Buzzbait
New member
I threw caution to the wind yesterday, and picked up a Gen5 Ipod. I’ve been using a Gen2 Ipod-Mini since it first came out, and found the sound quality to be lacking. Better than the Gen1 Ipod-Mini, but not nearly as good as my Iriver flash player. And the lack of a custom EQ setting on the Mini made me crazy. I probably would have dumped Apple long ago, but the Ipod’s strengths were just too great to step away from. The aftermarket accessories, superior interface, and ease of Itunes were a very big deal to me.
I was relatively happy with the Ipod Mini until I bought myself a set of Shure E3C canal phones a few months back. To be blatant about it, the Mini just didn’t have the cajones to drive the E3C’s. Bass was not great, highs were just plain missing, stereo separation was awful, and there was a complete and utter lack of attack from certain instruments. The latter is a bit hard to explain. All I can say is that this lack of attack made the music quite uninvolving, if that’s a word.
Most frustrating of all, I did have a glimpse into how good the E3C’s could be, when properly driven. I hooked my Mini up to an Ipod dock, and ran the line level signal into an Adcom preamp, and used the headphone output of the Adcom to listen. Talk about a night and day transformation!!!! That was the sound I wanted from my Mini, when I was on the go. I briefly thought about using a small headphone amp, when out and about, but just couldn’t bring myself to making my portable audio even less portable.
So, for the last few months, I lived with the sound of the Ipod Mini, and used a cheap pair of Radio Shack earbuds for “on the go” listening. The Rat Shacks are so incredible easy to drive, that even the Mini can do it. The Shures have been used only once in a while, when I happen to do some headphone listening at home.
I’m happy to say that I had my first great portable listening experience yesterday. I downloaded all of my Itunes music to my new Gen5 Ipod, and plugged in my Shure E3C’s. The sound was absolutely gorgeous!!! Much better sound quality than my Ipod Mini, superior to my Iriver, and actually better than my Ipod Shuffle. I’m talking about breathtaking stereo separation, excellent attack on instruments, and clean non-distorted bass. The sound is simply luscious with a warm rich character to it. I spent about 2 hours with all of my MP3 players lined up, sampling various tracks through all of them, via the Shure E3C’s. It was a great day. I’ve finally found that portable listening experience I’ve been searching for.
As far as I’m concerned, the Gen5 Ipod gets a huge thumbs up. I can’t comment on other earphone combinations, but it’s like the Gen5 was made for listening through the Shure E3C’s.
I was relatively happy with the Ipod Mini until I bought myself a set of Shure E3C canal phones a few months back. To be blatant about it, the Mini just didn’t have the cajones to drive the E3C’s. Bass was not great, highs were just plain missing, stereo separation was awful, and there was a complete and utter lack of attack from certain instruments. The latter is a bit hard to explain. All I can say is that this lack of attack made the music quite uninvolving, if that’s a word.
Most frustrating of all, I did have a glimpse into how good the E3C’s could be, when properly driven. I hooked my Mini up to an Ipod dock, and ran the line level signal into an Adcom preamp, and used the headphone output of the Adcom to listen. Talk about a night and day transformation!!!! That was the sound I wanted from my Mini, when I was on the go. I briefly thought about using a small headphone amp, when out and about, but just couldn’t bring myself to making my portable audio even less portable.
So, for the last few months, I lived with the sound of the Ipod Mini, and used a cheap pair of Radio Shack earbuds for “on the go” listening. The Rat Shacks are so incredible easy to drive, that even the Mini can do it. The Shures have been used only once in a while, when I happen to do some headphone listening at home.
I’m happy to say that I had my first great portable listening experience yesterday. I downloaded all of my Itunes music to my new Gen5 Ipod, and plugged in my Shure E3C’s. The sound was absolutely gorgeous!!! Much better sound quality than my Ipod Mini, superior to my Iriver, and actually better than my Ipod Shuffle. I’m talking about breathtaking stereo separation, excellent attack on instruments, and clean non-distorted bass. The sound is simply luscious with a warm rich character to it. I spent about 2 hours with all of my MP3 players lined up, sampling various tracks through all of them, via the Shure E3C’s. It was a great day. I’ve finally found that portable listening experience I’ve been searching for.
As far as I’m concerned, the Gen5 Ipod gets a huge thumbs up. I can’t comment on other earphone combinations, but it’s like the Gen5 was made for listening through the Shure E3C’s.
