Like I said earlier, the difference in sound is comparable to ABX'ing a creative Zen Vision M (line out) to the AOS (line out).omen, I would agree with you if your comparison had involved an ABX test. I think that it would be *very* interesting to do an ABX test.
Have you tried the stereo crosstalk test in RMAA and found any differences between firmwares?I had RMMA run all of the available tests. Give me a minute and I will post the saved RMAA files here.
Yeah, Febs I am. Â I should Qualify last night's statement though. Â Truthfully, using a VERY transparent Amp and High End Cans, I played my reference tunes through both RB and AOS, one after another (admittedly, with a pause = reboot time). Â My new conclusions are: Â RB makes iPod sound more like ZVM - wider soundstage (and almost by extension, better imaging - to much to explain and I'd probably mess it up, so I won't go there); otherwise, the two sound the same. Â A proper analog for this scenario would be Grado sound vs. Sennheiser sound. Â
Hope that helps.
I'm no engineer but these graphs look pretty the same and the tiny differences can be just statistically irrelevant so I would ask: how much are frequency response and dynamics just a question of hardware - quality of filters, circuits etc?
What other measures of sound output would one consider in assessing SQ?
If anyone is in the Toronto, Canada area and has a 5G ipod they want to loan me and/or come test with me, I'd be glad to ABX. Â As it stands right now, I don't have that kind of equipment. Â I'd love to try this option as well.
What exactly is "resolution"?
With all that we've been talking about in this thread alone, we haven't mentioned how we'd measure "soundstage" presentation,
never mind imaging
and/or resolution measurements. Â
AFAIK, those audio cues can't be measured
resolution means instrument separationThen what is "imaging" and how does it differ?
Here you go:
...
Dixie Chicks - Landslide
Saratoga,
While I appreciate your enthusiasm, Platitudes don't help.
I'm hoping you can be a little more specific with your statements - e.g. how does stereo crosstalk effect perceived spaciousness of the soundstage? How does it affect imaging?
exacly what is 16 bit? How would it affect instrument separation?
oh, and let me correct myself - I've never found an audio hobbyist whose been able to measure the above types of audio cues; I've also never had a chance to speak/interact with someone who works with these issues professionally to teach me such nuances in audio reproductions - if you have, please fill me in or at least refer me to places where I can learn all these types of goodies for myself! Yumm
I'd agree the soundquality of the dock output from a 5G iPod can be considered equal. But I can definitely recognize a difference from the headphone out, at least with my sensetive IEMs (UE-10Pro and super.fi 5Pro). Quite possibly an impedance issue, as it might be related to the different hissing noise floor, which is significantly lower in Rockbox.
2. Would it be possible to ABX two files, recorded from the iPod's headphone jack?
If you mean a difference between firmwares, that shouldn't happen.
If you mean a difference between firmwares, that shouldn't happen.
Yes, that is exactly what I meant. To be clear, the scenario is as follows:
Low impedance high sensetive IEM on the headphone out of the 5G iPod.
Apple-FW: clearly audible hissing noise floor.
Rockbox: definitely much less hiss.
I am not sure if this is due to impedance miss match, as the hardware didn't change.
I doubt I have the appropriate hardware to record the files, but I'll tr