Why would you connect an Ipod, therefore compressed file to a McIntosh system?

mp3, wav etc.. are compressed format which deteriorate the sound quality. That defeats the all purpose a high quality sound.

The reverse to that would be me installing a McIntosh car system on my Jeep Wrangler...

Funny toughts

B.

VADE RETROS, SATANAS :nono:

Why would you connect an Ipod, therefore compressed file to a McIntosh system?

mp3, wav etc.. are compressed format which deteriorate the sound quality. That defeats the all purpose a high quality sound.

The reverse to that would be me installing a McIntosh car system on my Jeep Wrangler...

Funny toughts

B.

Wav is compressed?? :scratch2:

Personally I think a Mc would look great on a Wrangler. I used to have a great Sony system + ALtec Lansing on my CJ7 :music:

VADE RETROS, SATANAS :nono:

Why would you connect an Ipod, therefore compressed file to a McIntosh system?

mp3, wav etc.. are compressed format which deteriorate the sound quality. That defeats the all purpose a high quality sound...

You can rip a CD with iTunes and put it on an iPod with now digital compression.

As promised the link to the cable is:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000JG3WBY

The cable is made by Cables To Go, the part number is 35507, and it costs about $15. They also have another version that has an 1/8" plug instead of two RCA phono plugs. I have used this product and it works great.

Thank you! I just ordered one...

A: WAV's are not compressed, either musically or data wise, but they are big and contain no meta data about the track.

II: Itunes lossless format is ALAC. AIFF is also lossless but does not support data compressions, and are very large also.

3: FLAC, APE and WMA lossess are good choices as well, but are not natively supported by the IPOD.

I have been listening to my iphone through cd2 on my c220/mc252 and it sounds excellent, all music was burned in the lossless format. I am using the analog output with the volume on the ipod turned up all the way as the stereophile article says this gives the least distortion. I like creating my own playlist on the fly, the genious is a great option for this and so is pandora. Honestly, keep an open mind it is not bad at low to volumes up to say 30. The airport express also sounds very good. I am not getting rid of my cd's or LP's but it is really amazing what a audiophile bargain it is.

Use a Wadia 170i to take the signal from your ipod, bring it into your MDA-1000, use apple lossless format on your ipod. I have a Wadia 170i and hear no difference between the flac's of my MS server or the original

This old thread is an interesting discussion on iPod integration. I think it is time for it to go to the iPod Music Integration forum to continue the discussion and so they have the thread there for future reference.

VADE RETROS, SATANAS :nono:

Why would you connect an Ipod, therefore compressed file to a McIntosh system?

mp3, wav etc.. are compressed format which deteriorate the sound quality. That defeats the all purpose a high quality sound.

The reverse to that would be me installing a McIntosh car system on my Jeep Wrangler...

Funny toughts

B.

Sorry Brice, a WAV file is what comes out of a CD and an Apple Lossless file that an iPod can store is mathematically and sonically identical to a WAV file. So you can indeed have CD sound on your iPod.

The iPod DAC is quite limited and the Wadia dock is the solution to this limitation. An Apple Lossless loaded iPod in the Wadia dock digitally linked to a good DAC is a terrific and relatively inexpensive media server. However, the iPod hard drive is relatively small, so with big lossless files, you will be limited. Frankly though, it is a great and inexpensive way to stick your toe in the media server pool.