Serious question about that clunky old iPod Classic I still use

My buddy at the leasing office swore his 2007 iPod Classic with a dead hard drive sounded way better than my iPhone through the same $20 earbuds, and I argued with him for 15 minutes in the break room last Tuesday - do you think old MP3 players actually have better audio chips or is it just nostalgia talking?

2 comments

2 Comments

shane_nguyen2d ago

Wait, isn't this the same kinda thing where people swear old cars had better heaters or older TV remotes worked from across the house? lol. I've seen this pattern a ton in life - people mistake "different" for "better" because their brain connected the dots with a good memory from back then. Like my uncle still says his 90s cassette deck had warmer sound, but really it just had more hiss and he's remembering sitting in his beanbag chair after school. The iPod Classic had a Wolfson chip that technically measured cleaner on paper, but your iPhone's DAC is actually better at converting the digital file. The bigger difference is probably those old MP3s were louder and hit your ears differently, so they felt punchier with cheap earbuds. Trust your break room instincts, the old stuff is cool but not magic.

ben4022d ago

My 2003 iPod’s battery would last three hours now, but @shane_nguyen I still defend it like it’s a family member.