Foreword
Amongst the modding audiophile community there is a small band of people who are after the best possible sound from their portable audio players. The concept is simple, bypass all the poor quality SMD components and feed the DAC (Digital to Analog Convertor) output directly in to an external high quality headphone amp.
While the concept is simple, execution is another matter – The player needs to be opened up and the DAC output needs to be wired to the nearest conveniant output connector, most people opting to use redundent pins on the docking ports. Due to the presence of DC voltage on the output of the DAC this neccesitates the need for capacitors in-line. To maintain the quality that you are trying to achieve this means using bulky audio grade capacitors which would never fit inside the player, hencing leading to special docking connector, etc, etc, etc.
I stumbled on one such thread where a gentleman by the name of Eric Guerizec from France had combined using my iFlash adaptor with his pursuit of audio fidelity. The quality of his workmanship was so good I invited him to write an article about it.
Here is his story……
Introduction
After spending many days looking for my mp3 player, I decided to buy the 30Gb 5.5g iPod but I did not want to use their propriety ITunes. I bought the iPod because I discovered Rockbox (www.rockbox.org), the free software replacement for iPod, Iriver and other mp3 players. The first thing I did when I received my iPod was to install Rockbox. Using Rockbox is fun.
I can manually transfer songs without any additional software. Some of the Rockbox features are great: FLAC Support, equalizer, cross fader, user-definable interface, and gapless playback. But there are so many things we can do with the iPod 🙂
I wanted very much to replace the hard disk with a memory card. The fall in prices of Compact Flash cards was the opportunity to have a nice mp3 flash player with 32 Gb of memory. I used Tarkan’s adapter to perform this first hack : the famous iFlash adapter. I was not disappointed! The build quality is excellent and this adapter fits perfectly into the iPod. I bought a 32Gb CF card on eBay and it works great with the iFlash adapter.
Installing the iFlash adapter and the CF card into the iPod is very easy. Be careful not to damage the iPod when opening it. The first time, I used a faulty iPod to have a try and I broke the LCD screen, oops! So the second time, I took one’s time to open my iPod successfully. This mod truly rocks : the user interface is smoother and there is no waiting normally caused by the hard drive.
I spent some serious time reading the Apple diyMod thread on the Head-Fi forum. Take a look at : http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f6/apple-diymod-my-take-famous-imod-56k-killer-featuring-3g-4g-5g-nano-1g-269604/. The author Joneeboi has done a very good and interesting job. The aim of the diyMod is to run the audio out from the Wolfson DAC and bypass the “poor” onboard components.
Usually, most of the head-fi’ers use a special cable with a pair of 47uF Black Gate capacitors. The Black Gates have probably the best size to performance ratio. The disadvantage of this method is that there is not a good way of playing the iPod through the line-out without building a custom dock connector.
The iFlash adapter is the solution to performing the audiophile hardware hack with internal caps. When you replace the hard drive with the iFlash adapter, you have enough space to fit two capacitors. Only small capacitors can be used like Black Gate NX Hi-Q 6.3V 22uF or 47uF. The advantage is that you have a really portable diyMod iPod that can be used with a regular line out dock. The disadvantage is that obviously you couldn’t use better caps than the ones that fit internally.
If you want to do this mod, I recommend you to read carefully the first page of Joneeboi’s thread on Head-Fi.org. You will find all the information you need and links to excellent tutorials.
The Surgery
Performing this hack is not very difficult but I can’t tell you it’s easy. Of course, it depends on your soldering experience. You need a temperature controlled soldering iron with fine conical tip.
As I am not in the habit of soldering and desoldering tiny components (SMD), I used a broken iPod to have a try. It’s necessary to use a magnifying glass because the PCB pads are very small and delicate and it’s useful to make sure that there is no shorting to any neighbouring components.
After opening the 5g iPod, you need to separate the logic board from the front panel. I recommend you to keep the logic board and the metal framework together and it’s not necessary to remove the clickwheel. The first step is to desolder the coupling capacitors near the DAC, the inductors near the dock, and the capacitors that comes right after the dock inductor.
Next, you have to route the wires from the pads near the DAC to the pads near the dock. The goal is to route the audio signal from the DAC to the internal capacitors then to the dock connector. You need to use a very thin cable. I used 30 AWG single strand wire. Of course, be careful when soldering anything. You have to find the best path for your wires that do not prevent the closing of the front panel. Make sure that the wires are not too close to the clickwheel.
I used a little hole on the board to route the wires from the DAC. I was obliged to drill the back of the front panel just enough for the thickness of the wires.
There is a space near the clickwheel ribbon where the wires could be routed to the dock pads. I used adhesive to secure the wires down the specified path.
There is more wiring than the classic diyMod (with external caps) because the caps must be connected on the other side of the board. The two caps are inserted from side to side the ZIF conector, it was the only location that I could have enough space. The screenshots show you this arrangement.
Finally, close the iPod and enjoy the pure audio straight from the source!
