the ipod sucks...

The BBQ Pit
1

why? the bass is non-existent. Its like listening to a $500 AM radio. Even with my KOSS headphones.

$500 poof!!!

Sons of …

I am considering buying some good quality headphones. The etymotic er4p is tempting me; but I dont want to cough up $300 and be unsatisfied. After all, even the KOSS sounded like shit.

mumble mumble… Here’s what apple says at their webpage

“New iPod headphones -
Headphones are smaller in size, with new Neodymium transducer magnets for enhanced bass response, smoother midrange transitions, and accurate high-end reproduction.”
enhanced bass response bullshit. My farts have better bass response.

2

Huh. It must be your speakers/headphones. My co-worker has one in our shop, and he has a set of flat speakers and a subwoofer, and his iPod sounds great. He loves the thing…

3

I love my iPod.

It rocks my world!

4

I love my iPod.

It rocks my world!

5

tramp: ok, honestly, tell me: how do you listen to music on the ipod? If you plug it to a subwoofer like jinwicked’s office mate, that doesnt count; I wanted a portable mp3 player not a part of a home stereo system.

If you use headphones and are happy with the bass, please tell me what headphones you use. I love everything else about the ipod. But I cant listen to music on it!!! arrrgghhh!!!

6

shoulda’ gone with a SonicBlue Rio CD/MP3 player. Mine cost me less than $100, never skips and I can also listen to CD’s with it. Sure you can hold 10 gigs or whatever, but try and keep track of your music when you have that much and you spend more time scrolling than listening.

7

zen101: sigh… i said “I love everything else about the ipod”…

I believe the scrolling is very intuitive; the size is remarkably small; and the memory is huge; and I love all of that…

But the bass…(I am getting tired of hearing myself whine here…)

BTW, zen101, I am moving on in life. My TDK mojo is up for sale now.

8

Yeah, I know, the Pit is for ranting and not for helpful advice, blah blah blah, you’re all fucknuggets.

Now that that’s out of the way, here’s a link to the Macintouch Reader Report about the iPod. Go to the more recent pages, around part 9 or so, and search on the page for “bass”. You’ll find many good headphone recommendations.

9

Etymotics are head and shoulders above any other in-ear 'phones I have listened to. They work just great with my iPod (and the minidisc player I had before that). They are smooth across the entire range without that awful shrill treble that lesser 'phones use to give a false sense of dynamics.

I have not compared them directly with the iPod ear buds 'cos I discarded those after a very short listen and returned to the trusty er4ps. The bass sounds good to me but be aware that it, and the performance of the etymotics in general, is dependant on getting a good seal in your ear. Some people report having difficulty.

I whole heartedly recomend the etymotics. Think of it as an investment in pleasure. Note they cost $269 at HeadRoom

10

I love you and all, but if I had the kind of money to buy and Ipod, I wouldn’t be complaining about anything. If I want to listen to music, I sing in the shower. Count your blessings.

11

You shoulda got a Minidisc player, that’s all I have to say.

12

I suspect this is exactly why he is complaining. He bought a $500 piece of equipment and is not entirely satisfied.

13

Thanks! my feelings exactly. I was broke beginning of summer, went for an internship and by Sep had just enough to buy an iPod.

14

You know, I’m thinking that a post title of “I’m dissatisfied with the iPod’s bass response!” might be a tad more accurate than “The iPod sucks!”.

I did a bit of a deja news search for iPod bass response and didn’t find a lot of hits. There was one long discussion that concluded that you do lose a lot due to MP3 compression itself and suggested ripping at a higher bit rate (128kbps, I think). But nothing to indicate that there’s any problem in the iPod’s frequency response itself.

Have the same earphones been satisfactory on other MP3 players?   Because if you are the type who really likes booming bass, I'd at least investigate the possibility that it's your ears and not the player that's at fault.
15

I just talked to my spousal unit, who’s a senior QA engineer in the iPod group. His suggestions (some of these you might have already tried, but we’re being thorough):

  1. Check your headphones on another system to make sure the problem isn’t in the headphones rather than the iPod itself.
  2. Make sure when you plug in the headphone jack to the iPod, you get it in snugly. Sometimes when it’s not quite in all the way it doesn’t sound so good.
  3. If you have version 1.2 or later of iTunes, turn on the Bass Booster EQ. If you don’t have this, go to Apple’s website, download iTunes 1.2 (it’s free), and update your iPod’s software.
  4. If this still doesn’t work, go to www.apple.com/ipod and follow the links to give feedback. The spouse assures me that these get read (and not by a flunky, either) and taken seriously.
  5. Still no satisfaction? Call 1-800-APLCARE. If you’ve bought your iPod within the last 90 days, it’s free.
  6. If all else fails, send me email and I’ll put you in touch with the spouse himself–he’ll make sure the problem gets to the right ears.

Hope this helps.