New Ipod "classic" vs. 5.5G

[BrianH]

Not sure if this is the right place to put this but, my last gen ipod 80Gig got stolen and now I want a new one. Does anyone here have a new "Classic" version?

I hear thay are kind of sluggish compared to the previous gen.
And also that they don't come with the nice slip case.

Anyone?

[E-Rock]

I don't own a Classic (yet), but here is a good summary by Vinnie Rossi (designer of Red Wine Audio's highly-regarded iMod):

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=259258

[thegage]

I bought a Classic last week, a 160 gig version since my 30 gig 5.5g was filled up.

My 5.5 didn't come with a slip case, nor did the Classic. The Classic seems no different than the 5.5 in terms of access, or at least not so different that I notice access times. If anything it sems to respond faster to click-wheel inputs.

In terms of sound, I listen almost exclusively through the line out, using an ALO dock into a HeadRoom Total AirHead. The Classic is noticeably clearer than the 5.5. No hiss, more detail. I haven't done a thorough side-by-side comparison, but no disappointments so far.

John K.

[gordolindsay]

I bought a Classic last week, a 160 gig version since my 30 gig 5.5g was filled up.

My 5.5 didn't come with a slip case, nor did the Classic. The Classic seems no different than the 5.5 in terms of access, or at least not so different that I notice access times. If anything it sems to respond faster to click-wheel inputs.

In terms of sound, I listen almost exclusively through the line out, using an ALO dock into a HeadRoom Total AirHead. The Classic is noticeably clearer than the 5.5. No hiss, more detail. I haven't done a thorough side-by-side comparison, but no disappointments so far.

John K.

The part I bolded in your post is good news. I went to the apple store a little while ago to check the new ones out. When I was (trying to) scroll through menu's and such, it was very laggy and slooow. I don't know if they just had too much crap on it or what, but it made me not want it. It's good news to hear someone have a different experience.

[woody]

i think there was a software update a month or two ago that corrected the lagging click wheel problem.

[thegage]

i think there was a software update a month or two ago that corrected the lagging click wheel problem.
Perhaps--when I first connected my new Classic, iTunes told me a software update was available, 1.01 I think, so I installed it. It surprised me that something so new didn't have the latest software on it.

John K.

[Metralla]

In terms of sound, I listen almost exclusively through the line out, using an ALO dock into a HeadRoom Total AirHead.



As do I. Gen 4.



The Classic is noticeably clearer than the 5.5. No hiss, more detail. I haven't done a thorough side-by-side comparison, but no disappointments so far.
Vey good info. Thanks.

[BrianH]

Hm. I'm debating whether to get a 5.5G or to get a classic 80 gig.

I want the slip case and I dont want the sluggishnish, but if it's eliminated by an update, that's another story.

Does the classic come with a slipcase or not? Where can I buy one if it doesn't? My 5.5G came with one.

So the classic is basically the same but it sounds better?

[thegage]

Hm. I'm debating whether to get a 5.5G or to get a classic 80 gig.

I want the slip case and I dont want the sluggishnish, but if it's eliminated by an update, that's another story.

Does the classic come with a slipcase or not? Where can I buy one if it doesn't? My 5.5G came with one.

So the classic is basically the same but it sounds better?
As I noted, no slipcase with my Classic. Since I didn't get a slipcase with my 30 gig 5.5 I wasn't disappointed.

I think Apple has slipcases on their website.

I think the Classic sounds better (headphones are Shure E530s, without the PTH in-line), but YMMV!

John K.

[Tone]

Excuse my ignorance. I don't own an iPod or know much about them.

Can you only play songs purchased from Apple, or can you load your own?

[jstraw]

Excuse my ignorance. I don't own an iPod or know much about them.

Can you only play songs purchased from Apple, or can you load your own?


You can load your own. I've never purchased a song from Apple.

[woody]

http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/showthread.php?t=126045&highlight=ipod+classic

i can't vouch for any of this and as you can, read people dispute his findings, but here it is anyways.

[Metralla]

You can load your own. I've never purchased a song from Apple.
Neither have I - plenty of CDs here, so I've not been interested.

[jstraw]

Does the classic support lossless file formats?

[jstraw]

It supports WAV and AIFF (as well as Apple Lossless). It does not support FLAC.

Thanks, my 60g 4G is good enough till it supports FLAC.

[head_unit]

We test these at work, and haven't noticed an issue with sluggishness. Then again, I think the 160GB "only" has a few tens of gigs on it so far. If you load up 160GB of 128k squished music, well, it's a lot to sort through.

If there is a common complaint about "sluggishness" I would expect it fixed via firmware update.

Get the 160GB instead of 80GB. More room is always good.

As for the lossless questions, no FLAC ever I think. But I just rip Apple Lossless, who cares. If I need to transcode, iTunes has that built-in, just Import As and away you go.

[gordolindsay]

i think there was a software update a month or two ago that corrected the lagging click wheel problem.

We test these at work, and haven't noticed an issue with sluggishness. Then again, I think the 160GB "only" has a few tens of gigs on it so far. If you load up 160GB of 128k squished music, well, it's a lot to sort through.

If there is a common complaint about "sluggishness" I would expect it fixed via firmware update.

Get the 160GB instead of 80GB. More room is always good.

As for the lossless questions, no FLAC ever I think. But I just rip Apple Lossless, who cares. If I need to transcode, iTunes has that built-in, just Import As and away you go.



Cool! Thanks for the info. :righton:

[BrianH]

The 160 gig is what $350?

I've got my eye on a couple 80 gig 5.5G players at ebay.
Basically a copy of what I used to own, I've been a little reluctant to drop the $250 on the classic based on the issues I've been reading about.
But maybe it is all fine and fixed with that f/w update.
I get what you're saying too about bigger space faster access.
Most of the songs I have are in wav format. They are huge files.
I dont have many 128k files.

[mermaidautopsy]

Why the heck is anyone using WAV or AIFF when it supports Apple Lossless?

[cooper16]

One cool feature of the new classic iPod is that it supports coverflow. If you're an artwork junkie like me, it's pretty cool to be able to flip through your album covers right on the iPod.

[woody]

Why the heck is anyone using WAV or AIFF when it supports Apple Lossless?

because people may want to have cross platform compatibility with other devices that don't support apple lossless.

[BrianH]

because people may want to have cross platform compatibility with other devices that don't support apple lossless.

Bingo.


I've heard that when you turn off album artwork, the ipod speeds up.
99% of my songs aren't from iTunes and I dont really care about the artwork.

I just like how on the 5.5 version you had the blank white screen and the title.
That's all I need.

[Lazlo Nibble]

i think there was a software update a month or two ago that corrected the lagging click wheel problem.
I sure hope so. I played with a Nano and a Classic at Fry's last weekend and both were noticably laggy with no media loaded onto them whatsoever. Bleh!

[BrianH]

Well I found a 5.5G player which is exactly what I used to have, which I loved so I got another one.
No classic for me.