48 hours and I've lost Touch with iPod.

Thought it would be interesting to 'hear' the sound experiences of other iPod Touch users. Here is my experience, split into several parts:

Part One

The new iPod range is terrible! Both the Classic and Touch. For now I'm going to justify why I think the iPod Touch is a waste of money. I'll be interested in hearing other peoples' audio experience with the iPod touch using quality ear phones.

I listen to my music using the top of the range Shure E500 earphones; I'm very particular about the quality of audio and enjoy the likes of SACD and DVD-A. I like to think I know good sound when I hear it. I frequently listen to MP3s using my EVENT monitors and the sound is very good and whilst MP3s are a lossy format it's definitely not an excuse for poor quality sound.

For the past couple of months I've been in the market for a new mp3 player and was deciding on the impressive iRiver Clix 2 or Version 2 of the Zune. Whilst iRiver has exceptional sound it's too small for mobile video. The Zune was announced for the US market but no announcement of a European release. Then like a bolt of lighting the iPod Touch struck Earth and like an angelic call from the heavens all my prayers were answered. Hallelujah!

So. Yes... Last week, I purchased the 16GB iPod Touch from Amazon. I this trust this store and they have an exceptional customer service ethic so if anything did go wrong or I wasn't happy I knew I could return it. After all. I had read a lot of reports about sound problems but I wanted to be able to test the device first hand and 'trust my own ears' before committing to a 'Yes' or 'No' decision.

I'll admit it. I was very impressed with the iPod Touch, pleasantly so.  It's a treasure to behold. Interfacing with music has never been so tactile since the day of holding a CD or flipping through your record collection. Apple seems to have mastered the art of usability and the device itself is slick, it's sexy, it's sophisticated, it's everything you need to manage your album collection. Albeit small on storage it certainly makes up for in innovation.  Accessing a web site or being able to preview / purchase tunes via the iStore is a blessing for music junkies needing a fresh fix and I can't praise Apple enough for this innovation even if it is a stripped down iPhone. The concept. The application. The wonderment... is divine.

Can you imagine how disappointed I was when I tried to use this device for what I had originally intended. To play music. Actually, disappointment is an understatement.  I listened to MP3 encodings of my CDs at 192, 256 and 320KBPs as well as AAC lossless. The sound quality couldn't even compete with my first Sony Walkman from the Duran Duran 80's. I was 'Hungry like the wolf' for some belting audio quality. But instead I got a less than 'Ordinary World'  I was appalled! It's hard to summarise just how bad the sound is but I'll try.

Part Two

Firstly it can't handle Bass. My Shure E500 earphones have two Sub Bass drivers - I can only imagine how horrific this player must sound on stock earphones. Regardless of volume, the Bass is muddy and distorted. Selecting different predefined EQ options, like Classical, helped marginally but that's only because it removed the bass! There wasn't an option for customised EQ. But, if the sound is poor before EQ scoping it's going to be hard to tighten it up. Other problems with the sound was the separation of frequencies - or rather lack of!  The Treble isn't bright, the Mids aren't punchy and as stated the Bass doesn't rumble. Don't get me wrong Bass doesn't need to blow your head off - but it does need to be tight and not distort. I ran a test on my mobile phone: Nokia 6300 playing the same songs and the sound quality is exceptional - if only iPod Touch audio was as good as this.

I listened to the iPod Touch for no more than 2 hours. After this time, my ears felt fatigued. I was sad to say "Goodbye", but I could now only spare tears for this product, not time. The iPod Touch is so close to being an exceptional MP3 player. So very close. Yet it falls short of the most important aspect - audio quality! With each new iPod release the sound quality has to improve, not  deteriorate. Apple can not trade bling n' glitz for audio quality, that novelty wears off, but the sound quality will live longer than a Duran Duran classic. With every new album, with every new production, music lovers long to hear musical creativity how the producer intended; every nuance, every beat, every frequency clearly represented is a minimum and fundamental requirement of audio devices - especially premium audio devices.

