(Reply to Will Harris)
"I'm only really interested in the sound quality anyway. What else
matters after all? Hardly going to use a black and white, 4th gen for
anything other than music. Still think apple should release a high end
iPod for hi-fi lovers."
Me too and look what I
just found: imod for the ipod !
"iMod for 4th Generation iPods (monochrome
and color displays)
We
take the analog output (line out) signal off of the Wolfson
DAC chip and send it directly to the internal 1/8" headphone
jack (converting it into a dedicated line-out jack) via
high-end Black Gate Non-Polarized NX-Hi-Q coupling capacitors.
This completely bypasses all the components listed above
that degrade the sound quality of the Wolfson DAC's line-output.
NOTES regarding the 4th Generation
iMod
The Red Wine Audio 4th Gen iMod converts
the 1/8" headphone jack into a dedicated line-out jack (constant
voltage output direct from the dac chip...no volume control),
so the headphone output is disabled. The iMod is intended
to be connected to either a high quality headphone amp w/
volume control or home stereo system, NOT directly to headphones
(unless they have a built-in volume attenuator in the headphone
cable).
While the stock audio line-out signal
from the dock connector is also disabled, all other dock
connector functionality remains in its stock form."(link: http://www.redwineaudio.com/iMod.html)
Crazy, hey!? (--->There are some interesting posts about this upgrade on head-fi.)
Still no remote control, though...