[rklein]

I currently own a Cowan J3 which I like quite a bit as it lets me play FLAC files.  However, I really don't use the J3 for critical listening.  I use it with my ATH-M50S phones in bed most of the time.

My 2010 Nissan Maxima has Ipod/pad connectivity located in the center armrest and just yesterday I was listening to my brother's IPad 2 connected in my car.  ABSOLUTELY enjoyable!!  

I am going to sell my J3 and buy an Ipod Classic.  My question is which generation??  I have read that the 5th or 5.5 generation is the last Classic with Wolfson chips.  These Classics can be picked up on Ebay for around $80-$90.

Or should I just go and get the latest new 160gb Classic and be done with it.  I must say that the Ipad 2 sounded pretty good through my Maxima whether we were playing Itunes or music from downloaded CD's. 

I had to laugh as my brother(who is NOT an audiophool like me) stated "Wolfson Smolfson... this Ipad 2 sounds pretty good."  You know what... I had to agree with him.

Regards,

Randy

[mcgsxr]

If it were me, I would go with the larger GB vs any specific DAC chipset in a device destined for car audio use.

I am using an 8GB iTouch as the source for my car system (parts purchased, install when the weather gets warmer).  I sometimes wish it could hold more, but don't mind cycling music on and off that device.

Car audio is fun, and I enjoy it, but I don't get very concerned about fidelity in that noisy environment.  I am still using lossless on the 8GB iTouch, but may swap out to a lossy format for in car use, in order to better leverage the limited space.

If you are considering the "better" DAC for use other than car audio, then I can better understand the dilemma.

[rklein]

mcgsxr:

Thanks for the reply.  I too am leaning towards the bigger capacity over DAC chips.  My question at this point is $80 for a used Ipod classic vs $230 for a new Ipod classic.

Regards,

Randy

[eclein]

$80 used...make sure you have backups, you can always have a new battery put in if its ancient/that old.

If you sell your J3 please let me know....I might just buy it from you...Thanks..Ed

[drjjpdc]

Rklein,

We are kind of in the same boat. I just got my daughter's hand me down IPod with about 8GB in it. I would go for the used one ($150 is a big difference) bc you could buy a lot of music with the difference.

Think of it this way. A cd holds about 700mb. 8 gb = 8000 mb or about 11 full CD's as wav files. Since an mp3 file is 1/10th the space of a wav file, that means that even in the old Ipod you can put 110 CD's full of music as mp3 files, which are perfect for the car. Do you really need any more memory at this time?

I am not exactly sure but my daughter's 160 gb Ipod also holds about 2000 hours of video or 1000 2 hour movies! That means even your "old" 8 gb Ipod will hold about 50 2 hour movies. Hope this helps.

[srb]

A cd holds about 700mb. 8 gb = 8000 mb or about 11 full CD's as wav files. Since an mp3 file is 1/10th the space of a wav file, that means that even in the old Ipod you can put 110 CD's full of music as mp3 files, which are perfect for the car.

You may be able to store more than that.  Across all CDs in my library, I found the average CD to be ~ 570MB.  A 128 kbps mp3 file is 1/11 the size of a 1411 kbps wav file. Even though the formatted size of the 8GB iPod is somewhat less than 8GB (my "30GB" iPod Touch is 28.5GB formatted), the number of CDs may be closer to 150, depending on your average CD size.
 
Steve

[drjjpdc]

I agree Steve about CD's being less than full. But I wanted to be conservative just in case. Anyway for portable audio in the car or on the run 8 gb is plenty. And now if you break up the 8gb with some wav and the rest mp3, you can play the wav CD quality files through your home audio if it has a mini jack hookup. It's not just for little ear buds or noisy car environments anymore.

Hey and don't forget your old GPS. A lot of the GPS companies charge almost as much as a new one for the update map feature. So if you have an old unused GPS it has a space for the SD chips and you could even replace the old one with a bigger chip, say going from 2GB to an 8gb chip. Lots of possibilities!

[rklein]

Well, I went ahead and bought a new Ipod Classic with the 160GB.  I found several 5 and 5.5 generation classics on Ebay but just felt more comfortable with a new unit.

I totally agree with the comments about how much space is needed.  However, the Classic still has movable parts(hard drive) as opposed to other Apple designs.  And even though I could buy a used Ipod for around $80-$100, I wasn't quite sure on the longer term reliability of a 2-3 year old unit and how it was treated by its original owner and did not want a broken Ipod sitting in my drawer.

I appreciate you guys responding to my question.  I probably spent more than I needed to...

Regards,

Randy

[drjjpdc]

Hey we always do, that's why we are called audiophiles.

[srb]

It's true you don't know how a previously used iPod might have been taken care or dropped.  But moving forward with your new one, I have a 30GB Video iPod with hard drive that is over six years old.  It has pretty much stayed in the car the entire time and has endured the constant bumps as well as living in a nearly closed car through very hot summer temperatures and freezing nighttime winter temperatures* in Tucson.
 
It still works perfectly, although the battery has pretty much given up.  I performed a battery replacement on an iPod Mini, but haven't undertaken the replacement of this one yet as it just sits in its charging cradle in the car and doesn't have any portable duty.
 
* Down to ~30F on nights, but don't know how it would do stored in the car in Buffalo, NY!
 
Steve

[rklein]

thanks Steve

Good to know that the hard drives in these units are reliable long term.

Regards,

Randy

[saisunil]

The biggest sound upgrade you can do for free is to use lossless formats instead of compressed .mp3 for music you care ...

[rklein]

The biggest sound upgrade you can do for free is to use lossless formats instead of compressed .mp3 for music you care ...

As I stated in my first post, I already have a J3 that allows me to play flac files.  However, I want the ability to play my music in my car and my Maxima has Ipod capabilities. Also, I downloaded maybe 15-20 cd's in FLAC into my 32GB J3 and it was full! With road noise while driving is it even worth the effort for the lossless formats?

To be perfectly honest, I did not even see if the Ipod Classic could even do lossless as it wasn't that important for this application.  If it can, then i might do a combination of different formats.  Then again, maybe not...

In addition, I really only do my critical listening in my dedicated room with $$$$ worth of equipment.

Regards,

Randy

[rklein]

Sorry...just checked my J3 and I have 35 cd's in FLAC and the 32GB is full.

Randy

[srb]

The iPod can store and play Apple Lossless files.
 
The number of albums (35) that you are storing as FLAC on you Cowan J3 32GB player is a bit confusing.  Even if they were uncompressed FLAC and a full 700MB for each album, that would still only take up ~25GB of space.
 
If they were compressed FLAC (at dBpoweramp compression level 5), they would be ~ 55% of the .wav size and you should be able to store ~ 45 albums (if each CD was a full 700MB).  Since the average CD size of anyone's library is most likely to be < 700MB uncompressed, the number of albums would be even greater, minus of course whatever amount of space the "32GB" loses in formatted available space.
 
Steve

[Stu Pitt]

I found the size of the memory really has to do with how long you're on the road for and how often you want to change your library.

I used to travel a lot for work.  I started with an 8 gen Nano.  I used Apple Lossless, as I was using it during flights and bus trips - not driving.  Being away for 3-4 days at a time, 8 gb got to be too small.  I replaced it with an 80 gen Classic.  Holds a ton of stuff in Apple Lossless.

But having that much stuff has a drawback when connected in my car - there's a lot of sift through when looking for a specific album.  My Alpine receiver has built in iPod control; no way I'd use the click wheel while driving!