I have an iPod classic, but when i bought it a few years ago I just used all the default settings in iTunes and on the device – to be honest I’m not that happy with the sound quality, especially when compared to other people’s iPods on the same dock. I am considering reloading my cd’s from scratch, but I would like to make sure I get the best from my Mac / iTunes, and iPod. What settings are optimal please ?

what speakers are you using?

I have a Klipsich dock, but I will be using it through a (small) PA in a couple of weeks for a party. It sounds a bit muddy and compressed at the moment. I have a decent Cyrus / Dynaudio setup in the living room and I’m not expecting it to match that, but it could be better than it is I’m sure.

Do you know what bitrate you copied your CD’s at?

AAC Encoder, iTunes plus settings on iTunes, not sure on the iPod hence the question 😳

I can reccomend these:

http://uk.harmankardon.com/harman-kardon-product-detail-uk/soundsticks-iii.html

I generally leave the iPod settings to the regular eq

They punch well above their weight!

That’s not giving us much of a clue, I’m afraid. AAC is fine, it’s MP4, in fact; it’s the bitrate that’s important. If you left it at the default then it’s at the basic 128Kb.
What you need to do is go into iTunes > Preferences > Import Settings > Custom then set it to the highest, 320Kb,
and next to it, (this is in the panel ‘When you insert a CD’), select Import CD and Eject. That will speed things up, and ticking for auto track name and artwork is worth doing too.

If you want to make sure you never have to rip the discs again – Apple Lossless will maintain the full CD quality. It’ll take up a lot of space compared to mp4/aac. Since you’ve got an iPod classic, you should have plenty of space on that too.

Otherwise, as folk say above…

Oh, regarding the iPod, if you have your music ripped at the highest bitrate, then tracks should be almost indistinguishable from the originals, in which case you should switch off EQ on the ‘pod. Quality headphone manufacturers recommend no EQ, and I would endorse that, using Shure SE215 and UE TripleFi 10 Pro ‘phones I’ve tried various EQ settings, and I can promise you, they add nothing whatsoever to the music. Different ‘phones make a bigger difference; Klipsch ‘phones sound horrible to me, hollow and thin sounding in the midrange, which EQ just couldn’t alter.
EQ won’t make any difference when using a dock anyway.
One thing you really do notice is clear differences in the way different albums were/are mastered, and again, EQ can’t alter that, it’s an intrinsic part of the recording, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.