Conclusion
Let’s be clear, this mod is not for everyone. But if you spend a lot of time listening to music through your headphone amp, the diyMod may be of interest to you.
Is it worth trying? Go on Head-Fi.org forum to read the discussion in the Apple diyMod thread and make your own opinion. If you use Tarkan’s adapter, I proved that internal caps (only Black Gate NX Hi-Q 6.3V 22uF or 47uF) was a possible option. This mod will also allow you to use your headphones through the headphone jack.
I love listening to my diyMod iFlash iPod. I use it with the fantastic Headamp Pico amp, this rig is ultra portable and it sounds very nice!
All images copyright Eric Guerizec – used with permission.
Postscript
I would like to thank Eric for putting the article together and producing a very high quality mod.
what difference does it make using 22uf and 47uf? which one is better?
Having an DC blocking capacitor in the audio line, forms a highpass filter with the input resistance of the device you are running.
So a very basic example using dc impedances etc.
If the amplifier you are feeding has an input DC impedance of 10K Ohm, then with the 22uF the highpass filter (-3dB point) will be ~0.7Hz, where as with the 47uF it would be ~0.3Hz. As you can see filter cutoff point is well below the audible range, and also far enough away that the phase-shifts that occur around the filter cutoff frequency will not impact the audio.
Hey Tarkan or anyone else with cap knowledge, what value would you recommend to do this mod with film capacitors as opposed to electrolytic capacitors. I tried searching for 22uF and 47uF film caps and it seems they don’t exist. From what I’m reading though it seems to be the superior choice for this particular mod.
@Tim – Poly Film caps would be technically better, but only a few companies make them in the 22uf or 33uf size and they are very expensive. Also at that capacity the physical size will be huge, so no way to fit them in the iPod.
I have sort of an odd question that I was curious if some of you might be able to help me with.
My idea behind doing this mod to my ipod was to be able to use the line out(with the full access to the wolfson dac) going into the aux port on my cd deck in my car which is hooked up to my car speakers and two 12′ subwoofers.
Is playing lossless files through the line out into my car deck(aux 3.55) like that going to increase the sound quality or is this mod mainly meant for going line out to 3.5mm jack that goes into a headphone amp combo for headphone listening?
Hi guys really looking forward to trying this mod when it arrives. I’ve got a grasp on it, but was wondering if there are any more detailed guides with pictures to show exactly what to de-solder/where to solder, what wires go where etc? Sorry as I’m a bit of a lamen but can’t wait to give it a go and hear the difference!
I have a 7g classic (297LL) logic board that is missing the headphone connecter. Unfortunately, I do not think that the connector can be purchased. The local electronics repair person does not think it is possible to remove un-solder the part from a damaged board because it appears to be glued. Is the 7g unit now garbage?
@Mark – I don’t see why you cannot using normal SMT techniques remove a good connector from another board –
Off the top of my head (so don’t quote me on it) as I remember the connector is made by Hirose part no. FH26W-13S-0.3SHW, you might be able to buy the connector or at least blag a sample from a component distributor.
Has anyone had luck using an 80gb 5.5 gen logic board, with a 30gb (thin) battery? I purchased an 80gb enhanced model hoping to convert it to a “thin” model with the iflash quad and put a thin back and battery into it (the thin battery lasts plenty long for me, and i really prefer the feel of the thin backed ipods) However i ran into some issues…
First i tried to just swap the fat battery for the thin one, (the ipod i bought had a bad battery, but is otherwise fully functional if powered by the computer or wall) however, upon powerup with the new battery it gave me the white, connect to itunes to restore message – which, I did. however itunes could neither see, nor restore the ipod, it couldn’t do it in disk mode either. I thought that maybe the 80gb hard drive was using too much power… so i stuck a 5th gen 30gb hard drive that i pulled from a totally functional ipod and tried that. Still the same message and same problem, couldn’t restore, wasn’t seen by computer or itunes, (well, it was visible for moments as a removable disk, but i couldn’t restore or interact with it when it was in this state)
So, the question is, has anyone done this? and done it successfully? It would be awesome to be able to stick a few memory cards in the quad adapter, stick a small battery and thin back on it, then load it up with thousands of songs, but still have the 64gb of flash that the 80gb 5.5 gen has!
@Nicole – The iPod motherboards will work with thin or thick battery makes no difference – you have either got a bad battery, or there some issue with the iPod motherboard.
Will this mod, fix an iPod video enhanced, 80gb, that the audio output doesn’t work. Thanks.
@Stefan – I do not think this will help you. This only upgrades / replacing the DC blocking capacitors for line out (out of the docking connector).
There is a thing i didn´t understand the HQ audio only comes from the dock or from the 3.5mm jack too?
@Macgcler – The capacitor mod only effects the output from the Dock lineout signals, the headphone out is not altered.
Another thing, I´m from Mexico, i would like to know about where to buy black gate capacitors or a link, i can buy Elna Silmic capacitors but… I dn´t know if the quality will be the same.
@Macgcler – The Black Gate are not made anymore, you can sometimes find them as new old stock.
