[PostMDMA]

I let it burn in for 3.5 days, then listened to it again. Here's what I noticed:

* much less high-end detail and much more midrange and bass detail.
* very heavily weighted toward bass. so much so i turned the treble up on the rotel by 4 dB to get back the treble "sparkle."
* production values of tracks make a lot more difference than with the stock iPod in quality of reproduction. going back to old synth-pop, for example, sounds sterile and cold compared even compared to Queen tracks produced in the '80s.
* my MMGs are making deep clear bass notes i didn't know they could make. very nice--i think i'll skip upgrading to the MMG 1.6s and just add a sub for xmas.

as to the "burn in is between your ears" message, bs. i purposefully didn't listen to it for 3.5 days so i could get a clear picture of what happened during burn-in. burning it in made the iMod sound completely different--it became a true audiophile input source with the above characteristics over the non-burned-in unit after 150+ hours. vinnie, you should advertise the burn in--you might turn off potential buyers who expect it to perform audiophile-quality out-of-the-box.

nice unit--sounds great--i'm keeping it and skipping the CD player.

-= PostMDMA =-

[PostMDMA]

Oh, and thanks, Vinnie, for providing such an important service to us budget digital audiophiles.

-= PostMDMA=-

[Vinnie R.]

Hi PostMDMA,

Just want to say thank you for taking the time to put some hours of use on your iMod and reporting what you observed. 

So 3.5 days = 84 hours.  Now you are getting there, but DO try this again for another 84 hours and listen to it again.  It does get even better... You'll hear this for yourself. 

I've used those Black Gate NX-Hi-Q caps in a few other applications beside the iMod(Squeezebox mods, Olive mods, Toshiba 3950 mods, and a couple of others) and for whatever reason they really smoothen out and sound really nice over time.  So I know these changes are not just for the iMod.

Many report that a few hundreds of hours are needed with Black Gates, but with the BG's that I use, I have always found that the majority the changes occur in the first 100 hours, and after around another 100 hours changes are pretty much over with.

Even with zero hours of burn-in, I'll take the iMod line out any day over the stock line out on the dock connector. 

Thanks again,

Vinnie

[PostMDMA]

Conservatively, I've now put 200+ hours on the iMod, listening to it for 4 hrs a day for three more days, and letting it play while I'm at work and so forth. I think have a pretty good idea what it's supposed to sound like now, at least my unit on my Rotel RX-1052 and MMGs, which most audiophiles would consider entry-level audiophile gear. It seems that after burn-in, my iMod's performance is all about boosting clarity and resolution of the low- and mid-end of the listening spectrum, as well as increased detail and warmness throughout the spectrum. One person in the other thread suggested that the iMod sounds more like an analog source with digital resolution, and I agree.

Given others' comments about the iMod, I wonder if everyone's iMod has burned in differently than mine. Inferring what others are telling me about a burned-in iMod, that it's a replacement for a high-end CD player, I feel I should be getting more high end oomph out of the unit, while others don't comment on that issue. High-end oomph and "sparkle" are definitely not part of my iMod experience, even though hi-hats, cymbals, and vocals resolve perfectly clearly. It's just that it sounds mid- and bass-heavier than before it burned in--the warmness and clarity of bass notes are what I'm picking up there.

The unit is definitely warmer than it was before it was modified, but like I said, I'm not getting the "sparkle" promised to me unless I turn up the treble 4 dB. Then it sounds really "sparkly." To be fair to the unit's performance, I compared 0 and 2 dB over the base settings on the amp, but that didn't seem to boost "sparkle" very much over 4 dB.

Vocals like Diana Krall on "The Look of Love," which seems to be the reference track most reviewers listen to when reviewing a product, sound better with the treble boosted. Diana's voice definitely sparkles at the 4 dB level of treble-boosting, whereas it sounds muffled with 0 dB treble-boost. But even at normal levels of treble, her voice sounds perfectly resolved on the iMod--I hear small breaths before she sings, for example, just less of it than at 4 dB.

Boosting the treble works well except for experimental electronic tracks like mu-Ziq's "Mushroom Compost" and their ilk, which I attribute to overtrebling (is that a word?) and hence screwing up the natural balance between square and sine waves in the high end of the listening spectrum and drum tracks and electronic hum in the low- to mid-range.

To be fair, I'm using the iMod with crappy emergency cables from Radio Shack. When I get my sub for Xmas, I'm going to spend a little more money and get Vinnie's high-end cable. Hopefully that will make a difference in high-end "sparkle" without having to resort to turning up the treble on my amp.

I haven't heard a CD player with a NOS DAC, so I am not qualified to comment on the comparison.

