Redwine Audio iMods

[Ben Gramain]

Supply voltage? Are you saying the battery is better on other iPods? Or that the Wolfson WM8975 DAC is not good?

I was referring to boodi's post, the last line. The rest... we can argue some other time

[boodi]

for the little time I've passed with it the improvments seem to be quite worth the extra $

most noticeably even if the bass wasn't definitely as there as expected and didn't improve that much , soundstage and clarity / details improved very nicely to my ears.

[mjg]

nice,

i wanna get this mod sooner or later... I hope he is still doing this mod when i'm able to afford it hehe.

[Nanoha]

I almost plunged for the iMod a few months ago. As Bangraman mentioned however, it seems as if it's not worth it. His point is quite interesting as a matter of fact. At first I thought Redwine didn't mod the 5G was because they physically didn't have the ability since the 5G is quite thin. I tried comparing the 5G to the 4G Photo and the 5G sounded a lot better despite Redwine's "The 4th Gen. iPod uses what we believe is the best sounding Wolfson DAC of them all...the WM8975" claim. But actually, the largest reason I decided not go for the iMod was because of reliability. What if my iPod breaks? It would mean that all of that money would have been wasted. The 4G, especially the photo version, hasn't proven to be very reliable historically.

[Post]

i have no idea if it's true that the ipod radio remote for the 5G has its own DAC or not, but so far, going from a stock 5G to that remote to an amp to my cans is the best sounding portable rig i've heard so far, no joke. folks at a minimeet we had here thought the same, ranging from "dunno if it's a resistor, caps, dac or what but it doesn't sound WORSE" to "damn that's nice"

[mjg]

bought a nano on monday. it def sounds a touch cleaner then my photo to my ears... my intention now thar i have the nanoi is to imod the photo when i have enough scratch. can't wait.

[Chrysanthemum]

I think that I have talked RAM into doing a "tube audio output modified " version on my IPod. It will also feature balanced outputs. I am waiting for a reply as he said he probably would do it, but wants time to think about it.

[NotoriousBIG_PJ]

Any chance someone will be offering flash based player mods? Small is good. ^^

Biggie.

[hungrych]

I think that I have talked RAM into doing a "tube audio output modified " version on my IPod. It will also feature balanced outputs. I am waiting for a reply as he said he probably would do it, but wants time to think about it.

No offense, but isn't this just "turd polishing"? Why not get a real source that would perform better for less?

[Dusty Chalk]

No offense, but isn't this just "turd polishing"? Why not get a real source that would perform better for less?

(a) Portability; ( convenience; © familiarity; (d) killer interface; ... need I go on? Besides, I think "turd" is overstating things. I doubt you could tell the difference between it and any portable CDP.

Note: I don't own one. So don't take this as "defensiveness", I just refuse to agree with that hold "portable == bad" concept.

[boodi]

no no I'm waiting now

I want to see

tube output and balanced ipod

anyone would go nuts on this

show me the light I want to see

[grawk]

The balanced ipod + balanced ES2s would be a pretty attractive combination to me...

[Nanoha]

no no I'm waiting now

I want to see

tube output and balanced ipod

Is it possible (balanced)? Is anyone trying to attempt it? If so, I'm in.

Sweet dreams.

[hungrych]

(a) Portability; ( convenience; © familiarity; (d) killer interface; ... need I go on? Besides, I think "turd" is overstating things. I doubt you could tell the difference between it and any portable CDP.

Note: I don't own one. So don't take this as "defensiveness", I just refuse to agree with that hold "portable == bad" concept.

Well by balanced + tubed, I figured that would kind of kill the portability, which was what I was getting at. If it's still portable that would be awesome to have!

[mjg]

a freaking tubed ipod, where the hell is the tube gonna go... is this a joke?

[hirsch]

See the Stereophile.com article on the National Meet. Mikhail has built an SDS-XLR for an iPod source. The amp includes a tube phase-splitter so that the iPod can run balanced.

At the risk of stating the obvious, this is not a portable rig

[boodi]

Hi hirsh

I've been only able to chat you some seconds and to see you on the national meet

the webcast was sloppy really but that's been nice the same

I definitely hope ( and will organize for doing it ) the next time I'll be there to know headfolks mates in real

[Post]

See the Stereophile.com article on the National Meet. Mikhail has built an SDS-XLR for an iPod source. The amp includes a tube phase-splitter so that the iPod can run balanced.

At the risk of stating the obvious, this is not a portable rig

ok fess up - who paid for that thing!

[philodox]

He wasn't a head-fi'er. I also talked to Mikhail about this... completely nuts if you ask me. And coming from me... well... that's a lot!

[tkam]

What a total waste, I have no doubt whoever the buyer is that he A) has no common sense bought the ipod because its "cool" C) has way too much money

[mjg]

mayb e he bought it so he can drop it off a building then take photos.

[hirsch]

What a total waste, I have no doubt whoever the buyer is that he A) has no common sense bought the ipod because its "cool" C) has way too much money

Actually, he bought the iPod because he likes the idea of having a large set of music available to him in his bedroom rig without getting out of bed. So, the iPod as source was already set in stone. However, the rest of the system was up in the air, and he is able to afford the best rig he can get. He was over at my place listening to the SDS-XLR and a variety of other amps before making his final decision (SDS-XLR/Qualia 010).

It is not a waste, nor is it stupid. It's the best rig possible for his particular needs. He's got plenty of common sense, but I'm not so sure about those who posted otherwise. The best rig for his needs might not be the one that's best for yours, or fit your economic constrainsts. So what?

[philodox]

I am with hirsch here... though if he has that kind of money, why not get a good computer source [something like a squeezebox perhaps] so that he can have all the music that is on his iPod and actually take advantage of all the resolution that the SDS-XLR has to offer.

[boodi]

passing a while more with the imod , I must say that a transportable 60gb source with this sound quality is really nice thing to have , and I see that a standalone nomod mp3 player with this sound could very well sell for 500/600

I'm quite satisfied .

[boodi]

odd enough , my ears prefer the nice more sparkly sound of my oldies pdcp , the panasonic ct-470 / ct-570 , both of them bit more unrefined then the i-mod but definitely more joy for this ears as they're more musical and viby for my taste..

it's incredible to think , how these two little pdcp are surviving through the years to my sound quest..