How to improve your Chipod audio/video quality for free $
 

I've been called an "audio witch doctor" before, which can be interpreted as another way of saying SQ (sound quality) is of some significance to me. I find it strange that you don't often hear people talking about SQ in mp3/mp4 players, and certainly not as much as they ought to, by me. Very little about it, if anything, gets accorded in reviews. For, I would guesstimate, slightly more than 99% of the mp3/mp4 buying public, improving your sound means getting better headphones. For me, there's a few hundred other ways. I will endeavour to describe one of them in this post, for those who can appreciate their SQ. You just need a freezer, and a right good pair of music-lovin' ears.

The first thing you should do before any "tweaking" takes place, is listen to a good song on the player, to provide a reference for changes. Otherwise, you might have an even tougher time determining if anything improved for you.

1. Toss your player in the coldest part of your freezer (if you can turn up the cold, even better). While you're at it, throw your headphones in there, what the hey! It can only improve things. Don't worry about quiching your player. I've frozen tube amps, cd players, dvd players, speaker drivers, wire, watches, and all of my mp4 and mp3 players, never had a problem. Leave it in the freezer overnight, 12hrs min.

2. Take it out of the freezer and put it in the fridge for a few hours to get to fridge temp. Then immediately transfer it to the coldest part of your house, where you will wrap it up in thick blankets or something to prevent a quick thaw. The key to this trick is -slow-thawing-, the slower the device thaws, the better this will work. (If you can manage to transfer it to an ice or ice-pak filled cooler chest, even better!).

3. Once the MP4 player has thawed totally to room temp, put it back in the freezer and repeat the process a second time! (Second time is always better. Third time? Not sure, maybe!). The whole shebang should take a couple of days.

Now you listen again to the reference song you listened to before to determine if any changes have taken place. For most people, the difference will probably not knock you out at first, but (to me), its an important one. Speaking for myself, I had no problem hearing a change in my (MyMusix) mp3 player and my mp4 1st gen Nano clone. I was particularly pleased about the MyMusix, because I found the sound of the mp3 player boring and colorless before the process, and tonal hues were more vibrant and well defined after the process. The sound of my Chipod was always better than the mp3 player, but after listening to the last song that I listened to on the Chipod (before the big freeze), which happened to be Elton John's "Tiny Dancer", I had trouble putting the player down! Its nothing about bass/mids/highs or lows, or any of that nonsense. To put it succinctly, it was simply more musical.

Video improves as well, although my eye is not attuned so much to that, so the improvements are there (in the form of >slightly< sharper constrast and colors), but less discernible. Its more discernible on video dialogue, because I heard more clarity from the voices on my chipod, while watching The Simpsons. (The blocky low resolution of the AMV-converted image, of course, did not change!).

For the adventurous only. As always, YMMV.


ADDENDUM (SQ notes): I just got through listening to my white 1st gen Nano clone that also went thru the "operation big freeze" process (the black one is the one I listend to Elton John on). I was listening to the Stones on the white one, except not through my usual phones, the Koss Sportapros, but on the cheapa** .50 cent 10th rate Apple clony earbuds that actually come with the player. I've only listened to these phones once, cos once was enough. They are easily the worst earphones I have ever heard! Everything sounds like you're in a bathroom, and drowning in the bathtub. Plus the separation is so bad, its very nearly like listening to MONO. And yet... the musical quality blew me away!

I was listening to "Gimme Shelter", which admittedly is one of my favorite Stones songs but still, I couldn't put it down. I was grooving with the music just like those silhouettes you see on the Apple iPod billboards. I remember listening to Gimme Shelter on my Koss Sportapros in the player's pre-frozen state, and I certainly enjoyed it and recall grooving to it as well, but the experience simply wasn't nearly as intense as post-freeze with the Apple-clone buds.

So that was an interesting experiment for me. It showed me that it doesn't matter in the end, how lo-fi your headphones are. Because the "soul" of the music can still come through, the brain can still pick up on that, through the grunge and in-the-toilet sound character of the earbuds, if the player is capable of transmitting that. To put it another way, I think in a comparison I would favour this (post-frozen) player with the .50 Apple fake earbuds than another player that didn't have these qualities, but had a pair of Grado SR-80's attached to it.

lol i would not want to try that.

maybe when i buy another mp4 player, then maybe yeah

sounds like an interesting idea but...
any idea why this 'works' though?

