Originally Posted by Sid Law:
“It is not the DAC in the ipod that is the cause of the crap sound, it's the source which is compressed mp3 (or whatever codec they use).
Unless seriously high bit rates are used - well above those that most players can accomodate, the sound quality is compromised - not just with ipods but with every mp3 player.
Most people have cloth ears so believe the shite told to them (by Apple as well as others) that mp3's offer CD quality.
They don't !”
It's a combination of such things.
With standard earphones the IPod does indeed sound well, just OK. The Cowan audio players, the Sony Walkmans and the Creative players all sound superior with their stock earphones and MP3 at the same bitrate. Plug in some decent earphones or headphones and the better quality of the other players becomes quite marked. Certainly higher bitrate MP3s sound better, but on the other players they sound even better again.