[KevinW]

I have a 30Gb Ipod 5G, and the sound quality just doesn't cut it for me.  Does anyone know of instructions for modifying the 4G Ipod to improve the sound quality?  I wish I could afford RedWine's modifications, but I am willing to give it a go myself. I would sell my 5G and buy a 4G.

Alternatively, is there any instruction for modifying a 5G?  Or for modifying an Iaudio X5?

Thanks!

[JohnnyLightOn]

If you don't want to open it up, you can buy a line-out cable that uses the dock connector on the bottom, and run the output into a good headphone amp.  This bypasses the internal amp circuit.  But you'd have to carry around a portable headphone amp.

The Red Wine modification does this internally, running the line out into the headphone jack (he does other things as well to clean up the sound - there's a list on his site).  This also requires a separate amp, and in fact makes it so the iPod's headphone jack is a dedicated line-out jack from that point on.

I would look on www.head-fi.org's Portable Audio forum for detailed info about this stuff, in addition to what you get here.

[JohnnyLightOn]

Also: What kind of files are you listening to?  Apple Lossless will give you the best SQ, after that high bitrate MP3s.  Low bitrate MP3s are pretty poor-sounding.

[KevinW]

I use high bitrate Ogg, and Rockbox on the Ipod. In comparison to my IRiver H320 using the same files, the sound of the 5G is quite anemic. I need two HD players, so I'm looking for a replacement.

Another question... can the I-Mod 4G with line out be used with high efficiency headphones, like the Shure E3?

[JohnnyLightOn]

I'm not sure, but I'd be pretty surprised if you could.  For one thing, how would you control the volume?