it really hi-fi? asks EdSelley
lunched in September, the 4th generation iPod Touch builds on Ihe facilities of ihe previous models,
but is still most easily explained as the screen, processor and basic design of ihe iPhone, without the
ability to make and receive phone calls .
The path of the original iPod (which is now referred to as ihe Classic) from curio to hi-fi accessory has
lieen a long one and the sheer numbers of docks available (some of which arc iPod transports able to
extract a digital signal directly from the itod) are turning it into a hand-held music server .
But do the extra features of the Touch make any difference in this context and do they affect the audio
performance on the move?
Mind-boggling
The features ihe Touch offers are impressive.
The unit tested here is a 32Gb (eight and 64Gb versions arc also available) 'multimedia platform', able
to replay audio and video.
While much of this content is still supplied via iTunes.
the Touch can also use built-in Wi-Fi support to find content over the internet, via YouTube and from
downloadable applications such as Spotify as well as directly from the iTunes store.
The options available from the Ap store beyond audio are mind boggling and allow you to use the
Touch as an SPI.
meter, remote control, journey planner or indeed a generic device for wasting hours of your life should
you go anywhere near the games section.
You could call the Touch an MP3 player with knobs on, except Apple spurn anything so low-tech as a
'knob'.
More functionality
The Touch is more expensive pound-to-gigabyte than the Classic, but does a great deal more and feels
beautifully put together.
This is not to say the Touch is economically perfect - the headphone socket is on the bottom of the
chassis which means that it is almost always upside down when you extract it from a pocket.
This matters because unlike more lowly ift)ds, the Touch has to be *lit-up' to skip tracks back or
forward which means turning it up the right way each time.
As has been the case for years, the supplied earphones are really only fit for the bin, but overall this is
a lot of product for the money.
Beefed-up
The good news is that once you havesubstituted the supplied earphones
for an aftermarket pair, the Touchmakes a convincing case for itself as
a personal audio device.
The iPhone
DETAILS PRODUCT: iPod Touch
ORIGIN:USA/China
TYPE:iPod
VVBGHT:101g
DIMENSIONS:(WxHxD) Illx58.9x7.2mm
FEATURES:
•8,32or64gb multimedia player
•960x640 full colour touchscreen
• Stereo headphone socket
•Built in Wi-Fi
•Customisableapplications
DISTRIBUTOR: Apple
TELEPHONE:08442090611
WEBSITE:apple.com/uk
4 benefited hugely from a beefed-up headphone section and the Touch seems to have shared in
this.
Using AAC lossless files, the sound is open and as the Touch feels like it will go subjectively louder
than the Classic, it feels much more relaxed and natural at ordinary listening levels.
There also is an excellent sense of positioning and space.
Moving through files at increasing compression, the Touch will stay perfectly listenable, with files
compressed down to about 160kbps AAC, although some of the sense of air and space starts to
diminish.
Connected to an ift)d transport and outputting audio over S/PDIF, the Touch sounds the same as any
other iPod.
This is not to say that there are no benefits.
"I"he big, full-colour display is a lovely thing to use and is much easier to read at a distance and the
Touch will successfully stream Spotify and other media over Wi-Fi via the dock output, which is a party
piece that the Classic cannot do and something that the iPhone often struggles with as the dock will
pick up cellular interference from the phone section.
Class of its own
The iPod Touch can be taken in two different ways.
If you are solely looking for a device to use in an iPod transport with personal listening as a secondary
concern, it costs more and has less capacity than the iPod Classic.
It also sounds the same over S/PDIF once docked (as would be expected).
If you spend much time listening over earphones, the Touch starts to make a case for itself even before
the enormous functionality is taken into account.
It is a more assured performer than the Classic and is worth the extra outlay.
Once you start to make use of the extra features, the Touch is really in a class of its own.
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