Apple I believe is playing its dominance card. This time they've gone too far. Go ahead. Buy an iPod Touch, listen to it, test it against other audio devices, admire it's seductiveness but don't be sucked into parting with hard earned cash for an inferior audio device. Return it for a refund, make a fuss, write a letter to Apple. If you're anything less than 100% satisfied take a bite! Apple need to own up to this to declare what the problem is and how they intend to fix it.

Finally a small yet significant problem that I need to raise is the fact that the iPod Touch no longer supports Disk Mode, this has consequences, if I want to be able to use my device as a large portable hard drive, or use Anapod to manage my music. As a consumer I should have that choice. And crippling 'PDA' aspects just because it's not a phone ... why ... oh ... why....!

Apple's 'playing' with its customers and the only way it can play is if its customers keep buying and accept second rate products. As a consumer we are but a number, but in numbers our voice is loud and much clearer than the hiss on a 6th Generation iPod. So make a song and dance about this and be heard!

Oh and finally, I'm not anti-apple. I couldn't care less for the brand, but I do care for innovation, quality and audio and which ever company meets those requirements deserves great success - anything else and they need to go back to the drawing board because we want the juciy Apple and not just the pips!

Hmmm. Wonder if you have a mismatch between your headphones and the touch? Those are nice earphones & would not have expected you to experience that.

Have you tried a portable headphone amp? European Ipods are volume limited and that causes problems for some people & headphones. If you're paying that much for earphones, I would have thought this might be a natural step for you to take anyway at some stage.

Your Sony Walkman from the 80's would deliver more power and that may be where things are coming apart for you. Those Shures look potentially challenging.

Incidentally, I thought the Ipod Classic sounded better than the Touch and also better than the 5th gen.

I haven't tried the Nokia 6300 but do have a Nokia N800.  The power coming from the headphone socket is also significantly more with that too.  Incidentally, Ken Kessler really rates the 6300. 

Hi Chris,

Thanks for the great response.

I'm going to take your advice and invest in a portable headphone amp - have you experience of this model:

http://www.headphone.com/products/headphone-amps/the-mobile-line/headroom-total-airhead.php

Do you know where I can purchase it in the UK?

Not yet but I'm about to buy one as well. It seems to be the leading portable amp and the reviews tend to point towards it. You don't purchase them in the UK, you just buy it direct from them and they'll ship to the UK. I'm using a mains powered headphone amp and more sensitive earphones for commuting. You can use a universal power supply with the headroom amp.

There seem to be a lack of these products in the UK. I've seen the Graham Slee but it's expensive.

I've also got a Touch and it's my third Ipod. The output from the headphone socket and the synch socket is basically too low. You also benefit from buffering the output when you plug it in to the back of a normal stereo for similar reasons. It's why the Arcam Rdock works so well - it amps the signal up a bit. The Musical Fidelity valve buffer works really well - I thought that made a big improvement when I heard it.

If that works for you, please make sure you write back so that anyone who has the same problem can see how it is resolved.

Hi Chris,

I'm poised to buy a headphone amplifier and it's a toss-up between Graham Slee and the headphone amp that you've just purchased. You seem to know.. in fact, you do know what you're talking about. So before I invest I'm going to wait for your verdict on the cheaper (I mean less expensive model) I can't wait to read your review including the time it took to arrive - lots of details please

At the moment I'm not so keen on the 'applying rubber band around products to hold them together' fix. The less expensive model sounds like it has a more elegant solution with those Velcro pads, but we'll see... please do let me know how you get on.

Thanks again for your expertise Chris.

It arrived on Saturday.  I went for the Total Airhead because it has a power adapter socket.  The Bithead doesn't.

Quite large compared to a modern Ipod.  It dwarfs a nano being 3* as thick, 1.1* as tall and 1.5* wider but well made and OK if you carry it in your bag.  Basically, these aren't going to sit in a shirt pocket.

There's an immediate improvement even on Apple earbuds.  Bass is firmer and you're more aware of counterpoint and detail.   Sonically, it's a good upgrade.

