HiFi Blog: digital audio goodness

Getting your iPod to work on the Xbox 360 seems like a trivial case. Good. Now, if only we had an Xbox 360 to actually work on. [via]

Mac users, another guide to convert your DVDs to an iPod-compatible format: also have a look at our wrap-up of guides for converting video to iPod.

Fix for sluggish 5G iPod interface: reports say this is a hit-or-miss solution, but it doesn’t hurt trying. Album art optimization seems to be the culprit for the sluggishness. Connect the iPod to your computer, turn off the “Album Art” option (in “Preferences”), disconnect. Reconnect, turn on the option, wait for iTunes to do the [...]

The rating sounds right; “A-” for first-time iPod buyers, “B+” for current owners and power users. The “Audio Quality” section is where it’s at: hard drive stastic—fixed, bass deficiency—slightly improved, piano distortion—fixed. iLounge’s and Ars Technica [via] are the only iPod Video reviews you’ll want to read. Also: our presentation on the iPod with video.

Also2: [...]

Gotta love the title.

Apparently you can match a NEC MultiSpin 6Xe (_e_ stands for “external”) CD-Rom drive with a nice digital-to-audio converter (or DAC, for short) and with the help of Canare Digi-flex Gold Digital cable have a killer combo that rivals CD players in the $3K area.

NEC’s drive, which we choose because it has [...]

Fixing the iPod’s ‘0 Songs’ problem: has happened to me too, after using EphPod. It seems the problem lives on the iPod_ControliTunes directory. Rename iTunesDB to iTunesDB.bak and iTunesDB.old to iTunesDB, disconnect your iPod from the computer, enjoy.

What’s the use for an amp? It can drive inefficient headphones to loud volumes, something that today’s portable sources aren’t too good at (and justifiably so, since they’re focused on longer battery life).

This guide helps you build an amp similar (there are three differences) to Chu Moy’s popular and small headphone amplifier. You don’t need [...]

Review: Cambridge Audio Azur 340A integrated amplifier (goes for a mere—in audiophile’s terms—$250, yet earns glowing review; “When you buy forty watts, you should know what you’re not getting. The thing is, the forty watts that the 340A does deliver are of excellent, in fact audiophile quality, and more than enough for most real-world listening.”; [...]

Up until now, if you were a true audiophile chances are that you relied on your iPod dock’s line-out to get that clean audio signal. If you’re picky though, you know that there’s still some loss of quality due to the path the audio signal has to follow. The Red Wine Audio guys worked up [...]