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iPod iPod Classic + Apple Lossless

B

Billy213

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 9, 2007
22
0
Basically I start an apprenticeship September first and owning about 100 CD's and only having an 8gb touch has become a real pain. I plan to get an 80gb Classic for audio, leaving my Touch for Wi-Fi and video use.

What is the battery life of the 80gb Classic whilst playing AAC lossless?
How many CD's can I expect to fit?
Will I get the pause in songs because of the iPod's buffer?

I'm only 16 but have become very aware of the way my music sounds. The whole idea of the lossless is that I invest in some decent headphones. I was looking at the Bose over-ear ones..

http://store.apple.com/uk/product/TK709VC/A?mco=MTIxODk3Mw

Any other recommendations for others that are around that price mark. I will be traveling a a lot as well as being away from home for prettty much the whole week so they have to be comfortable and transportable.. As well as sounding good of course. :p

Thanks in advanced.
 
AAC isn't lossless.... Unless you're talking of a different AAC then the encoder in iTunes?
 
You will get around 300 to 350 CD's or between 2000 and 2500 songs using Apple Lossless.

Battery life will be a little less because ironically it takes more DSP power to decode compressed lossless than 120 Kbps MP3s.

Bose is a great marketing compony but their products are poorly designed and WAY over priced for their performance. Bose is severely frowned upon by the Hi-Fi community (no highs no lows it must be Blowes). To give you an idea here is a site that gives an over the top but somewhat accurate view of Bose quality.

I use Ultimate Ears UE11 Pro's and they make a great range of IEMs (bought by Logitech today). There are other good brands also like Shure.
 
I knew Bose wernt going to offer me the highest quality nut the fact that I can try out the headphones in an apple store first is a big bonus. I really don't want to pay the money over the Internet if I recieve them and they're uncomfortable. My local apple shop offered about 4 headphones. 2 were Bose, 1 was Dre's Beats and a £50 pair of Sennheisers. What's the usable stock like in the bigger London stores like regent street? The earphones are the most important factor to me ATM.
 
With a hard-disk machine, your battery life will be significantly impacted by lossless use.

If the iPod is the only thing you squirt digital file-based audio through (or if your other alternative is a PC with a crap built-in sound, or a Mac which has equally crap sound despite statements to the contrary) then keep it to 256K AAC. Decent quality, manageable file size, battery life is retained. If on the other hand you have a good home system and use that as your main digital file listening source, then it is worth going lossless but with the above caveats.

I also use the Ultimate Ears UE-11 custom-fitted phones as well as the Shure SE530 generic in-ears, and for portable use I don't see the point of going lossless. The listening environment is too compromised in all sorts of ways to justify the relatively miniscule audio difference between a high-bitrate lossy rip and lossless.

If you're after headphones, try the Sennheiser HD25-1, which in the UK will be about the same price as the Bose Triport OE. You won't find it in any Apple shop but in a pro audio shop. It sounds a little 'closed off' but it's light, crisp-sounding and very durable as well as keeping out a lot of surrounding noise. Earphones, you could do worse than the Shure SE310, which you can find for less than the Apple Store if you shop around (AdvancedMP3 players.co.uk has them for £110).

I like the Bose around-ear headphone but more for the comfort than the sound, which is simply OK. They are a bit delicate though, but apart from that you get the 2-year warranty through the Apple Store you're covered for product failures. Although Bose may be bashed by the 'Hi-Fi community', there are many worse for the same money or more - and amusingly, some of these are recommended by the 'Hi-Fi community' probably because they have the right 'name' - which just goes to show what a bunch of hypocrites they can be as a collective.
 
I was just looking at the Ultimate Ears offerings on Amazon.co.uk and found these..

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ultimate-Ea...1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1218789453&sr=8-1

The Shure SE310's are also on Play.com for the same price. However, the Sennheisers do seem a bit too far out of my price range and tbh, thinking about it now, having to carry big 'phones about would really start to piss me off lol.

Those UE do look very good for the price and the reviews on Amazon are very good. I won't be getting anything until my first pay in around October time so I hope apple doesn't decide to update the Classic for some reason. :rolleyes:

Any others I should consider?
 
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I really wanted to like the Super.Fi as it has a better-balanced sound (down to the dual drivers) than the equivalently priced Shure - but the Shures fit so much better (and have better isolation), and the last thing you want to worry about when you're walking around is fiddling with stuff around your ears.

The problem is mainly down to the sticky-out body, the cable arrangement and above all the significantly larger size of the tube that goes in your lughole - the Shure's is a lot smaller, and therefore is accommodated in your ear much more comfortably. If you're looking for reliably-fitting dual-drivers, try the Shure SE420.
 
Difficult to beat play or amazon on price and delivery, I've found.
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:eek:
 
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