Surreal wrote:So what are people's opinions on the ipod dj? It's obviously the most portable way to carry your music, and you have the ability to create playlists on the fly (although I don't think you can edit it after a song has been added).
How is the sound quality compared to a laptop or external sound card?
When the Nano first came out, I fantasized about DJing from two Nanos so that all I needed to carry were two gumstick-sized flash players in my back pocket. But since I switched to using a laptop, the idea became somewhat obsolete. For just a bit more luggage, the laptop gives you MUCH more versatility (volume of songs, various searching features, bigger screen holding more info, managing a playlist, quicker fix of sound problems, keeping track of where you are going and where you came from, etc.), and you end up playing the same song files (MP3s) as you would on an IPod.
Nonetheless, the sound quality is similar to a very decent sound card. An IPod should sound better than most any internal laptop sound card because an IPod is designed to transfer and play music (not just computer sounds) and thus intentionally reduces the internal electronic interferences normally associated with default internal sound cards. It is also designed to deliver decent-quality sound exclusively for listening to music, as opposed to just acceptable sound quality for business computer applications.
Although you CAN equalize the sound (boost or reduce the bass or treble), you should turn the EQ off in "settings" and adjust it through the sound board. Set the volume on "max" so that you can adjust it through the board, as well, and do not run into any gain problems (where the source sound is underpowered and thus gets distorted when you turn the gain on the board up too much to overcompensate).