Why, are you worried about damaging it or about going without a player for two days? There is no danger involved, like I mentioned, I froze several of my players, no problem. Just make sure you wait til it gets to room temp to turn it on. If you're worried about condensation, seal the player in a ziploc bag before placing it in the freezer.

michiganjfrog, The "Operation Big Freeze" has begun. I will let you know.

WoW WoW.. Chinglish Master michiganjfrog has a new orthodox method of improving sound quality..

I'll try it out tomorrow and post my results.. If it works on my clone, i'm throwing my T29 in too! :lol:

Re: How to improve your Chipod audio/video quality for free
 

CHRIST!!! :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:

Am I on Acid today??? :P


Joffa



Oh no, dont start that! Its a debate -way- too big for this board! Lets just say.... well, some claim it relaxes or realigns the crystalline structures in metal, that are fatigued by heat processes during the fabrication & treatment (ie. bending) of the metals.

Other people say those people are full of s**t. They point out that the process also works on a lot of things which dont contain metals (this is correct, actually). And the other people will say of the people who say those other people are full of s**t, that they are on acid. Not unlike our friend "Joffa" below, perhaps. Then there are the people who say everyone is full of s**t, if they think the freezer has any effect on anything except the condition of your butterball turkey. And to them I say, "you're full of s***t too". So you see, as my dear old sainted grandmother always used to say: "opinions are like a**holes. everyone's got one an dey all stink!"

If you're that curious about opinions, you can check out this guy's. He wrote about a similar procedure on CDs back in '90 for a popular audio magazine. I don't know if he posits a theory, I didn't really read his article:

http://www.stereophile.com/asweseeit/822/

JOFFA

Well... I know its Sunday. Is Sunday your acid day?

whoa

LOL!!! This is funny stuff. Freeze your player to make it sound better, is this from the guy who does BS computer tips videos?

You mean God? No, its not from God. It's more of a science thingy. What exactly is so funny about improving the sound or video of your MP4 player? Dont knock it til you've tried it. The world is full of milllions of things you don't and/or cant understand. This is just one of them.

Actually, science is bs & fake. There is a God. :wink: :)

Re: How to improve your Chipod audio/video quality for free
 

hows about a sticky?
did this to a friends old (CHEAP!) 128MB player and it worked a charm.
he is happy :D

Re: How to improve your Chipod audio/video quality for free
 

Good idea, but that's the admin's decision. Say... didn't the admin (or perhaps the moderator?) say he'd try it? What's the verdict?!

Great. Now try it on your own mp4 player! The method has the potential to improve both sound and video quality (although video is really something that's harder to tell, especially if you dont know what to look for). I know some people are wary about sticking their players in the freezer, but so long as the instructions are followed (ie. dont try to turn it on immediately after taking it out of the freezer or fridge), well I've done this to a lot of mp3/mp4 players and other electronics without any problem (I can recommend putting the player in a zip loc bag for those worried about condensation, but I have -never- used a bag with anything, and I think the results can be ever-so slightly better without one).

Re: How to improve your Chipod audio/video quality for free
 

Thanks for this idea to improve MP4 sound quality. Now I understand why Al Gore at an Academy Award, and how the whole "Global Warming" thang could have gotten started!!!

Re: How to improve your Chipod audio/video quality for free
 

Hmm ... i dont think that this is gonna make much defference .. but ill try it anyway .. Hell... my mpx player fell in the toilet once and nittin happened to it .. so what can a little ice do ? :P

Re: How to improve your Chipod audio/video quality for free
 

At worst, you are without your player for a day or two. I've frozen digital cameras, mp3/mp4 players, dvd players, watches, telephones, speakers... you name it, never had a problem. Place it in a zip loc plastic bag if you're -really- worried, but follow the instructions carefully, especially the part about listening to a certain song before you freeze it! (Otherwise, you will not have a very good reference to know whether it has improved things or not). Let me know how it went.

Re: How to improve your Chipod audio/video quality for free
 

Just a word of caution to newbies: It's ok to freeze mp4 players as they work on a small voltage (3.7v).
But if someone decides to put their DVD player or amplifier in the freezer - make sure the place where you thaw it is low in humidity - cold metal will easily attract moisture to condense on it - and if plugged in without it being completely dry, you will most likely blow something.

