iMod in Wired news

geofstro · « **on:** 16 May 2006, 05:09 pm »

I've just seen this on Wired news:

http://www.wired.com/news/columns/0,70901-0.html?tw=rss.index

I must admit that after reading it I'm quite tempted by an iPod Photo 60GB.

Vinnie, if I decided to go ahead and order the iMod from you it would make sense for me to order the iPod in the US and have it shipped directly to you to carry out the mods.

Would that be OK?

I could sent it to you as a gift

I've only just started looking into this, so could you please confirm that all iPod Photo models are suitable for the iMod? That is my understanding from what I've read so far.

Thanks

geoff

Vinnie R. · « **Reply #1 on:** 17 May 2006, 11:20 am »

Quote from: geofstro

Vinnie, if I decided to go ahead and order the iMod from you it would make sense for me to order the iPod in the US and have it shipped directly to you to carry out the mods.

Would that be OK?

Hi Geoff,

Thanks for the link!

Yes, you can order in the US and have it shipped directly to me for mods. Many of my customers do this and it makes a lot of sense since you are overseas.

ALL iPod Photo models can be iModded.

Once I receive your iPod, I can usually have them finished within 2 weeks.

Best regards,

borelek · « **Reply #2 on:** 29 May 2006, 12:02 pm »

I'll do exactely the same way as Geoff and for the same reason.

Very exited to touch a really good sound from an iPod.

thanks in advance

borelek

Vinnie R. · « **Reply #3 on:** 31 May 2006, 04:29 pm »

Quote from: borelek

I'll do exactely the same way as Geoff and for the same reason.

Very exited to touch a really good sound from an iPod.

thanks in advance

borelek

Hi borelek,

Welcome to Audiocircle!

Sure, send it on over to me for mods!

I think you are going to be very surprised once you connect the modded iPod into your system....use lossless files or .wav files and be happy!

Best,

geofstro · « **Reply #4 on:** 1 Jun 2006, 03:33 pm »

Hi Borelek,

I saw your post a couple of days ago while I was staying in Montreux, so I thought that was quite a coincidence, with you being just a bit further along the lac at Lausanne.

The iMod plus AudioPath iPod cable arrived the day after I got home (yesterday).

I ordered the 60GB iPod Photo from Small Dog Electronics via Amazon.com and had them ship it to Vinnie. The price was $329.00

I was happy to use Small Dog, because I've ordered from them before and it worked out OK. When Vinnie received it, he tested it and found it to be fine, so he did the mods.

When you receive it from Vinnie, the packaging is exactly the same as any other brand new iPod, including the cling film around the ipod itself.

For a minute I was worried in case Vinnie had forgot to do the mods.

I needn't have feared. Once I'd charged it up and loaded some music onto it, then hooked the AudioPath cable to the headphone jack, that confirmed the mods had been carried out, since the Headphone jack had been converted into a LineOut (Full volume regardless of the volume setting on the iPod).

...and then there's the sound! Well it hasn't burned in yet, though already I can tell on the right recordings instruments have a palpable three dimensional presence and there is a sense of the recording acoustic on live recordings. Pretty good for such a petite device that allows you to load up 120 cd's worth of music compressed losslessly.

Hope you enjoy yours as much as I am!

Geoff

Vinnie R. · « **Reply #5 on:** 3 Jun 2006, 01:32 am »

Quote from: geofstro

...and then there's the sound! Well it hasn't burned in yet, though already I can tell on the right recordings instruments have a palpable three dimensional presence and there is a sense of the recording acoustic on live recordings. Pretty good for such a petite device that allows you to load up 120 cd's worth of music compressed losslessly.
...

Hi geofstro,

Thanks for posting your initial impressions! Let those black gates burn in and be prepared to fall in love with it.

Keep us posted!

Thanks again,

Vinnie

borelek · « **Reply #6 on:** 6 Jun 2006, 03:37 pm »

Quote from: geofstro

I saw your post a couple of days ago while I was staying in Montreux, so I thought that was quite a coincidence, with you being just a bit further along the lac at Lausanne....

Hi Geoff,

Hum, hum, now I realize, this iMod is something like a virus

I ordered my own iPod iMod only 7 days ago and I received a mail from Vinnie today saying my iMod is already shipped.
What a fast man ! The speed of the passion as I understand.

Thanks to both of you, Geoff and Vinnie

borelek

geofstro · « **Reply #7 on:** 6 Jun 2006, 06:47 pm »

I'm sure you'll enjoy it. As per Vinnies' post, I'm running mine all day to get those balck gates cookin'.

Cheers

Geoff

borelek · « **Reply #8 on:** 14 Jun 2006, 03:49 pm »

I got my iMod 1 hour ago. Don't expect any review before next tuesday because of a large amount of work, a large amount of ripping still to do and some extra hardware to buy ; we have strange plugs in Switzerland ! By chance our outlets are strange as well ;-)

can't wait

and again : Thanks Ronnie for your refreshing view of the business

Jampot · « **Reply #9 on:** 14 Jun 2006, 07:30 pm »

borelec,

I found the USA charger that came with my iMod can be used with a standard figure of 8 mains lead - the 'fold round' US 2 pin plug can be unclipped.

