iPod Nano

Author: Quadophile
Published on: 06-01-2007
Views: 58999


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I chose the listed tracks which I converted from the collection of CD's specifically for doing the evaluation of the iPod nano. Being extremely familiar with all the music I just wanted to see how well the tiny player can cope with difficult music to reproduce. “A thousand years” which has extremely low bass,  “Africa Bamba” which has a very lively tune and instrumentation, “Bola” with exquisite flamenco guitar sounds, “I've got you to see me through” with lovely female vocals, “Both Sides Now” with Joni Mitchell's melancholy melody and aging voice, rough around the edges so to speak, “No ordinary love” with consistent and pounding bass, “Other side of the world” with what todays music is all about but mature enough to be appreciated by old-timers like me, “The girl from Ipanema” offering four distinct instruments packaged in one, male voice, female voice, saxophone and piano. Finally, “The look of Love” which one can listen to again and again and fall in love with for its sheer beauty in the way it is rendered by Dusty. The iPod Nano 2nd Generation came out a real winner when it comes to portable players. The sound is crisp and clear. This is also the first experience for me to do extensive listening on MP3's exclusively. 

Earbuds versus upmarket headphones

I listened to the Nano with supplied earbuds and also with the Sennheiser PX200 (borrowed from my wife) which I had reviewed earlier. The sound from the earbuds I am afraid was nothing to write home about, as basic as any earbud sound could be but adequate if there are budget constraints and for casual listening. It's the likes of Sennheiser PX200 which puts the iPod Nano in a different league altogether. The sound from the Sennheiser transformed the capability of the Nano tremendously, the sound-stage widened on all four sides, from side to side and top to bottom, it was like viewing through a viewfinder with a 20mm wide angle attached, whereas with the supplied earbuds, it was more like viewing through a standard lens with a focal lens of 50mm. The dynamics improved, and so did the transients, there was a sense of space in which the music was being reproduced and not at all claustrophobic as the case was with the supplied earbuds.

This prompted me to do the same experiment with the shuffle, as I had only one aspect to check or verify, I am glad I went ahead with that and what I found is not at all surprising to me. The shuffle did improve with the Sennheiser's attached and did sound better but the difference wasn't huge in comparison to the Nano when subjected to the same experiment. The Nano had a lot more to offer with the upgrade unlike the shuffle. This goes to prove that Nano has much better amplification, circuitry which makes it a much higher resolution player. For those who like to relate things in photographic terms I can say that the difference on the shuffle was more like 50mm lens (earbuds) and 35mm lens with the Sennheiser.

On the positive side it is nice to know that Nano has the capability of far better resolution than what the earbuds lead you to believe, however, the negative side of the experiment is that if you are reading it you know that you may have to spend additional dough to get the most out of your investment. 

The Nano with an outboard amplifier and upmarket headphones

Lastly, I tested the iPod driven by a portable amplifier with upmarket headphones like the Sennheiser PX 200. I had bought the amplifier recently to drive my Sennheiser HD-600 directly feeding the amplifier through the laptops USB port, this set-up I would be using when I am travelling overseas where I would not have the luxury of the sound I get in my living room through my regular hifi. However, the amplifier and Sennheiser HD-600 is a costly combo which would not be used in regular circumstances or in real world scenarios by folks with just the iPods.  The amplifier I have is the Headroom Total Bithead which has a D/A Converter built-in and is essentially responsible for the conversion of the digital files. It also has the line-in facility to cater to the portable MP3 players. The amp has a gain switch which can be flicked to accommodate either less than 120 Ohm or higher than 120 Ohm impedance headphones. In this case the PX200 is 32 Ohms and the HD-600 300 Ohms. The amp also has a chamber in which 4 AAA batteries can be housed, it can be used in either battery powered mode or USB powered mode depending on the need. I mainly use it in the battery powered mode rather than the USB powered mode. The USB powered mode would be driven by a 5 volt input, however a set of 4 Alkaline AAA batteries at 1.5 volt each would equal to 6 volt of power, not only it would play louder but also very cleanly. In any case trying to listen to an iPod through this amp one would not be in position to use the USB powered mode since conversion of files is not needed.  DC powered headphone amps are much cleaner compared to AC powered ones and thus give a purer sound quality. I personally felt the battery driven state gives a slightly darker background to overall sound quality and also tend to improve upon the dynamics.

I used the PX200 for this review and my observations are that the sound quality through the amplifier really gives better dynamics, cleaner background and above all a very smooth presentation. The amplifier will also help conserve the battery in the iPod as the headphone is not being driven by the op-amp housed inside the tiny iPod. The amplifier on the other hand has the capability to last around 40 hours with a set of 4 AAA batteries, so the listening time with the headphone is such that the iPod will be first to stop producing the sound before the amplifier needs a replacement of batteries.

Headroom is a specialist headphone amplifier maker based in the US and they also offer a cheaper version of the same amp with no built-in D/A converter, having only the line-in facility which is an ideal companion for the iPod. For those, who can afford the luxury of the amp and upmarket headphones this would be a killer combination giving the best possible sound quality on the go. If the pocket allows it why not take the plunge?