Alternatives to iPod's EQ Settings

[jj17]

Hi all, I'm a new iPod user and have gone through most of the forums here but still have one issue.

I'm on WinXp using MusicMatch (for now at least) with a new 15 GB iPod.

Most of you have mentioned that the iPod's built in EQ presets are crap and cause alot of distortion (which I agree with). My problem though is that without those preset EQ's on, my music sounds very thin and tinny. Is there a way (using MusicMatch or some other app. (mediacenter, xplay, ...) to recover the full sound of my tunes (bass, etc) while minimizing distortion? All my Mp3s are encoded at 192kbps by the way.

Do any of you have this problem too? Perhaps I need better headphones (than the stock ones) to hear this fullness with the iPod's EQ turned off but either way I'm anxious to hear your opinions.

Thanks.

[revmike]

If what you are asking were possible many of us would have done that a long time ago. Very few use the stock headphones, that's why there is a whole section dedicated to headphones.

[IanG]

You can try 'euPOD VolumeBoost'. I only got my ipod yesterday (and have been ripping cds like crazy!!!), but this little app seems to fix the distortion problems I've noticed.

You can get it here http://www.ringom.no/espen/ipod

Ian G

[Stefan]

This made me angry too when I got the ?600 device.
I listen to electronic music (deep house , techhouse , ... ) & bass is essential for this kind of music.
All my previous portable equipment (sony md , philips cdplayer ) had some sort of a bass booster a very nice DBB on the $/?70 discman ...

This really sucks indeed as I get a 'flat' sound

[dcx693]

You need to read this thread: sound quality (http://ipodlounge.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=5081) . It's long, and the gist of it being: use mp3gain to lower the volume of your mp3 files to somewhere in the 89-96 db range. My iPod was also distorting like crazy until I did this. Now my bass (while still not where I'd like it to be) is at least smooth without distortion.