May save you trying to use an in wall adapter or charging with the USB cable.

Get it charged up - it's brilliant!

Jim

borelek · « **Reply #10 on:** 15 Jun 2006, 03:22 pm »

Jampot,

thanks for the advice. I ordered the Apple World Travel Adapter Kit.

And I can't wait... but I will !!! mainly because I only ripped 32 GB for a little more than half of my CD library.

borelek

borelek · « **Reply #11 on:** 20 Jun 2006, 10:41 am »

We are in a strange global world. It took 8 days to Vinnie to find a iPod Photo for me somewhere in USA, order it, mod it, send it. It took 8 days to US post to forward it to me oversea. And it took six plain days to receive a f...unny plug from less than one hundred km from my home (the same time it took to me cover the same distance by foot !
OK, now the good news is ... I got this plug and my iMod is charging.

Waiting my iMod to be full of energy I'll try to describe you the disappointment which lent me to buy the modification from Vinnie. My standard source for digital music is a Naim CD 3.5, a very good source in fact. I choose it through comparative earring for the serenity of the music it produces. Amp and pre-amp are not bad and well coupled with pretty good loudspeakers. All of them are build by Rowen a small swiss company with a fine philosophy and a Swiss made attitude.

Disappointment 1 : I heard some iPods by a friend of mine and I found the sound very flat and so uninterested that it was simply boring to ear it.
Disappointment 2 : I got an iPod nano for my wife, put some loss-less music in it and after a $5 connection to my installation ... the same boring sound (perhaps a little bit more precise but nothing interesting yet.)
Disappointment 2.5 : iPod nano on a JBL on stage II. They shrank the orchestra and the singers then put them into a saucepan.
Disappointment 3 : I was difficult to ripp the music on my computer whithout listening a little bit of music ; then I connected my computer to my Hifi installation. Awful, hardly the same sound than the little Harman Kardon Apple balls. Actually it's not true but when you're disappointed, you know.
Disappointment 4 : iPod nano through a Dock and $5 cable. Hum, thus there were some bass in this music (Lauda Jerusalem RV609, Vivaldi ; Vittorio Negri ; John Aldis Choir ; English Chamber Orchestra),
Disappointment 5 : my computer connected through the Silver iPod cable. Oh my god so much money for so few improvement ! It's really, really worse my disappointment 4.
(Half)Disappointment 6 : iPod nano through the Silver iPod cable. You know what ? They not only make sound with bass, they play music with it. The music begin. There is a problem with dynamics, violent attacks are simply not reproduced. Lossless codec problem ?

I'm not a new Srajan Ebaen, and I have no intention to tease you, but iMod is still loading fresh electrons.

Then see you later.

borelek

P.S: I know that, you, American are very indulgent towards foreigners writing english, hope my prose is not too difficult to digest.

borelek · « **Reply #12 on:** 20 Jun 2006, 05:12 pm »

Hi Folks,

iMod is full of energy and is currently feeding with music.

By the way : I sign in to http://www.frappr.com/redwineaudio
I feel a little bit alone in the middle of Europa.

That's it
"iPod update is complete"

Heart beating it's time for the test of this iMod.

Test 1: iMod and a $5 cable. Banana smile "Oh, it was THAT CD". Good, good really good, generous, precise, good in instruments distiction, really good work Vinnie. And what a relief to have, after all this tribulations, the sound I deserve. javascript:emoticon(':lol:') . But I got the same problem with what I thought to be a problem with dynamics. In fact the problem could be that on a CD you can have label in the middle of one song and iTunes make two songs so you ear a gap between them. But the gap could also become from another problem. Any ideas to fix that ?
Well after two hours of happiness its time for the next ...

Test 2: iMod with Silver iPod cable. Ouch, the presence. Test one we had the privelege to invite the orchestra in our house. Now it's the privilege to be transported in the room the orchestra made the recording. The problem is now how to cut the music to ear another one. The addiction time is very short. Now it is time for euphoria.

Vinnie you give my music life a new start.

Still two questions :
- It sounds so good, is it suposed to be better with breaking in? It seems unbelievable.
- Am I supposed to have charging habits for the iMod?

Thank you very much to you, Vinnie, and to all of your supporters. The Red Wine magic is definitely true.

borelek

gary · « **Reply #13 on:** 20 Jun 2006, 07:18 pm »

if it's any indication, my modded ipod sounded very bad to my ears when i first got it. vinnie assured me that i needed to be patient and give it a few hours before making any judgements so i did... and man was it ever worth it. by 100 hours it was definitely a big step up over my battery-powered nixon dac, it had the same lack of background noise and smooth NOS-type character but was much more refined and detailed in the treble. by 200 hours it was even more liquid and fast and just incredibly musical. so, i guess what i'm saying is that if you're happy now just wait because it's going to get even better. and no worries about your english, it's pretty good. far better than my french

.

Gary

Vinnie R. · « **Reply #14 on:** 21 Jun 2006, 01:58 am »

Quote from: borelek

Still two questions :
- It sounds so good, is it suposed to be better with breaking in? It seems unbelievable.
- Am I supposed to have charging habits for the iMod?
..

