![]() ![]() This difference should have no practical impact on your decision to buy a new or old iPod. Whereas the new models use chips from Cirrus Logic - a change we'd prefer to see reversed. So why the difference? The older models used different audio processing chips, from Wolfsson (which, incidentally, provides chips to numerous high-end hi-fi audio manufacturers, including Arcam). This was less true though with the Audio Technica W1000s, and less still through Shure SE530 earphones, which still retail for over £200. Through AKG K 701 'phones, we could still heard the difference, as we did through Klipsch Custom-3s. Interestingly, perceived tone and character differed when we tried different high-end headphones. The high-end is perhaps a little cooler on the new iPod classics, giving cymbals a slight reduction in brilliance. The older iPods offer a slightly warmer, richer mid-range, with noticeable positive effects on vocals, stringed instruments, pianos and acoustic drum kits. But we should make it very, very clear: the preference is subjective, and the differences are only slight - the vast majority of listeners will either not hear the difference, or find the differences too subtle to give a proverbial rat's ass. Side-by-side during an A/B listening session, it's clear the sceptics are right: the old 5th gen iPods offer the greater sound quality. This is about £2,000 of reference equipment that we use typically to test headphones, so if there's a difference, we'll hear it. We've taken the new iPod classic and a 5th gen video iPod (both with the latest firmware), given them Apple Lossless-encoded reference tracks, docked them side-by-side in Arcam rDocks, pumped them through an entirely valve-driven Woo Audio 2 headphone amplifier, and finally outputted them through Denon AH-D7000 headphones, which has had about 150 hours of use. Regardless, keen ears often claim the iPod classics don't sound as good as the original 5th gen video iPods. But if you want to carry your entire music collection around in a decent lossless format, they're not capacious enough. Yes, we know that some love to hate iPods, and we know Sony and Cowon players - particularly our favourite little Cowon D2 - typically sound better to most ears. Providing you use some decent earphones, perhaps along with a portable headphone amp, it sounds good. Signal-to-noise ratio of -84.42dB ( CNET ATS-2 Audio Analyzer results). Lossless, a total harmonic distortion (plus noise) of -69.26dB, and an The iPod classic (both first and second gens) is a great MP3 player on paper. The debate has been raging among audiophilles for months now - which has the better sound, the 5th gen video iPod or the newer iPod classic?
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