Quick question (Bass)

[Jamalarm]

I recently bought a 60gb iPod with the intention of Rockboxing it immediately (My H340 finally died) but i have encountered a problem.

The bass seems to be absurdly weak, compared to the iRiver. Is this just be having the settings wrong (I have the bass setting up full, software EQ on - bass high, hardware EQ on - bass high).

I am yet to actually play anything in the stock firmware, so i don't know whether this is just a dodgy rockbox setting thing, or just terrible hardware.

I'd rather it was the first, to be honest.

Any ideas?

[AlexP]

I haven't got an iPod, but I would have thought the obvious thing would be to try it in the OF - annoying I know give itunes etc, but it is the only way to tell for sure.  That being said, I can't recall any other mention of this, so it may well be iPod vs H3x0 difference.

[Ararat]

Have you tried to set the software EQ off, and adjust the bass levels manually?
Also, the bass depends a lot in which earphone you are using...

[soap]

iPod hardware has horrible bass response on sub 32 ohm loads.  What is the impedance of your headphones?

[Jamalarm]

According to the faithful internets, 32 ohms. They're AKG K81DJs.

Does this mean that i'm never going to get lovely purring/punchy bass?

If so, does anyone want to buy a day-old 60gig video ipod?

[soap]

With a 32ohm load Rockbox on the iPod should sound almost identical to Rockbox on the H340.

[Jamalarm]

Hmmm... so i'm looking at dodgy settings somewhere.

Something i did notice is that, when turning the bass up (not in the EQ), it didn't actually add any bass that i could notice. It seemed to raise the mids more than anything.

Maybe i'll give the stock firmware a try, see if it sounds alright.

Also, what is this impedance malarky? Could you give me a quick explanation as to what it means/does?

[soap]

Also, what is this impedance malarky? Could you give me a quick explanation as to what it means/does?

That's really a question for another forum, or Wikipedia.

[Jamalarm]

Also, what is this impedance malarky? Could you give me a quick explanation as to what it means/does?

That's really a question for another forum, or Wikipedia.

Fair enough.

One further thing. Is there anything in the fact that rockbox on the ipod only allows a bass setting of 9, while on the iriver it goes up to 22?

[LinusN]

One further thing. Is there anything in the fact that rockbox on the ipod only allows a bass setting of 9, while on the iriver it goes up to 22?

It's because the two players have different hardware for the audio processing.

[saratoga]

Hmmm... so i'm looking at dodgy settings somewhere.

Something i did notice is that, when turning the bass up (not in the EQ), it didn't actually add any bass that i could notice. It seemed to raise the mids more than anything.

Maybe i'll give the stock firmware a try, see if it sounds alright.

You could try a different pair of headphones.  If you've got a high impedance pair, or an amplifier sitting around (AUX in on a stereo or whatever), that'd be worth trying to see how much of an issue it still is.

FWIW, the RMAA test results show that 32 Ohms should only be a few dB below flat, hardly noticeable.  

Also, what is this impedance malarky? Could you give me a quick explanation as to what it means/does?

Briefly, its the extent to which an electrical circuit resists current when a voltage is applied to it.  In this case, pulling a lot of current (low impedance) makes it harder for some DAPs to drive headphones properly.  Longer explanation:  see wikipedia.

[Jamalarm]

Well, tried music through normal software. Even worse. Truly appalling bass levels and reponse.

Bugger. I don't know what to do now. This is going to annoy the hell out of me.

[soap]

I don't know what you are, or think you are, hearing (much less used to) but the frequency response of the iPods with a >=32 ohm load is pretty flat, and compares very well with most other DAPs out there.
Have you tried the hardware EQ?

[Jamalarm]

The settings i'm using at the moment are:

Bass: +9

SW EQ: Rock settings, tweaked with bass higher
precut of -10dB

HW EQ: low pass filter? (can't remember name) +12dB

It's still disappointingly weak. When i had my Iriver, the bass used to be able to make my head vibrate on some tracks and was wonderfully punchy. I had the bass on +20dB and the EQ on rock then.

Maybe i read the impedance of my headphones wrong?

[saratoga]

Your headphones may just have very poor bass.