Hi
+ leg of the cap goes to DAC side or connector side.
Also, what’s the significant difference of using 22 or 47?
@Chamin – The positive of the capacitors go to the DAC side.
Where are the “capacitors that come after the inductors” located?
@ReedG – Don’t have any pics to hand, but the small bypass inductor and capacitors are located on the pcb the opposite side to the docking connector.
@Tarkan So what you are saying is, On a 6th/7th Gen Classic one could just use a LOD cable and headphone amp to achieve audiophile sound out of this generation of iPod?
@Tim – The main purpose of the capacitor upgrade is to get as close as possible to the pure output from the legendary Wolfson Codec chip – the later Classics do not use the Wolfson, but a Apple modified cirrus chip which majority of people would say is much inferior.
Hey, Tarkan looking for a definitive answer here since I can’t seem to find one anywhere else. Why doesn’t anybody do this mod to the 6th-7th Gen Classics? Is it not possible or not needed? Thank you.
@Tim – the codec chip used has a balanced / non-dc biased outputs, so there are no dc block capacitors between the dock output and the codec chip.
Hey Tarkan, I ended up doing the mod with some spare Panasonic 6.3v 47uf caps that I use for my Super Nintendo cap replacement service and mods. iPod sounds great connected to my Bose Sounddock. Was wondering if it would sound better with the ones you are offering or other brands such as nichicon or those elnas you are offering or being that they are rated for the same voltage and uf will there be no difference? Thank you.
@Tim – Capacitors do sound different, due to the dielectric makeup and construction/wrap methods – if it sounds better or not, only you can be the judge of that 🙂
Is this something I can use if the IPOD is mostly docked in my car? I have an audiophile system and wondering if this would help improve the sound.
@Mark – that would depend, if your car system uses the audio lineout from the docking connector, then yes.
I have a gen 5.5 ipod that sounds normal at under 50% volume level and then distorts like crazy at any level past that. It acts exactly the same through the headphone jack and the docking port and even through iTunes so I know it is not the jack. I was thinking I had a bad cap on the board but I am no expert. If that is the case than this should fix my problem and leave me with something that sounds even better right?
@Chuck – if the sound issues exist on the dock and headphone outputs, more than likely you have ground track damaged on the motherboard, or even another problem near or around the codec chip.
Sounds good! Can’t wait to see/use your installation guide Tarkan!
Basically the Redwine 5 or 5.5 Ipod mod is $445, with the customer supplying the Ipod.
Does this improve audio being played out of the dock port on the iPod using a quality dock station like a Bose SoundDock?
@Tim – yes anything which uses the dock connector line-out audio will benefit from upgraded audio by-pass capacitors fitted.
Hello Tarkan,
I also want to mod my iPod Video 5.Gen. 30GB with the one you described above. The first mod is to add 64GB SDXC-card with your adapter-set (ordered it yesterday).
The diyMOD will do a friend of mine and just need some pictures/text to do it.
I’m almost clear what to do but on image 2 (of 7) or the second from the beginning of this how-do I don’t know to which contacts the cable is soldered? To L2 or C84 (C84=bottom / right channel) and L3 or C85 (C85=bottom / left channel) or to both (L2+C84 for right channel / L3+C85 for left channel).
Unfortunatelly I can’t increase the size of the image to see it clear.
Thanks in advance
Hi,
here [http://redwineaudio.com/mods/imod] they offer the Ipod mod. Since they mod it via a “custom dock connector” (you mentioned in this post), I assume they are offering the classic diyMod (with external caps).
Now, is really what is claimed there, that is
“IMod improvements over stock iPod:
Increased resolution of fine detail
Better bass control and definition
A richer, more seductive midrange
Superior treble extension and sweetness
A larger more 3-dimensional soundstage
Product Features:
Exclusively for 4th, 5th and 5.5 generation iPods
Leverages built-in Wolfson DAC (same DAC used in many pricey CD players)
Bypasses iPod’s analog stage that was not designed for audiophile playback
Specifications:
iMod line out voltage: ~1.0 Vrms
Output impedance: < 1k
Battery life: Same as stock iPod
5th and 5.5 generation iPod:
Headphone jack remains unchanged, and can be used for headphones
iPod’s internal docking connector now outputs an audiophile-grade signal
5G / 5/5G iMods require ALO Audio iMod dock cable*
Apple-supplied USB cables still support charging and music transfer"
achievable via Eric's "portable" dynMod (with internal caps – such as Black Gate NX Hi-Q 6.3V 22uF or 47uF)?
If yes, I am really interesting to mod my Ipod, but I am not able to do it in my own. At this end, if there is anyone (Tarkan/Eric/anyone else) available to help me somehow, I will really appreciate it.
P.S. currently I am in France.
Thanks a lot.
You will probably have much better luck asking on some of the diymod mods posts on various forums (e.g. head-fi).
I found a company in UK that have been going since 2003. Am planning to send my 5.5 for the diymod for same reason as you.
Price seems reasonable.
Ipodrepairs.co.uk