IPOD Video sound quality with Rockbox

[streetviper]

I own a Cowon iAudioX5 60GB. The sound is over the top but it`s quite a clumsy chunk compared to an Ipod 80GB which has a poor sound (I had one for two weeks). It doesn`t have an equalizer, poor presets, horrible bass distortion....
My Question: Can I increase the sond qulity of an Ipod by using Rockbox to get a soundquality of a Cowon ix5 (at least nearly)?

Thanx!

[mamboman]

actually it helps tremendously if you have a good pair of phones and turn off the EQ. I found that the EQ distorts the music too much

[Febs]

Use the "pre-cut" setting to avoid distortion when using the EQ.

[soap]

If your headphones have >= 32ohm impedance, there is next to no measurable difference between an iPod and an iAudio.  The iPods have a well known bass reproduction issues, Rockboxed or not, with sub 32 ohm loads.
Advantage Rockbox - you can make a single-band EQ setting to cancel out most the attenuation.

[mamboman]

hi bro, care to clarify what you mean by "you can make a single-band EQ setting to cancel out most the attenuation." thanks

[soap]

hi bro, care to clarify what you mean by "you can make a single-band EQ setting to cancel out most the attenuation." thanks

Sure, from right here in our forums:Link
Note:  There is no reason to waste CPU cycles on the peaking filter - the shelf filter should be enough - unless you think half a decibel of attenuation is noticeable to your ears.

[streetviper]

Thanks for the replies! I use Sony MDR-EX71SL headphones (16Ohm impendabce)...

[streetviper]

Is the sound quality a hardware or software issue? I tried all the presets in the Ipod wich all seemed crappy to me. The "foundation" seemed no good... The iaudio had excellent sound from the beginning, but it is much thicker! In other words: Does applying Rockbox to an Ipod give me the same chances of "good" sound and flexibility as an iaudio x5 which has been rockboxed? Like Ipod 80GB vs. iaudio x5!

[soap]

The low impedance bass attenuation issue is hardware,  Outside that, the iPod tests as well (when doing objective tests) as any of them,

In the future please don't double post.  If you want to add a comment and no one has replied yet, use the "Modify" button to edit your post.  Thanks.

[streetviper]

So by using the "single-band EQ setting to cancel out most the attenuation" mentioned above I can get rid of the problem? How much is "most"? Still audiable? I know, all ears are different but did you still notice it? My Headphones seem quite unforgiving...

[soap]

"Unforgiving" is such a subjective term.  
A 16 Ohm phone, as PHK Brasil's RMAA graphs show (in "Part 2" of his linked post), without the EQ "fix" has 3dB of attenuation @ ~35Hz.  While this is not great, it is not going to be noticeable to many if their headphones don't go down that low.  3dB of attenuation = a halving of energy = well you can turn your Rockboxed player down 3 dB and see just how noticeable it is.  (Not very, your ear isn't linear in its response to energy.)

A 16 Ohm phone with the EQ "fix" doesn't have 3dB of attenuation until < 20Hz, which is outside the reasonable reproduction range of earphones (regardless of manufacturer claims).  Mind you, when looking at the graphs, that 1dB of difference is widely considered the limit of human perception, so you can safely ignore any graphical fluctuations less than a couple of dB.

[streetviper]

OK. Has there ever been a (objective) comparison of the two players with Rockbox or a testing of the iaudio like the one above so I can compare myself?

[carmenm]

I have a question concerning the bass on ipod 5.5g. I have a h340 and an ipod and clearly the bass are a lot better on my h340. I cannot really compare as the settings are not the same on both(didnt update for a long time on my h340). i have 14(goes from -8 to +8 on my ipod) for bass on my h340, with everything else to default and no EQ. And whatever i do i cant manage to have the same sound on my ipod. Isnt it possible to have the same bass quality (E500PTH ) on ipod? if it is can someone point me to a configuration to do so.

Thanks a lot