[ubercooldave]

Hey, listening to my iPod through a new pair of Ultimate Ear Pro5's the background hiss that i can constantly hear even when a track is paused is starting to bug me... would i notice the absence of this and a boost in detail and sound quality if i instead purchased a Cmoy headphone amp, a line out from the dock adapter on the bottom of the ipod and listened through this instead? avoiding the onboard headphone amp circuitry.

thing is im not sure if Cmoy's work as more of a booster post-ampification from the ipod, or from a line out... this would also be useful if i was listening from the line out of a CD player in to the cmoy... also wether the sound quality boost is worth it?

many thanks

[Steven]

Which iPod is it you use? An amp for the most part will amplify what you put in. Source is the most important

Saying that my RSA Tomahawk portable headphone amp has a zero noise floor

My 4G Nano straight headphone out with Westone UM2 does not have a quiet noise floor with volume at 0, but does not have hiss if that distinction makes sense. Apple moving on up and nearly there...

[ubercooldave]

5.5G iPod Video, a few years old now I suppose
but there is low but still very noticeable hiss/noise just from having the headphones plugged in. i am guessing it is the iPod itself rather than my new headphones. so using the dock connector, would a line out from that connected to a cmoy amp sound better than through the headphone out on the top of the ipod?

[godzilla1]

no idea im afraid. The headphone out on my 5.5g 80g ipod seemed quite enough through grado sr 80's. I've certainly never blasted the ipod for hissing. The dock out offers a cleaner sound to my ears. That said my ipod has been imodded by vinnie at red wine audio. Whether or not that makes a difference I dont know. With the dock out hooked up to an xmod xfi amp there was some noise. That amp did not float my boat though. I dont know. I do know I have never hurled my ipod across the room shouting obscenities about hissing and tinitus!

Good luck.

[Clean6eR]

Hi

This may be my first post so hi everybody!

I also have a 5.5g iPod 60g version. I use err cx300 headphones and it’s all old but I agree that if you turn the iPod down to zero on the volume and plug in the earphones you hear a slight crackly interference noise. Its easiest to notice it if you leave the headphones in on silent with the music on pause until it "goes to sleep" then it is nice and quiet, hit the play button to turn it on and the noise is back. (I understand this is due to a signal then actually becoming active)

OK so I have a question. I hook my iPod up to my t amp (lepai lp-222a) when I get back from work and I can only do this via the headphone jack (looking into getting a dock to RCA cable if anyone has any recommendations) and it sounds VERY harsh on the highs and the bass is kind of weak. My speakers are pioneer cs-343w. My GF has a Sony portable CD player and the line out on it sounds better suited to my speakers (the highs don’t scream at me and the bass seems slightly stronger (more of it??)) Yet the headphone jack on the CD player is distorted sounding in comparison.

So finally a question, should I use the line out of the iPod or get a nice portable CD player (under 50 quid) or a schp-100x playstation 1 to use as a source to my t amp setup?

I enjoy the detail and clarity of the t amp yet on the speakers I have I really feel I’m missing a lot in the low department. I used to use some Sony speakers that came from an old 300 quid micro system that tended to emphasise bass. The speakers sounded clear and the bass had a nice snap to it. I miss that sound but with my current speakers the distorted sound from headphone jacks drives me nuts yet I have never tried the line out of the iPod. Will it beat a cheapish Sony portable cd payer or any other portable cd player or would a PSX beat them all?

Thank you for all your time!