Does Your iPod Touch Hiss at You?
Anyone out there pick up an iPod Touch yet and use it with some good in-ear headphones? I grabbed mine last night to start on our review, and unfortunately the first thing I noticed was a big hiss through the headphones after I plugged in my Ultimate Ears Super.fi 5 Pros. Nothing playing, even--just the noise of the device while it's turned on. I'm used to a noticeable noise floor on my 80GB video iPod, but this was a completely different world.
So this morning I started tracking down the problem. I tried another iPod Touch. Same problem. I swapped out the headphones. A new pair of Shure SE110s had the same issue, but the problem was less pronounced with over-ear phones like my Sony MDR-V900s or the Sennheiser HD 500s I've had around for a while. I tried different MP3 players. The noise floor on our iPod Classic was almost inaudible, the 80GB video iPod was noticeable but tolerable, the iPhone was right in that same range, and the iPod Touch was worst by far.
Anyway, if you have the iPod Touch / in-ear headphone combination going, please let me know if you're experiencing the same issue.
PC World's Marketplace
PC World's Free Whitepapers
tech news tech blogs community & forums laptop prices software reviews downloads
Kind of a different issue--but related. I just got the new iPod Classic 160gig and when I plug it into my car adapter which plugs directly into my Kenwood CD Player, I hear a lot of noise on the right side of the equalizer (not sure of the technical terms)...if I turn the equalizer down on that side, the noise disappears. It's not the stereo, because with Sirius Satellite Radio and CD's, it sounds perfect...the new iPod makes a humm/hiss. My old iPod nano doesn't make the noise when connected. ???
What to blind people do? Virtual keyboards and keypads are of no use to blind folks. Same for the iPhone. Thanks Steve Jobs for screwing the blind folks just to market over priced techno-geek crap.
I have been using a 60 GB ipod and have not noticed any hiss. I use the ear phones that came stock. Why the difference between the 60 GB and the new ones? Comments from other 60 GB users? Now I am hesitant in updating my ipod to an 80 GB or a 160 GB. Has Apple supplied an answer to this?
48 hours and I've lost Touch with iPod - Part 1
I'm currently listening to my iPod 60GB Video. I listen to my music using the top of the range Shure E500 earphones; I'm very particular about the quality of audio and enjoy the likes of SACD
and DVD-A. I like to think I know good sound when I hear it. I frequently listen to MP3s using my EVENT monitors and the sound is very good and whilst MP3s are a lossy format it's definitely
not an excuse for poor quality sound.
For the past couple of months I've been in the market for a new mp3 player and was deciding on the impressive iRiver Clix 2 or Version 2 of the Zune. Whilst iRiver has exceptional sound it's
too small for mobile video. The Zune was announced for the US market but no announcement of a European release. Then like a bolt of lighting the iPod Touch struck Earth and like an angelic
call from the heavens all my prayers were answered. Hallelujah!
48 hours and I've lost Touch with iPod - Part 2
So. Yes... Last week, I purchased the 16GB iPod Touch from Amazon. I this trust this store and they have an exceptional customer service ethic so if anything did go wrong or I wasn't happy I knew I could return it. After all. I had read a lot of reports about sound problems but I wanted to be able to test the device first hand and 'trust my own ears' before committing to a 'Yes' or
'No' decision.
48 hours and I've lost Touch with iPod - Part 3
I'll admit it. I was very impressed with the iPod Touch, pleasantly so. It's a treasure to
behold. Interfacing with music has never been so tactile since the day of holding a CD or
flipping through your record collection. Apple seems to have mastered the art of usability and
the device itself is slick, it's sexy, it's sophisticated, it's everything you need to manage
your album collection. Albeit small on storage it certainly makes up for in innovation.
Accessing a web site or being able to preview / purchase tunes via the iStore is a blessing for
music junkies needing a fresh fix and I can't praise Apple enough for this innovation even if it
is a stripped down iPhone. The concept. The application. The wonderment... is divine.
48 hours and I've lost Touch with iPod - Part 4
Can you imagine how disappointed I was when I tried to use this device for what I had originally intended. To play music. Actually, disappointment is an understatement. I listened to MP3 encodings of my CDs at 192, 256 and 320KBPs as well as AAC lossless. The sound quality couldn't even compete with my first Sony Walkman from the Duran Duran 80's. I was 'Hungry like the wolf'
for some belting audio quality. But instead I got a less than 'Ordinary World' I was appalled! It's hard to summarise just how bad the sound is but I'll try.
