The new ipod hi-fi from Apple. Looks kind of cool for a office setup, not badly priced at $349 (not including the ipod). Probably sounds better than most small setups... cheaper than a Wave Radio!

http://www.apple.com/ipodhifi/

But not likely to replace my current system!

I'd prefer the Monitor Audio iDeck. Same price, and it uses its own DAC (a Wolfson) and separate speakers. I have an iDeck, and have never heard the Apple, so I'm biased as hell.

The DACs in the iPod aren't terribly good, even though the iPod will accept ALC files and play back full CD-quality.

Just released this morning....

I dunno. I can do the same thing with a nice set of speakers, a good receiver and a 1/8 minijack to RCA cable for less than that. Granted it will take up more room but more room is overated anyway.

mac

Justen, I'll trade you an Ipod and one of these new doohikkies for all of the stuff you have left :deal: .

mac

Are there 7000 accesories I can buy too? I'm in. :thmbsp:


I hate Ipod nation. I have serviced too many of them to have any other opinion. They are the modern version of Bose - great initial designs and innovations, then hype and marketing....

...I have serviced too many of them to have any other opinion.

Interesting! I would have thought a dead iPod was garbage. Beyond changing the HD, what are the actual serviceable parts, and is this true of all models, even the nanos?

Interesting! I would have thought a dead iPod was garbage. Beyond changing the HD, what are the actual serviceable parts, and is this true of all models, even the nanos?

Best Buy has to service them since they sell extended warranties on them. As a company we were losing tens of millions of dollars by not servicing them in the past. Apple has up to now failed to, or don't want to, provide us with a reliable source for replacement parts - so we have a service technician who has basically reverse engineered them and has found refurbed parts to solve most probelms. You would be astounded at the amount of Ipods Best Buy services - literally HALF of the AV equipement we take in for service are Ipods.

I work for the Geek Squad - my service is limited to software repair. You would equally be amazed how many Ipods require their software to be repaired, updated, rewritten, etc to function. I hate Ipods.

Best Buy makes nothing on Ipods, yet gets to provide a ton of free support and lose money on servicing them. Its great!

dew.

Just to show some contrast, take a look at the Goldster Concertino:

http://www.goldster-audio.com/

At $3,700 they're unlikely to sell many, but it's an SET unit. I think it grabs the audio from the iPod's analog outputs though, which isn't nearly as impressive as the iDeck's use of the digital output into its own DAC.

I currently use a ZVOX 315 (http://store.yahoo.com/yhst-9301186439366/zvonstsosysi.html) with my computer. It, IMHO, is the best sounding, small, and very portable single box stereo speakers I have heard. Designed by Winslow Burhoe of EPI fame.

I'm suprised at how many people will shell out top $ for things like the Bose SoundDock (around $299) and the Altec Lansing inMotion iM7 ($249) when an Onkyo TX-8211 Stereo Receiver ($199) and a pair of new Polk R-15s (ebay around $65) could be had. Add $20 in speaker wire and one RCA-to-Minijack cable ($10 average) and you are $5 shy of the Bose, and only $45 over the Altec.

By the way, there's a company into iPod mods called Red Wine that hotrods iPods for better sound, claiming audiophile quality. I think that mod is best suited for deep-pocket folk, but if you got it and want to spend it, I guess why not, eh? I'm going to post the site in another thread as I want to get opinions on what others think/feel about it. I'm not going to do it, just curious about it.

dew042, this is by no means me trying to undercut your experience with the iPods, nor am I doubting your experience with ipods and repair- I believe you 100%. Honest. I'm just stating my personal experiences with iPods and reliability. I was sceptical about getting one myself, relying on a cd player and a Sony Minidisc until about a year ago.

I run an iPod (60gig photo) with great success, as does my sister (a mini), my brother-in-law (1st generation), my friend Laura (nano), my friend Marybeth (a mini), my friend Jack (20 gig grey screen), and my friend Jesse (40 gig grey screen). Jack jogs and bikes with his- I suspect he'll have a failure from this for sure some time in the future but so far it's been a-ok, to my suprise. Joggers regularly kill their iPods- ANY hard-drive based mp3 player doesn't like the jarring of a jog, or the often dreaded running drop as it slides from sweaty hands). My friend Laura did have a mini at first, which she dropped over and over and over again, finally breaking the connection between the main board and the headphone jack. This connection is a factually known weakspot and poor design execution on the minis, well documented. However she used her mini as a tool to train her ears while drumming and the unit took quite a beating for over 2 years before giving up the ghost. Her nano is surviving this thrashing however, and I'm not worried about a hard drive failure in hers as it's flash-memory based. My brother in law dropped his 1st Gen iPod very hard on the pavement, with no case, and it survived to my surprise. I keep my iPod in a big, thick rubberized case, which kinda fattens and heavies it to a point it's not really svelte anymore, and it makes it a bit unwieldy to stick in a pocket. But it does protect it well.

I'd think that there's a fair amount of problematic units sold, but I think there's also many an owner who doesn't understand that they're basically holding a simplified laptop in their hand, with a hard drive and an LCD in there. This stuff is fragile- able to be easily broken- it's a hard drive, for Pete's sake, and a liquid-crystal display! Hopefully with the nanos, we're moving in the right direction- I've read of these occasionally surviving a bout in the washing machine, as well as ARS-Technica abusing one by dropping it out of a moving car, and running over it, with the unit continuing to work! Here's the ARS Technica link-

http://arstechnica.com/reviews/hardware/nano.ars/3

By the way, maybe I'll change my tune about all I've said above if my iPod becomes a problematic unit!

By the way, there's a company into iPod mods called Red Wine that hotrods iPods for better sound, claiming audiophile quality. I think that mod is best suited for deep-pocket folk, but if you got it and want to spend it, I guess why not, eh? I'm going to post the site in another thread as I want to get opinions on what others think/feel about it. I'm not going to do it, just curious about it.

Vinnie Rossi (www.redwineaudio.com) is doing iPod mods. Vinnie also devised the "Vinnie Mods" for the Toshiba 39xx series of DVD players. He modded my 3960 for me very successfully.

Vinnie Rossi (www.redwineaudio.com) is doing iPod mods. Vinnie also devised the "Vinnie Mods" for the Toshiba 39xx series of DVD players. He modded my 3960 for me very successfully.

that's interesting. I'm going to make note of this on my other post regarding the red wine mods. Thank you.

FYI, Vinnie lives just outside of Worcester.