Are digital iPod docks worth checking out?

[dave2010]

I have an iPod classic, which I hardly ever use. However, it does hold quite a lot of CDs. I can play it through my amp and speakers via an analogue cable, but I read somewhere that it's better to use a digital dock, which apparently avoids the iPod circuitry altogether.

Has anyone tried this? Is it worth the bother anyway? For example - http://www.superfi.co.uk/index.cfm/p...roduct_ID/5625 There is another maker besides Onkyo I think, but I can't remember what it is.

[Themis]

Digital docks are, indeed, better.

There are three main ones: the Onkyo, the Wadia (i170 and i171) and the Denon (ASD-51N and ASD-51W).

Before getting into digital docks, may I ask if you have tried a dock cable ? (like this : http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/iPhone-iPod-Li...item414dcec5bb, there are cheaper ones)

[dave2010]

Dmitri

Thanks for your response.

No, I've not tried a cable like that one. I have a couple of options right now. 1. Take the earphone output and use my 3.5mm jack to phono connector as input to my amp. I think I may also have a 3.5mm to 3.5mm cable which can go through an analogue switch which I use if I'm not over concerned about quality - and often it's good enough - http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=32114 - you may laugh, but it's not bad! [I keep it under or beside the TV bench.]

2. Take the output from my Sony Blu Ray - which is one of the ones with an iPod dock on a flying lead, and feed that through the amp. I don't know if that'd be a good option, as I'm not totally convinced about the overall quality of the Blu Ray unit - BDV-E300 - it' peps up video and is superficially impressive on surrround audio, such as DVD-A discs - which it can't play, but I feed the unit from a Toshiba EP30 HD DVD unit.

I'd certainly consider a digital dock if there'd be a significant and hopefully obvious improvement in sound overall. Otherwise I could just use various cables - possibly the one you suggest - or other routes, and save the money.

[Themis]

Well, if you use the earphone out, then, I would advice to consider buying a dock cable like this http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Line-Out-RCA-x...item5d277951fa before considering getting a digital dock.
The dac inside the iPod is not that bad.

[dave2010]

Dimitri

Thanks. I'll start checking these out. Those cables don't look expensive - but I'll try what I've got first.

[Mark Grant]

Certainly worth trying a lineout adapter rather than using the headphone output.

This one is a dock to 3.5mm adapter to give you an idea:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/IPOD-LINE-OUT-....l1262&afsrc=1


Another dock to 3.5mm adapter:

http://www.hifiheadphones.co.uk/ibas...odid-1201.html

There are places that sell the dock connector so you can make your own high quality cable rather than using with a 3.5mm cable.

the pinouts are here:
http://pinouts.ru/PortableDevices/ipod_pinout.shtml

google search for ipod lod finds many cables etc:
http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en...=&oq=&gs_rfai=


Not sure where to buy the connectors though, I cant find where I bought mine.

-

[break-3]

This adaptor might help if you're already using a 3.5mm-RCA. It's just a dock connector with a 3.5mm socket:
http://www.hifiheadphones.co.uk/ibas...odid-1201.html

[dave2010]

Looking at the spec of the Onkyo NDS1 dock, it also has a video out capability via composite video. Not sure what level of quality could be obtained with that. Possibly a shame it's not HDMI, though for smallish videos any quality loss might not be too significant. Even SCART often has an RGB option!

Having seen the quality of some of my camera videos on an iMac, I think it should be possible to get really high quality video - so hope that this dock doesn't compromise the video too much. Until recently I didn't even think about video on an iPod, but then a colleague showed me some videos he'd got on a portable device. At first I thought he'd compressed them down to a small screen size - but then I realised he hadn't. There is enough space to get 30-40 or so full quality SD videos on a 160 Gbyte iPod, without having to reduce the screen size. That's not optimum for playback on an iPod, but if it can cope anyway, so what! It seemed to work. I don't know if it's feasible to do HD videos - but heck, give the gadget a break. It is only a few inches across, and there must be some constraints on the processing. Whether it's useful to carry a video library round on an iPod I can't really say, but it does seem feasible.

I've now tried the connection through my Blu Ray surround system, and it works, but I've not seriously assessed the quality that way. I suspect it'll be OK rather than very good, but might be good enough for casual listening.

[twelvebears]

I have an iPod classic, which I hardly ever use. However, it does hold quite a lot of CDs. I can play it through my amp and speakers via an analogue cable, but I read somewhere that it's better to use a digital dock, which apparently avoids the iPod circuitry altogether.

Has anyone tried this? Is it worth the bother anyway? For example - http://www.superfi.co.uk/index.cfm/p...roduct_ID/5625 There is another maker besides Onkyo I think, but I can't remember what it is.

Hi Dave.

Topically enough, this whole subject was part of a demo that Electric Beach and I sat through at the recent Heathrow show.

Using the headhone out put will definately seriously limit the quality if used to connect to a line in. Apart from the volume pot, inbuilt headphone amps in iPods are quite limited, plus there are impedence matching issues.

Using any straight dock will be an improvement as you're accessing a fixed, line-level feed, but this still relys on the in-built DAC which are far from brillient and ANY budget DAC would be much better.

The problem is that rather than doing as they have on iMacs or MacBooks and making the 'phone socket a combined headhone/optical digital output, access to the direct digital stream WAS pretty much prevented until recently when some companies (who had presumably had to pay Apple) started producing docks which can access the digital stream and bypass the internal DAC.

I'd recommend the Onkyo dock myself as I have one and it's really good.

I've got it hooked into my system so that if a friend comes round with an iPod and want's me to listen to something we can listen to it through my system.

If the music is on the iPod as Apple lossless, the results are pretty bloody good too.

[dave2010]

2. Take the output from my Sony Blu Ray - which is one of the ones with an iPod dock on a flying lead, and feed that through the amp. I don't know if that'd be a good option, as I'm not totally convinced about the overall quality of the Blu Ray unit - BDV-E300 - it' peps up video and is superficially impressive on surrround audio, such as DVD-A discs

Now I'm even wondering if this Blu Ray surround sound system even has any outputs. What I thought were analogue outputs may well be inputs. There seem to be inputs for optical Toslink, and SPDIF coaxial, and some phono sockets labelled Audio and TV - but these could also be inputs. I naively thought that there would be outputs, even if only analogue. It's increasingly looking as though the only outputs are for the speakers and the HDMI connection for the TV. The iPod sounds OK through the system - not unpleasant - but not ultra special. Might be worth substituting the supplied speakers for something with a bit more quality and seeing what happens.