Being a speaker designer, I would also caution against putting quality speaker drivers in the freezer, especially speakers with polypropeline cones and/or rubber surrounds.

Re: How to improve your Chipod audio/video quality for free
 

I agree that if you freeze amps, dvd players, to ensure it is dry before plugging in (remove the covers, as I do, but freeze them as well). That said, I have frozen amps, dvd players and the like, leaving them to thaw slowly over a period of a half day or a day, wrapped up in thick blankets to slow thawing. I check if they're dry and don't plug them in if they are still cold, of course. Never had a problem. I have also frozen quality speaker drivers with poly cones and rubber surrounds, and their xovers and all wiring, after removing them from their cabinets. Again, never caused a problem, the speakers sounded much better after I finished the project.

As a speaker designer, you must have a lot of speakers on hand. Try it on throwaway speakers if you are curious to see what effect it might have, and whether it will damage the drivers.

Re: How to improve your Chipod audio/video quality for free
 

As a speaker transducer / driver designer, I work with materials & their properties.
Exposing a plastic such as PP to temperatures way below freezing will & do cause hardening or brittleness of the material at room temperatures. (a study of the material's behaviour over temperatures will tell you so). This in turn will harshen the sound above the cone's break-up point. (the break-up is more harsh due to lower damping). This is one of the reasons why some of the best speakers do not use plastic based cones, as they tend to sound different over time.

Secondly, a large driver, with a 3" voice coil will on an average have a coil with the wire length exceeding 50 meters. As a part of the curing process of some of the high-end coils, we heat them to a temperature above 500F while ensuring that the coil is in a fixture and not allowed to change shape.
Besides, the metal (copper / aluminum) in the coil will again heat up quickly the next time you feed real power into the speaker, thus neutralizing any positive effect the freezing might have had on it.

As I said before - this stands more true for the larger high power drivers & those using plastic / PP parts.

Re: How to improve your Chipod audio/video quality for free
 

Come to think of it, the drivers I froze were probably paper cones, but with rubber surrounds. I dont know the size of the voice coil, but apart from the Philips tweeters, it did include a large woofer, perhaps 12" diam. I have some speakers with poly cones that I was "one day" going to freeze, but having read this, I'm even more curious to go ahead with that. I believe I may have read about some people freezing their drivers with poly cones, no reports of faults, but I can't recall for sure at the moment if they were indeed that material. We're not talking cryogenic temperatures here either... I dont know that most domestic freezers go much below 0, at least not Farenheit.

Re: How to improve your Chipod audio/video quality for free
 

has anyone tried longer freezing, fridging or slower thawing to room temp times? or number of repetitions? im currently trying this on my Black Hawk and 2 uxcell headphones. i would do it to my FMP 1.8 but i cant live without music at school and i didnt want to mess around with transferring files over (transfer speed is 800KBs (0.8MBs) :oops:
ill leave it in the coolest freezer for 24hours, fridge for 12 hours and put it in my car refridgeration cooler (with power adapter) for 6 hours then let it cool down by itself slowly

Re: How to improve your Chipod audio/video quality for free
 

So do it on one mp4 at a time. Then when the Black Hawk is done, shove the FMP in the icebox, use the BH. Longer freezing times shouldn't be necessary because it only takes so long to get to the freezing stage (I generally do 12 hours min.), and I don't see that it would help to go through many freezing cycles without subsequent thawing cycles (remember that a domestic freezer is always cycling off). 6 hours is a good amount of time for the fridge phase.

The longer the thawing time however, the better, so after you take the stuff out of the fridge, its good to keep it wrapped well in blankets and in the coldest part of the house. More repititions might also help, but note the inventor didn't find merit in more than 2 repititions. I personally haven't tested more than 2 (although I'm sure I have frozen things more than 2 repititions). Also, whatever accessories that come with your player, I'd recommend also throwing them in the freezer along with the player. USB cable, charger, power adapter, headphones, case, etc., for better results.

Well, I'd be curious to know whether you perceive any differences after your experiment.

LOL, improve quality of your mp4 player!!
Hey guy, remember that mp3 song is low quality.
what would you want to improve even if your song rate at 320kbps?
Atj inside decompress mp3 in numerical signal ( 0 or 1) not a analog signal.
Freeze was only good to save old battery in a few case.