I've been flipping back and forth between the iMod and my stock 5G. The difference is incredible, and I wonder if a more fair comparison might be between an iMod and a stock iPod, rather than with a CD player. Clearly this is one area where the iMod kicks butt. The 5G just doesn't have the same soul as the iMod. For example, when I listen to The Cars's catalog on the 5G, it sounds sterile, lacks resolution, and is generally fuzzier compared to the iMod, which renders The Cars the way I think it should sound, like it did on my old Technics-linear-tracking-turntable-with-$1000 Ortofon cartridge (does that date me, or what?). Same with the Queen catalog--"Bohemian Rhapsody" never sounded so good on the iMod, even better than it did on vinyl. My thinking is that albums that were released on vinyl as well as CD take advantage of the warmer and higher resolution sound of the iMod compared to the 5G. After burn-in, synth-pop sounds better on the iMod than it did before--tracks that sounded cold and sterile before sound more like they did when I was a kid, listening to Ultravox and Eurythmics vinyl on my record player.

After listening to it for this long, I don't consider it a replacement for the Rotel RCD player, which wouldn't muffle the high-end of the spectrum and which delivers crisp, well-resolved mid-range bass, though with a digital sound without the warmness of the iMod. I consider the iMod more of a replacement for my 5G iPod, which was my input source before the iMod arrived. I think eventually I'm going to pick up an RCD and just burn CDs from iTunes whenever I want to listen to albums, and listen to the iMod for tracks that were originally created for vinyl as well as CD. But for now it's a perfectly good way to listen to most genres of music with excellent clarity and warmness, only with the treble turned up on the amp.

If anyone has anything to say about the iMod reproducing the high end of the spectrum without being muffled, especially with better cables, I'd like to hear about your experience, since it would differ from my experience.

Thanks!

[fajimr]

thanks for your thoughtful insights into the IMOD, I've been following this thread as I've been considering an IPOD (MOD) vs. SB3 so your insights are helpful.  I'm wondering about the synergy with your system- have you had the chance to plug it into another system and compare with the existing CDP in it?  I know you are more interested in how it sounds in YOUR system but it would be interesting (maybe not to you though) to see what it sounds like in another setup... just my 0.000002

[Vinnie R.]

Hi PostMDMA,

Thank you for your follow-up review!

To be fair, I'm using the iMod with crappy emergency cables from Radio Shack. When I get my sub for Xmas, I'm going to spend a little more money and get Vinnie's high-end cable. Hopefully that will make a difference in high-end "sparkle" without having to resort to turning up the treble on my amp.

The 0.5m Audiopath Silver iPod cable should make a very noticeable improvement in this area.  There once was an online review site called American Wired, and they did a review of the iMod with a Rat Shack Cable that I sent to them and then they tried it with the Audiopath cable that I sent to them and they reported a nice improvement in the top-end resolution. 

I like Fajimr's idea of trying the iMod in another system.  In some systems, the warmth of the iMod will be a very welcome substitute over an analytical sounding digitial source. 

Thanks again for posting!

Vinnie

[PostMDMA]

I had my friend with an untrained ear comparo-test the iMod vs. the 5G and he liked the 5G better because he said the iMod sounded "muffled." I said "screw it" and went on a quest for better cabling.

I just went out and bought Monster cable for input and I'll be damned if the iMod sparkles like crazy. I'm listening to Conjure One, which has crisp, clear vocals and lots of piano, as we speak and on the iPod with proper cabling all tracks have crisp high end, vocals, cymbal attack and decay, and in general excellent high end reproduction and clarity.

Posting an inaccurate report and looking like an idiot is what I get for having a weak link in my system. Now I'm getting what everyone else is talking about--excellent sound reproduction across the spectrum, no muffling of anything, lots of sparkle.

Everyone, run out and buy and iMod--just be sure not to do what I did and buy cheap cables.

[PostMDMA]

fajimr,

I've been running back and forth to the hi-fi shop, testing on NAD receivers against the Rotel RCD blah-blah on $4K dynamic speakers. I got the same high-end muffling when playing the iMod on the NAD, and the salescritter/friend and I agreed that it just didn't stand up against the same CD played on the Rotel CD player. Now that it's burned in, I'm going to drop by after his busy Xmas period and we'll do another comparo-test.

Thanks for the excellent suggestion!

[Rocket]

Hi,

What components are in the rest of your system?

Regards

Rod

[PostMDMA]

I only have three components:

* Rotel RX-1052
* 2 x Magneplanar MMGs
* iMod 60 GB

Well, four if you count the 5G iPod 60 GB, which I won't be listening to much any more. In fact, I'll be selling it shortly.

