I won an iMod from Vinnie at the NYC Meet. Well, not exactly won. I bought it for $100. I currently have a 5.5G iPod, but the LCD screen is starting to flake (I bought it refurbed from Apple) and Vinnie informed me that I would need to get an ALO LOD, which I think is $85 to use the iMod. I'm not a huge fan of that arrangement. Would it be wiser to find a cheap 4G and get that done?

I have the 5 or 5.5 or whatever takes the ALO dock with the teensy Blackgates in it, and I like it because the headphone jack still functions as a headphone jack and I have had no problems with the LOD. And, it sounds great with JH13s!

But, if the screen is flaky, and a 4G is much cheaper, then maybe I would go for that option.

I owned the 5.5g video which had the Imod. It was better for me because many times I ended up using just the headphone out for listening with my UE11s. Carrying around a portable amp with cable just wasn't convenient all the time. With the 4g imod'ed however you do have to consider that it can never be used as a standalone unit. But at that point I guess you can just pick up your 5.5g.

"Everyone" has joined the JH13 ranks, as i've departed from my journey with custom iems.(UE11/ES3X) Its interesting, but i'm glad most are enjoying their experience with these marvelous little inventions.

stevenkelby and barqy on head-fi both made me an iMod LOD with the little blackgates in them, so you don't have to buy a super expensive one from ALO.

I agree that the 5.5G is nicer because you can still use the headphone out which is decent with JH13pro, ES3X and UE11Pro. And, with the 5.5G iMod you can build your own desktop dock with Vcaps or auricaps and get even better sound than the blackgates that can color the sound a little. While with the 4G the blackgates are inside and you can't get around those - as you probably know, in the 4G iMod the DAC is wired to the caps and then headphone out as a line out.

I suppose your iPod is out of warrantee and you don't want to buy a screen from eBay to install? Or, what if it is just a loose connector? Also, when you send it in for the mod it might make sense to get a new battery and have it installed while the iPod is open.

How does the iMod compare to an iPhone in sound? I thought my 6G iPod had a bit of an unpleasant upper-mids/lower treble boost (IIRC) but my iPhone sounds quite good. My 5th gen sounds muddy in comparison. At various times I considered both upgrading the 5th gen with a bigger HD and getting it iModded, but since I rarely listen to music outside and my experience with portable amps lead me to decide they were a waste of time, I gave up the idea.

the iphone is more like analog because its more phono. sounds like a record player or tubes or both.

Posty is right. Especially because the iPhono connects to teh interwebs (i.e., a series of tubes).

I won an iMod from Vinnie at the NYC Meet. Well, not exactly won. I bought it for $100. I currently have a 5.5G iPod, but the LCD screen is starting to flake (I bought it refurbed from Apple) and Vinnie informed me that I would need to get an ALO LOD, which I think is $85 to use the iMod. I'm not a huge fan of that arrangement. Would it be wiser to find a cheap 4G and get that done?

And how much for a LCD replacement performed by Vinnie?

Amicalement

Good question, I'll ask him.

How hard/easy is it to replace the LCD screen by oneself?

You really need to be careful -- Hirsch scratched his, and now it has a line through it.

I thought it was pretty simple. The 5.5G version is not too difficult

It's actually the backlight that's a problem on mine. Is that even something that an LCD replacement will fix?

Yup, it should be the same thing. Find a LCD screen on ebay

build a LOD with motor run caps

build a LOD with motor run caps

Those would fit right in with the 6x18ga Jena strand per channel LOD Double-secret braided, of course

no, because motor run caps aren't stupid expensive for what they are...

Yes, but they are big...

To be honest I had a 4G iMod and now I have a 5.5G iMod and I cant imagine going back one generation. The previous always bring your amp obligation was not a nice feature....

Amicalement

I had a 4G iMod for some time and couldn't really hear a difference between the iMod and a standard iPod with a LOD, so I ended up selling it. The 5G seems more convenient though, as you're not forced to use an amp, but before repairing it and investing money into it, I'd try to borrow an iMod setup and see if it's worth it for you... unless you've already done that.

I already bought the service (as a donation to the NYC meet), so the only other option would be to sell the donated service to someone else, but I figured I would like to try it out anyway. Vinnie will replace the battery for free (I supply the battery) and will fix the screen for $50. Probably worth it just to have him do it. I just hate the idea of being required to buy that ALO LOD.

EDIT: Vinnie seems like a good guy, btw.

Ah, I thought you got the whole imod for $100

For $150, you get something you can sell on headfi for way more than you could lhave before

Vinnie is a really good guy, and you are not forced to buy the ALO cable, as mentioned previously by HPA, because others can build them too. You could also post a WTB ad on HF and see if anybody has one to sell.

I already bought the service (as a donation to the NYC meet), so the only other option would be to sell the donated service to someone else, but I figured I would like to try it out anyway. Vinnie will replace the battery for free (I supply the battery) and will fix the screen for $50. Probably worth it just to have him do it. I just hate the idea of being required to buy that ALO LOD.

EDIT: Vinnie seems like a good guy, btw.

$50 for a LCD change? Wow...

I can fix it for you for $10 (= cost of screen)

How much do replacement batteries run? About to do a search, but just wondering what I should expect..