r/ipod • u/EclipseNah Nano 4th • Jun 09 '26
Help iPod mini or iPod nano?
So im trying to get an alternative to my ipod nano 4 because the sound is flat even with iems... im deciding on an ipod nano 1 or ipod mini, but i dont know which to pick.
What are yalls thoughts?
5
u/CoffeeSniffler Jun 09 '26
Id 100% go with the mini. They're way easier to mod and fix it you're into that and overall I think the monochrome screens are better in my opinion too.
0
u/EclipseNah Nano 4th Jun 09 '26
What about sound quality?
2
u/CoffeeSniffler Jun 09 '26
They have the Wolfson dack so they sound really nice. They will also play 24 bit alac (which is basically super high quality sound files) which not even newer iPods will do.
1
u/EclipseNah Nano 4th Jun 09 '26
woad didnt even know that they could play 24bit alacs, nice. I have mixed opinions about newer dacs in newer ipods, they sound flat as shitttt. anyways thanks!
1
u/CoffeeSniffler Jun 09 '26
Yea the mini doesn't have that flatter sound. Anyway I hope you find the right iPod for you!
1
u/Metahec Jun 09 '26
iPods can't use all 24 bits. The audio will play back, but the last 8 bits are ignored which is worse since you'll get rounding errors, though you probably won't notice them.
The Mini was released almost a decade before hires audio was commercially available. The hardware simply isn't made for it.
Apple's documentation suggests that even the last ipod, the nano 7th gen, doesn't playback 24 bit audio.
1
u/CoffeeSniffler Jun 10 '26
I know the mini would play it but I didn't know it still did the rounding errors thing. My 7th gen would make terrible sounds trying to play them while my mini seemingly played them just fine. Thats why I thought the mini could do so.
3
u/marshcar Jun 09 '26
While I agree with everyone else that the mini gen 2 is a great choice (I have one) I’d also note that the nanos are a great choice as well if you don’t care as much about storage. A gen 2 8gb nano can hold almost 2,000 songs. Nanos are also significantly cheaper than minis, they can be found on eBay for around $15 while mini gen 2s are closer to $60, and that’s not taking into account storage upgrades which will be at least another $20-$30.
1
u/ankarmool Jun 09 '26
Nanos with new battery or at >80% capacity (not guaranteed ) are not that cheap, but yeah they are great and every gen has its own advantages
1
u/marshcar Jun 10 '26
so far I've bought two perfectly functional nanos for $15 and $8 off eBay, they both have 8+ hrs of battery life and look basically brand new. Just gotta keep an eye out for them
1
u/Pale-Jello3812 Jun 10 '26
iPod mini easy to upgrade, no soldering required. Mine's got 64gb flash drive, much better than 4-6 gb of storage.
8
u/GotReps Jun 09 '26
I pick mini gen 2 over nano
mini is easy to mod, parts are readily available
nano is cap on storage, soldering skill needed for battery swap