The Rotel was the best int amp I could get for $1K. 140 W/ch @ 4 ohms, which the MMGs require. Built for excellent midrange and bass control at high dBs, given an arbitrary input source.

The MMGs were the best speakers I could find under $1k. $1.2K buys the Maggie 1.2s, but for $550/pair, the MMGs are spectacular to listen to and perform well compared to the 1.2s, which have better bass resolution at lower frequencies up on the MMGs. Both the MMGs and the 1.2s are quasiribbon electrostatics, which I have found to deliver the best sound repro of any type of speaker, even $4000/pair dynamic speakers.

I'm about to buy a Paradigm (Paradyme?) sub to compensate for the lack of extremely low-end bass repro of the MMGs ( < 20 Hz it kind of falls off ) but I can live without it for the next month or so.

The salescritter/friend at the hi-fi shop knows his components well, and steers me toward the best components in my price range. That's how I ended up with the Rotel and not an NAD int amp. I checked it out online, and sure enough, he was right. He has my absolute trust.

Now that I've got my cable prob. sorted out, the iMod is a complete substitute for a CD player and I will not be buying the Rotel RCD.

Vinnie, your product finally came to life for me with better cables and I am grateful for the suggestion.

[fajimr]

Posting an inaccurate report and looking like an idiot is what I get for having a weak link in my system. Now I'm getting what everyone else is talking about--excellent sound reproduction across the spectrum, no muffling of anything, lots of sparkle.

au contraire mon ami 

actually your report highlighted an important consideration for the rest of us when deciding which route to take... thanks for staying the path and providing us with your insights.

enjoy your new(ly rediscovered) IMOD!!! 

jim

[Vinnie R.]

Vinnie, your product finally came to life for me with better cables and I am grateful for the suggestion.

Hi PostMDMA,

Thanks for having an open mind and giving this a try!

I'm glad that you are hearing the iMod the way it should be heard. 

Enjoy,

Vinnie

[PostMDMA]

I spent about eight hours listening to the iMod with the correct cabling, so I thought I would briefly post what I am hearing now.

* general warmness throughout the spectrum
* lots of sparkle
* excellent transitions from high notes to midrange
* midrange and bass not as muddled as before
* vocals sound warmer but still clear and resolved
* the piano in the beethoven concertos i have sounds more rich and the orchestral accompaniment sounds more powerful--a much more emotional experience than before
* layers in delerium's "nuages du monde," a highly textured electronic album with female vocalists, come across clear and well-resolved--nice to hear the iMod do electronic music with compressed mastering well
* high-end dramatic notes on delerium's "the way you want it to be" sound punchy and resonant

keep in mind that i don't have a CD player to test against, so i can't compare with CD playback. but it sounds good enough that i don't see an immediate need for a CD player, especially since i am iTunes-dependent and like the convenience of having all my music available through the click wheel. that means i can save my money for that sub--i just sold my 5g to some kid and will bank the money. i have a shuffle that sounds about as good for the road, so now i won't have to carry around a heavy 5g in my pocket anymore.

one thing to keep in mind: the mods void the apple warranty. my ipod is starting to clip off tracks in playlists and if it still had a warranty i would send it back. i would stay away from apple refurbished units and see if you can find a new one to mod, even if it costs a couple hundred more.

[PostMDMA]

Vinnie, do you modify the Apple firmware at all? I noticed that Rockbox has much more of a digital sound than the stock firmware. I dual-boot between the two and can't hear the effects of the mods as much with Rockbox.

[Vinnie R.]

Vinnie, do you modify the Apple firmware at all? I noticed that Rockbox has much more of a digital sound than the stock firmware. I dual-boot between the two and can't hear the effects of the mods as much with Rockbox.

Hi PostMDMA,

I do not touch the firmware.... the iMod is only a hardware change. 

I've read a lot of comments (especially on headfi) from iMod customers who prefer Rockbox to the Apple software. 

The iMod will not work differently with Rockbox vs. Apple software in terms of compatibility. 

Best regards,

Vinnie

[PostMDMA]

I too like the sound of the Rockbox firmware better. It sounds more "CD player"-ish to me with every track I've thrown at it. Rockbox's UI sucks, but I'm willing to live with it to get back that CD player sound. That sound is more what I expected from the iMod and I am going to stick with the Rockbox daily builds until they get the UI right.

[Rocket]

Hi,

A better quality amplifier should result in more improvements in your system.  Do you live in the US?  If so check out audiogon as there are many good quality amplifiers for sale.

Regards

Rod