I'm sorry to tell you that the Ipod does sound crappy. I had a gen3 and it had the same problem (that was presence since gen2). I tried really hard to find a way to fix it, but there was no real fix. They did came out with some new firmwares that suppose to help the problem a bit, but it didn't help much at all.
I tried to warn many people that ipod sound quality sucks after I bought mine, but I guess most people take the cool factor over the sound quality and ignored my warnings.
I also have seen many misleading statements concerning sound quality of the ipod from various sources (including CNET).
Just got the iPod 20 gig unit, and it really doesn't sound good to me. The sound is tinny, weak, distant, and when I try to boost bass with the "Bass Booster" or "R & B" EQ settings, the bass sound just gets distorted.
I've tried two different pairs of headphones: the included iPod earbuds and some Sony earbuds that I've been using with my Sony Walkman. The Sony earbuds sound better, but the sound is about twice as better on my Sony disc-player using the same Sony headphones than they are with the iPod. The same headphones that are rich, full, bass-y with the Walkman, playing the same mp3s burned onto cd that I put in the iPod, sound weak with on the iPod.
I've thought of some possibilities: One, that the iPod outputs more power than my Sony cd-player, and this overpowers the somewhat cheap headphones I have when I crank up the bass a little. Two, that iPods quite simply sound bad.
Can anyone let me know if it could be one of those possibities? I'm considering returning the iPod for an iRiver H320 because it seems to actually get reviewed well for sound. Any other mp3 players with nice, rich bass?

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