48 hours and I've lost Touch with iPod - Part 5
Firstly it can't handle Bass. My Shure E500 earphones have two Sub Bass drivers - I can only imagine how horrific this player must sound on stock earphones. Regardless of volume, the Bass is muddy and distorted. Selecting different predefined EQ options, like Classical, helped marginally but that's only because it removed the bass! There wasn't an option for customised EQ. But, if the sound is poor before EQ scoping it's going to be hard to tighten it up. Other problems with the sound was the separation of frequencies - or rather lack of! The Treble isn't bright, the Mids aren't punchy and as stated the Bass doesn't rumble. Don't get me wrong Bass doesn't need to blow your head off - but it does need to be tight and not distort. I ran a test on my mobile phone: Nokia 6300 playing the same songs and the sound quality is exceptional - if only iPod Touch audio was as good as this.
48 hours and I've lost Touch with iPod - Part 6
I listened to the iPod Touch for no more than 2 hours. After this time, my ears felt fatigued. I was sad to say "Goodbye", but I could now only spare tears for this product, not time. The iPod Touch is so close to being an exceptional MP3 player. So very close. Yet it falls short of the most important aspect - audio quality! With each new iPod release the sound quality has to improve, not deteriorate. Apple can not trade bling n' glitz for audio quality, that novelty wears off, but the sound quality will live longer than a Duran Duran classic. With every new album, with every new production, music lovers long to hear musical creativity how the producer intended; every nuance, every beat, every frequency clearly represented is a minimum and fundamental requirement of audio devices - especially premium audio devices.
48 hours and I've lost Touch with iPod - Part 7
Apple I believe is playing its dominance card. This time they've gone too far. Go ahead. Buy an iPod Touch, listen to it, test it against other audio devices, admire it's seductiveness but don't be sucked into parting with hard earned cash for an inferior audio device. Return it for a refund, make a fuss, write a letter to Apple. If you're anything less than 100% satisfied take a bite! Apple need to own up to this to declare what the problem is and how they intend to fix it.
Finally a small yet significant problem that I need to raise is the fact that the iPod Touch no longer supports Disk Mode, this has consequences, if I want to be able to use my device as a large portable hard drive, or use Anapod to manage my music. As a consumer I should have that choice. And crippling 'PDA' aspects just because it's not a phone ... why ... oh ... why....!
48 hours and I've lost Touch with iPod - Part 7
Apple I believe is playing its dominance card. This time they've gone too far. Go ahead. Buy an iPod Touch, listen to it, test it against other audio devices, admire it's seductiveness but don't be sucked into parting with hard earned cash for an inferior audio device. Return it for a refund, make a fuss, write a letter to Apple. If you're anything less than 100% satisfied take a bite! Apple need to own up to this to declare what the problem is and how they intend to fix it.
Finally a small yet significant problem that I need to raise is the fact that the iPod Touch no longer supports Disk Mode, this has consequences, if I want to be able to use my device as a large portable hard drive, or use Anapod to manage my music. As a consumer I should have that choice. And crippling 'PDA' aspects just because it's not a phone ... why ... oh ... why....!
I've not only notice hissing, but popping to on my Touch. I notice it especially when it's plugged into my speakers (Altec im600) or sitting in my cars docking station (DLO transpod). I tried turning the unit off then back on, which seemed to fix the problem temporarily, but eventually the noise came back. So, today I tried turning off the Wifi, and guess what, no more noises.
I have a feeling that Wifi on my Touch is inducing noise on the line output of my iPod. I haven't gone to Apple yet, but will, and report back with here their reply.
I wish that I had seen these comments before I purchased an Ipod Touch for my wife's Christmas present to replace her Sony Bean. The sound quality is very poor compared to the Bean,s. We have swopped over the earphones to the beans and set the EQ to different settings and turned off the wifi, we have found "Lounge" to be best.
It is very disappointing as we had expected our first venture into Ipod,s to be the best with all the hipe.
The device is amazing to use although when it comes down to it, the sound quality issue is the most important thing as that is the main reason for owning and using this device.
We will be writing to Apple.
All I can say is GRRRR... this device sounds so amazing in all its features, but the problems I have been reading about in the sound quality dept. is just so disappointing. This was going to be my first venture into the IPOD realm, but with these issues I am having my doubts if it will be worth shelling out 350+ on crappy sound quality?!?!?