I prefer my Nokia N800 sonically with the Headroom amp vs the Touch with the Headroom amp. 

With Shure E2c it retains the balance of the E2C but adds the same bass, counterpoint and detail that I got from the Apple Earbuds and the Headroom.  The E2C are a very good match with the Touch directly from the headphone socket.

With Beyer DT931 circumaural 'phones, the Touch was too bright to be really compatible directly out of the headphone socket.  Bass is absent.  With the Headroom, it's still a bit bright and overdetailed but much better.  The Beyer tend to review as having a bright balance but were very good with a 4g Ipod Photo and the Nokia N800. 

One good thing about it is that you can alter the volume 'blind' by putting your hand in your bag and turning the thumbwheel volume control.  With the Touch on it's own, you have to unlock the screen to change the volume.

So far, I've only used the cable that came in the box.  Obviously that is sub optimal as it attaches to the headphone socket.  I would anticipate that you could get a improvement from using the dock connector at the bottom which doesn't have the volume control in it.

I found some cables to do this.  ALO also have some interesting looking cables and practical small headphone amps but I can't see any reviews of them.  Apparently the shorter cables aren't quite long enough for the Ipod and the Headroom Total Airhead to sit straight on top of each other.

If you put it between the Ipod and your stereo as a preamp, this yields similar improvements.

More Headphone amp notes;

I probably should have bought this one; Tomahawk It's smaller and well reviewed. Roughly £150 plus freight.

The brightness with the Beyer was fixed by using the amp on the 'high gain' setting which brought back the warmth.  The low gain setting seems to improve the sound quality but leave the original character of the headphones in place, the high gain setting seems to fix the situation with really mismatched headphones. 

It's actually their interpretation of EU legislation that is the source of a lot of the problem. 

The headphone compatibility issue is certainly a valid criticism of the Ipod (at least this generation).  It's a problem that Nokia, Cowon and Sony certainly don't have.

Having said that, the improvement on any personal device of using a good portable head amp is actually very large.

I think Celine's right about compatibility though.  With the wrong headphones, it can sound thin.  You need sensitive, warm sounding headphones.

With the right ones, it sounds great.

I am using the sennheiser px 200 and the quality (and the volume) are fantastic. I agree the earphones supplied are not upto much, but with a decent pair of headphones the sound is great.

I have also connected the ipod touch to a pure evoke-3 radio, which sounds good as well.

Thanks for your posts all - especially yours Chris - a very balanced view thank you, it's much appreciated.

I recently sold my 60GB and upgraded to the 80GB but I won't be getting an ipod Touch any time soon - I'm glad it's working out for some people though.
So whilst the sound of the 5th Generation is 'okay' there's definitely plenty of room for improvement so I'm still in the market for a portable headphone amp.

I'm likely to purchase one within Q1 of 2008.

These are all on my radar at the moment:

THE VOYAGER
http://www.gspaudio.co.uk/preamps/voyager.htm

THE BOOSTAROO
http://www.portableamps.com/

TOTAL AIR HEAD
http://www.headphone.com/products/headphone-amps/the-mobile-line/headroom-total-airhead.php

TOMAHAWK
http://www.raysamuelsaudio.com/products/tomahawk

 ... sorry had to post this as two seperate messages due to the limit of 1,500 characters. 

... I'm particularly interested in this one that Chris drew my attention to:

There's a nice albeit not technical review over here for the Tomahawk:
http://threadbox.net/articles/2007/04/04/rsa-tomahawk-reflection-pics

If anyone is using headphone amps and has an opinion please post it.

Also, there needs to be a neater integration than rubber bands though - any ideas??

The Airhead is a big step forward in quality but I do find it a bit bulky as a solution. I use it a lot at my desk and at home, particularly if I want to run the ipod in to the main stereo. When I'm on the move, half the time, I end up not bothering because the balance on the E2c is good.

Apparently the Ibasso has a warm presentation. I slightly witsh I had gone for the Tomahawk (buyers remorse!).