Question: iPod EQ of original FW

[udauda]

I heard the EQ on original ipod clips badly. 

Yes, i am aware of the fact that iPod is THE poor victim of what-so-called 'loudness war'. But then, how come the other players' EQ do not clip as bad as the one on iPod?? So here are my questions:


1. Is the EQ on original iPod hardware-driven? (other than 5th G?)

2. Why does original iPod's EQ clip badly while the ones on other players and RockBOX dont? (Maybe a limiter implemented? Does 'oversampling' have anything to do with the clipping prevention?)


AFIK I know, Rockbox prevents clipping by implementing ReplayGain & pre-cut..

Can someone please help me to understand the technology behind iPod's EQ??
 :'( :'( :'(

[saratoga]

The ipods use a simple software EQ, except for the video which probably uses hardware only for bass adjustments and software for other things.  Presumably it clips because apple didn't design it very well.

Oversampling has nothing to do with EQ.

[udauda]

Thank you for your input, saratoga. I really appreciate it.
But I still wonder:

  Presumably it clips because apple didn't design it very well.

I don't quite get the clear picture here...  :'(
Would you like to elaborate more on 'a well-designed EQ' in terms of technical details?
 
Does a well-designed EQ have a Hard/Soft limiter applied for a clipping prevention? (EQs from Sony, iRiver or iAudio...) Or maybe some kind of post-processing filter applied that I don't know of? Besides pre-cut and ReplayGain implementation, what a well-designed EQ can do in order to prevent clipping?


Thank you.

[saratoga]

Ideally it should just precut the audio enough that theres no clipping, or only use filters with gain <= 1.