[Review] The I-Pod has landed

[voodoo]

Not got time to write a full review yet but it is (in the words of Pharrel Williams and Snoop Dogg) BEAUTIFUL !!!

Such attention to detail in both build and packaging. Even the accessories are the doggs nuts.

One happy boi :D !

[jshack]

what does it sound like?

An the headphones. are they any good?

[MO!]

vOOdOO

Which size (capacity) did yOu get?

[voodoo]

Well, I went for the 15gb version as I had spent a fotune on CD's and DVD's !!!

Anyhoo's, soundwise it's hard to tell at the moment as I'm still expertimenting with bit rates. I can however say I'm not convinced by 192kb. Total sh*te IMHO: Flat bass and sharp high end. Uuuurgh.

I'm re-importing stuff at 320kb and hopefully that'll yield some improvement. Download time with Firewire is frightening. It automatically downloaded >650 songs (@ 192kb) in about 8 minutes !!!!!!!!

I'm still amazed at the build quality. Astounding. The features as well. It's just like a mobile with a built in Calender, Games, Alarm etc.

The packaging was equally impressive with each component encased in little silver and clear plastic packages :cool: .

The supplied headphones are probably the only let down; they ain't bad but I bought some Sony Fontopia's asthey're much better.

The new pod's come with a dock which is used to interface with the Mac/PC and it has a 3mm outlet which is quite neat (although I've no idea if its any good yet).

The supplied remote is an absolute gem with it being mostly aluminium and pretty sturdy.

Now, I've own quite a few personal stereo's including a nice Sony MZR55 minidisc unit but they all pale into insignificance next to this thing. Combined with the Mac i-tunes software it is sooooo flexible and easy to use.

You can take all your Creative Labs portables and stuff 'em cause the i-pod is (IMHO) untouchable.

[PBirkett]

Try using EAC and LAME for your MP3's. If they are done correctly, there will only be a very small difference between those and the original, even @ 192K.

I struggled to tell the difference on a £400 headphone setup, so you definetly must be doing something wrong, if they are really that bad.

OTOH, if you are using MDR-EX70's as headphones, say no more ;)

[spaceman86]

I GOT ONE 20gig :D

[michaelab]

Using iTunes ripping I didn't find 192Kbps bad at all. In fact I think I'd be hard pressed to tell the difference to 320Kbps - I'm using the same Sony MDR-EX70 headphones as you are which are streets ahead of the pretty poor ones that come with it.

Paul - I know that it's trendy on head-fi to bash the EX70s but at their price (£25) there's absolutely nothing that can touch them. You'd have to spend considerably more than double that to get a pair of Etys.

I have to say I've never had the chance to listen to some really f**k off headphones so I don't know but IMO the EX70s are very good full stop.

Michael.

[PBirkett]

Micheal it was a joke ;)