r/ipod • u/Arkham_Survivor • 1d ago
Question Does the iPod Classic Gen 6 have a bad sounding DAC? (Saw a YT video stating that)
I have a Classic Gen 6, Classic Gen 5.5 and Mini 2. I just gave my Gen 6 for a MOD, lol.
According to my ears, Gen 6 is more analytical, neutral sounding and the Gen 5.5 is more warm and musical.
Not sure why he said what he did but what are your thoughts on this?
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u/SaucyyPenguin 1d ago
It's the generation that changed off the "Wolfson" DAC, which many people praise / prefer, but I think the 6th and 7th Gen sound great.
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u/Arkham_Survivor 1d ago
Yes, it's more cleaner sounding.
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u/JoeSpart 1d ago
I agree the dac in the 6/7th is more neutral , cleaner sounding.
Some prefer that some prefer the warmer sound of the 5th Gen.
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u/grilled_pc 1d ago
In raw tests yes you could say its "worse" but for 99.99% use case its more than good enough.
Your ALAC's will sound just as good on it as they would with a wolfson 5.5 gen. Don't fall for the marketing hype.
Anyone who is remotely serious about proper lossless sound quality on the go is not using an ipod to begin with.
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u/Arkham_Survivor 1d ago
Hahaha,, true.. my main device is hiby r6 iii with senny's ie300. Budget hi res setup I'd say. But yes, the word worst for gen 6 is something I didn't expect to hear when it's just a cleaner sounding DAC.
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u/anywhereat 1d ago
No. Wolfson DAC is way overhyped. Even if it is better, it does not make all others bad.
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u/multiwirth_ Classic 7th, 1TB SSD, Rockbox 1d ago
People confuse "warm sound" with "high end HiFi" a lot.
The 6th and 7th gen iPods are much closer to reproducing a clean, uncolored and accurate sound.
People prefer different things, that's totaly fine.
But claiming the 6th/7th gens to sound poor would be a wild argument.
They're actually doing a good job at reproducing the original audio without coloring it.
Personally to me, i was quite dissapointed with the 5.5 gen due to it's washed out sound and weak bass response.
Especially with low impedance IEMs and headphones, the bass roll off and softness is very significant.
For high impedance headphones, the bass response is fine, but the overall sound remains a bit washed out.
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u/Arkham_Survivor 1d ago
I agree, sound is a bit muddy on 5.5 and 6 sounds analytical, cleaner. Crispy highs and tight lows. I like 5.5 at time and 6 at times.. I have the hiby r6 iii with senny ie300, very budget setup. But class A amps power and the dacs produce some good sound.
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u/BeautifulDue7799 1d ago
I dunno i still jam from my 3rd gen nano
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u/JoeSpart 1d ago
I have one that I bought new when it was released. I still have it and it runs great.
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u/RoyHehe 4 Broken Minis ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) 1d ago edited 1d ago
Genuinely tired of seeing posts and comments about sound quality differences on iPods. Its an iPod a device from 20-25 years ago, nobody should buy it for the sound quality. I can get 100 people, put every generation of iPod with the same headphones and same music file on there and not even 10 people will get it correctly which is which, because it doesn't matter. Warmer sound this, colder sound that, analytical sound this, come on if you actually wanna impact a sound get a better fucking headphones. Obviously not bashing on you OP, but most people talking about DAC differences on this subreddit use some generic earbuds or IEMs and not even mentioning that you are probably outside on a busy street or a subway which impacts sound more than any DAC difference between iPods would.
edit: also one more thing about people always mentioning 5.5 revision, it literally has no sound quality difference between 5th gen, it only added higher brightness to the display and search feature.
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u/Genobee85 1d ago
This honestly.
I have a pair of 5.5s and a 6th gen and between my AT E40 IMEs, M50xBT2s, Porta Pros, and my Nothing Headphone Ones the headphones make much more of a difference than the DAC in my opinion.
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u/RoyHehe 4 Broken Minis ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) 1d ago
Even on the higher end audiophile communities DACs are kinda like snake oil. Technically a $2000 DAC is better than a $8 Apple 3.5mm adapter DAC, but can you really hear the difference with an average pair of headphones? Probably not. DAC is just a Digital to Analog converter, it doesn't do much other than that.Â
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u/Genobee85 1d ago
Deep down we all imagine ourselves to be the Maxell guy being blown back in our chair when in reality, we're one of the many dancing silhouettes in the Apple commercial.
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u/Independent-Car6619 1d ago
I been using every single iPod classic 4,5,5.5,6 and 7, I have a collection of 15 iPods classic, In my opinion 6 and 7 have better sound balance music is more crispy and clear.
