sound quality/stuttering with ipod video 60gb

2005-10-18 16:09:40

I have no mp3 player.  I have done A LOT. of reading on it.  I'm down between the one of the ipod 60gb's or the zen touch 40.
    So here's the question. I'm big on sound quality.  It is generally accepted (it seems) that the creative has better sound quality, but i heard that the shuffle sounds much better than the other 4th gen ipods.  Has anyone gotten, or read about the sound quality of the new ipod video (5th gen.)? If it is up there with the shuffle/close to the creative I'd probably go with the ipod.
  There has been A LOT talk of stuttering with LAME on ipods.  Anyone know if that is fixed on the video ipods? does the zen touch have this problem?
    My apologies if this is in another thread, I'm new (although I didn't see it).  Any help is greatly appreciated.  It's a big investment for what I get per paycheck, I'd hate to go down the wrong road.

sound quality/stuttering with ipod video 60gb

Reply #1 – 2005-10-18 16:27:40

Well that's really strange. With my iPod Color I never - really never - had any stutter!
And about sound quality: The iPods bass is a little bit weak with headphones with low impendance. And I don't think that they changed something because the sound hasn't changed too with the ipod nano. But for me it's ok.

Big_Berny

sound quality/stuttering with ipod video 60gb

Reply #2 – 2005-10-18 16:40:53

I have a 4G 40GB monochrome iPod and have not had any problems with stuttering.  I have a couple (2-5) tracks that skip but my library was encoded at the preset standard and I currently have 4000 songs.  So 0.125% of my library skips due to the VBR mp3's and the iPods inability to keep up the processing power (for a small percentage of songs) when the bitrate jumps high.  Apple claims that they have increased the audio quality of the 5G iPod.  Did they really?  I have no idea.  We will have to wait and see from lab audio tests.  I too heard that the shuffle had a better bass response than the 4G/mini iPod lines.  The iPod nano has not improved upon audio quality since the 4G monochrome iPods and 1G mini's.

sound quality/stuttering with ipod video 60gb

Reply #3 – 2005-10-18 17:07:17

Ive got a 3rdgen 20gb ipod and never encountered any stuttering. I do encode my music with lame 3.90.3 alt presets... 

mmike

sound quality/stuttering with ipod video 60gb

Reply #4 – 2005-10-18 18:44:43

Most of my music is encoded by Nero into VBR AAC, with average bitrate at about 180.  My 3G ipod never had any problems with these but my 1GB ipod shuffle makes the songs occasionally click and stutter.

The ipod nano is also reported to have the stuttering problem:
ipod nano stuttering problem

It seems to be an issue with the new ipods, so I would wait to buy until it's been confirmed that the problem has been fixed.

-Aaron

sound quality/stuttering with ipod video 60gb

Reply #5 – 2005-10-19 14:00:25

thanks guys.  Yes, I hope somone does some testing.  I don't have the equipment or time to test and then take the ipod back in time if it is not suitable.  Maybe in a month or two, but i'm not holding my breath.  Anyone out there planning on doind this?