Hi borelek,

Thanks for posting your early impressions. Yes, it will get even better with 200+ hours of burn in..... I promise you this! You should set it to play on repeat mode and make sure it is connected to your amp (or preamp). The amp or preamp does not need to be turned on, but the modded iPod should be on and playing music. This is how you'll burn in the upgraded output capacitors. During burn-in, it is best to keep it plugged into the AC adapter so you can let it run all day and night on repeat mode (if you want to).

Regarding charging habits with the iPod, I don't think it is nearly as critical as it is with SLA batteries. This thread on head-fi might give you more insight:
http://www6.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=55498

Thank again for posting here.

Hi gary,

I totally agree with you.....when usig Apple lossless or wave files, the modded iPod sounds better than the Monica 2 or Scott Nixon dac (also on batter power).

At the last VTV show in NJ, a lot of people were taken back when they found out they were listening to the modded iPod. We had a turntable spinning and the needle was on the vinyl, but the input select switch was set to the modded iPod that was kind of tucked away. It was so funny when people came and said things like "you see....this is why I like vinyl so much more than digital" and "you can't get that kind of sound from digital!"

Then again, there were also people who thought there must be tubes in the Sig 30 (it was a VTV show afterall

). "How can that be solid state???" It was a fun weekend and if nothing else, it hopefully got some people thinkin'

Russell Dawkins · « **Reply #15 on:** 21 Jun 2006, 03:14 am »

We had a turntable spinning and the needle was on the vinyl, but the input select switch was set to the modded iPod that was kind of tucked away. It was so funny when people came and said things like "you see....this is why I like vinyl so much more than digital" and "you can't get that kind of sound from digital!"

...that's classic and well worth your effort, I'm sure.

Preconceptions are a much more powerful influence on perceptions than is generally realized.

I wonder whether the iPod was modded that David Wilson used in his famous demo of a couple of years ago where he also hid an iPod source.

borelek · « **Reply #16 on:** 21 Jun 2006, 04:21 pm »

Thanks Russell, Vinnie, gary,

then iMod is burning in. As I'm supposed to have 7.1 days of music in that iMod, I'll not use the repeat mode

see you there next week

borelek

borelek · « **Reply #17 on:** 1 Jul 2006, 06:52 pm »

Quote from: borelek on 20 Jun 2006, 05:12 pm

But I got the same problem with what I thought to be a problem with dynamics. In fact the problem could be that on a CD you can have label in the middle of one song and iTunes make two songs so you ear a gap between them. But the gap could also become from another problem. Any ideas to fix that ?

I'm now able to answer (with the help of Vinnie who find the good forum to begin) to my own question ; This problem is not a problem with dynamics but is known as "iTunes/iPod gap" and the solution is from Rachael Smithey http://macs.about.com/od/ipod/qt/gap_free_tracks.htm

what a relief

soon now, my final comparison between Naim CD 3.5 and iMod

enjoy

borelek

geofstro · « **Reply #18 on:** 2 Jul 2006, 08:31 am »

borelek,

Thanks for posting your impressions. I haven't been able to listen to mine, sine I've been travelling. I should get a treat when I do hear it though, since it's been on repeat and warming up while I've been away.

I'm glad you found a solution to the gap problem. This is particularly a problem for those of us who listen to classical music. I believe the solution you posted will only work when you have a CD loaded in your drive. For music you've already ripped, there is an Applescript that can join the tracks you specify.

http://www.dougscripts.com/itunes/scripts/ss.php?sp=jointogether

Or if you're under Windows you can use Foobar's writer to re-rewrite selected tracks as a single file.

I found the first tip in a Take Control of iTunes e-book, which I thoroughly recommend.

http://www.takecontrolbooks.com/[email protected]@!pt=TRK-0038-TB832-TCNEWS

Hope it helps!

geoff

borelek · « **Reply #19 on:** 3 Jul 2006, 08:29 pm »

Quote from: geofstro on 2 Jul 2006, 08:31 am

borelek,

Thanks for posting your impressions. I haven't been able to listen to mine, sine I've been travelling. I should get a treat when I do hear it though, since it's been on repeat and warming up while I've been away.

Yes you will, it's very good.

Quote from: geofstro on 2 Jul 2006, 08:31 am

I'm glad you found a solution to the gap problem. This is particularly a problem for those of us who listen to classical music. I believe the solution you posted will only work when you have a CD loaded in your drive. For music you've already ripped, there is an Applescript that can join the tracks you specify.

http://www.dougscripts.com/itunes/scripts/ss.php?sp=jointogether

the problem with this script is it seems to work with a lot of AAC but not the Apple one.

Quote from: geofstro on 2 Jul 2006, 08:31 am

...

I found the first tip in a Take Control of iTunes e-book, which I thoroughly recommend.

http://www.takecontrolbooks.com/[email protected]@!pt=TRK-0038-TB832-TCNEWS

I'm writing this during the download.

Quote from: geofstro on 2 Jul 2006, 08:31 am

Hope it helps!

geoff

Thanks for all the helping answers

borelek