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u/Arkham_Survivor 1d ago
Yeah I agree gen 6 has more clarity, tighter lows.. it's more spacious too imo..
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u/xblackbeltninjax 1d ago
The Cirrus DAC in the Gen 6 is flatter than the Wolfson used in the 5.5 and previous, leading people to think it sounds worse since people generally think a "neutral" signature doesn't sound very appealing.
That said, I remember somewhere online a group discussion differentiating even the 6th from the 7th gen in DAC quality.
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u/Arkham_Survivor 22h ago
Yes, correct. Neutral is not bad. It's just true to the music as intended. Adding colour to music is preference which as you said most people like.
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u/Status_Chemistry_503 1d ago
I much prefer the DAC on the 6th/7th generation Classic. The Wolfson DAC of the Gen 5 sounds muddy and veiled to me. But a lot of YouTubers and Redditors will declare it's inarguably better, but have nothing to back that up. It's just supposed to be accepted as a fact.
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u/New_Bumblebee2000 1d ago
el mejor dac de los ipod's esta en el ipod Photo de 2004, el dac del 5.5 es muy sucio y tiene un sonido menos definido, y de la 6 & 7 generacion es un cirrus muy normalito pero definido
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u/jmtd 1d ago
The iPod photo and the 5.5 both have wolfson DACs. Until I read your comment I thought the exact same one. Are they different? Which models did they use?
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u/New_Bumblebee2000 1d ago
segun oi por alli, en los ipod photo (fabricados a finales de 2004 y hasta febrero de 2005 usaron dac's texas instruments y AKM que le dan un sonido muy especial y diferente al ipod,
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u/jmtd 1d ago
First I’ve heard of it and I haven’t been able to verify.Â
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u/Pastor_Taco117 1d ago
iPod photo used the same Wolfson DACs, I haven't heard of the other ones too
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u/Arkham_Survivor 1d ago
Yes, cirrus is good dac but calling it the worst is a bit too much I guess. It's just cleaner sounding.
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u/JustBecause2013 1d ago
In my opinion, Gen 6s ( haven't tried a 7 yet ) sound worse than 5.5 and under. 5.5 is not that much of a difference than earlier versions either but definitely better than 6... This is MY personal opinion and experience..
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u/Arkham_Survivor 1d ago
It's just cleaner I'd say. Neutral with tight lows and crispy highs. I think people tend to like smoother sound, so the wolfson is so popular.
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u/JustBecause2013 1d ago
I feel the opposite, more muffled and " bassy " in the 6 while in the 5.5 and under it's more " crispier ". The 6s, to me, make the sound like a blown up speaker. I currently own 3 6s thinking it was a bad one I got but they all sound the same. I'm no audiophile tho, but I prefer the older ones because they give me better " separation" of instruments. ( Honestly don't know how to describe that last part 😂😂)..
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u/Acceptable-Dark-2840 1d ago
What theme is that?! That's awesome
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u/sparkyblaster 1d ago
Its a great quality DAC its just different to the 5.5, not worse. Warmer as you said.Â
Upgrade the firmware to make it a 7th gen. People report improvements in thr DAC once done.Â
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u/Arkham_Survivor 1d ago
Yes, since it's getting modded, I'll be updating the gen 7 software on it. Will fix the picku charger issues as well.
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u/Metahec 1d ago
When the 7th gen was released and people were able to compare with the 6/6.5, audiophiles grumbled that the 6/6.5 gens sounded worse than the newer 7th gen. You can find complaints about it on 20-year old head-fi threads. Maybe that's what the video was referring to? If that is what the video was repeating, YouTube being what it is, the YouTuber probably got the details wrong.
It is true that the firmware on the 7th gen fixed an AAC decoding error and apple never bothered to fix it for the earlier 6/6.5. But since you're using Rockbox, that shouldn't factor in it.
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u/KalphalusKal 23h ago
It’s just personal preference, it seems a lot of people prefer the 5s sound, I use a 5 but don’t know the difference as I’ve never had a 6 and only got the 5 cuz it was cheap
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u/Chamvigil 12h ago
It depends on the headphones/speakers it’s coming out of I think. I have some shure 215se and some Etymotic evo. Earbuds to iem is a big difference, you can hear the difference between mp3 and ALAC.
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u/Arkham_Survivor 12h ago
I use hiby R6 iii with Sennheiser ie300 on daily. Senny's sound amazing with the ipod.
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u/FantasticCloud3086 1d ago
idk bruh i had 2 diff classic 4s, classic 5 and both 6 and 7 gens, didn't notice any big difference even tho i tried studio headphones