[dermott]

I wanted to know if you can connect an iPod directly to the Aria with just the standard USB cord that comes with the iPod. That would be a digital connection that would be decoded by the Aria right? I have a 4th gen 60 GB iPod and some of the songs I have on there are Apple Lossless. If you can connect the iPod this way to the Aria, how does it sound? Can you tell the difference between 128 vs. lossless? I have Senn 595's and Grado 60's currently and no amp. Will this sound significantly better than running the Senns directly from the iPod (mine are the 50 ohm model)?

 

[blessingx]

No. You can use the Aria with the iPod though the dock connector (audio) or the headphone jack, but not USB.

 

[dermott]

Got it. OK, if one is using the mini plug on a 4th Gen iPod to the RCA connectors on the Aria....how does it sound? For lower impedance cans like Grados and Senn 595 50 ohms, would an external amp (any amp, but also the Aria in particular) throw out noticeably better sound?

 

[kwkarth]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dermott Got it. OK, if one is using the mini plug on a 4th Gen iPod to the RCA connectors on the Aria....how does it sound? For lower impedance cans like Grados and Senn 595 50 ohms, would an external amp (any amp, but also the Aria in particular) throw out noticeably better sound?

Better than iPod amp, but not nearly as good as it would sound if you could get at the digital bitstream and feed it to an external DAC.