Actually theoretically speaking, the freezing method does work. You'll need to look at the molecule/atom level to understand the freezing process.

Basically, when something is warm/hot/room-temp, the atoms move freely within it. And when cold/frozen, the atoms are restricted and do not move.

During the fabrication process, fabricating the components for the players, it is definitely subjected to heat at some point of time. This would mis-align some atoms. It will still give you the output that you want, but not perfect.

For engineers or people who design circuits, they would know that theoretical and practical calculations/designs/values are never the same. Part of it is also due to the mis-alignment of the atoms.

hey michiganjfrog, any more quality improving tips?

Re: How to improve your Chipod audio/video quality for free
 

Bingo! Best explanation on the effect I've yet heard.

Yes, plenty, but first you have to tell me whether or not you tried the freeze effect technique, and whether you discerned improvements or not! So far, no one has yet come forward to say they've tried it! My feeling is, if this is too weird for people, as it appears to be from some of the feedback, trust me, the other ideas are weirder and even harder to understand...

Well, I'm glad my efforts to improve your player are making you laugh, but I don't know if you realize, you're not making any sense. What does the compression rate have to do with whether or not you can improve sound quality? People buy expensive tube amps that are designed solely to hook up to an iPod mp3 player! That means they must be good enough to improve upon. Seems you're also arguing against it with something about digital and analogue signals, which is another irrelevant argument, that has nothing to do with whether you can improve your overall sound or not. If you don't want to risk improving your sound by all means don't, but if you don't understand what effect this might have, you have no reason to argue against it.

Tonight I took the risk. I have put the cheapest mp3 player I have in the freezer. The mp3 player is a 10 Euro SD card shuffle player I bought from Uxcell.

After I did the whole freezer improvement procedure I will give a update and review.

as i don't have school for a week, i have both my MP4 players in the freezer. i will post how i think they sound. i have one dead Glacier waiting to be returned, i might buy another one and do a proper recording showing comparisons between a 12 hour freeze 2 times and a longer freeze. and may even compare even more freeze cycles.

i was thinking a way to show people would be to play the player connected to the line in port on a sound card. the laptop i mainly use has cheap built in sound but the computer i have (although it has a damaged HDD) has a creative X-Fi platinum

Okay, if you find you hear a pos. difference after the experiment, I'll think of some more ideas to try, if you wish. Out of curiousity, did you try your dead Glacier in the USB port of your comp without the battery? Because my dead Glacier did work that way once.

I tried recording before & after once to help others compare differences between a treated player & usb cable, and before treatment. But the way I did it was to transfer an mp3 before and after treatment. It might be more effective to record straight from the player. I've never done more than 2 freeze cycles on anything, so if you do, I'd be very interested to know if you found any differences.

Re: How to improve your Chipod audio/video quality for free
 

i tried to get my glacier to work every way possible but still the same blank screen :wink:

slept over mates last night i got him to start his Ipod Nano Remastered and i can say it improves both the earphones and the ipod itself. there is less distortion all around and especially at high levels, it sounds much "cleaner" and sorta more life like. it seemed to effect the mid-range to hi-range sounds. i was quiet impressed with it and i cant wait for my BH and FMP to be done =D.

Sound quality of my BH (internal speaker) is alot better at high levels, not as much crackling. it sounds like it isnt just a tweeter =P. the LCD is ever so slightly clearer if you look really hard. it hasnt affected the camera but i haven't compared propperly on the computer. i didnt test the cheap headphones but the difference in the internal speaker has me thinking...

will report back with updates i decided to try one more cycle with the BH to see what happens
:D thanks for this michiganjfrog

also can you people stop flaming saying it wont do anything or it will kill it UNLESS you did it to your player and it did nothing to your player or broke it.

Re: How to improve your Chipod audio/video quality for free
 

Amen to that! So... I'm not 100% sure I get this, your friend's Nano went thru the process? it sounds like it by what you described of the sound. Hmm... I don't know if that counts for an extra tweak, since you didnt do yours yet....

So, as promised, here are the results after I did the "cryogenic" threathment to my very very very very cheap Uxcell SD card mp3 player.

I followed the instruction, and now, 2 days later I can say that the sound quality improved. There is much more detail in the music and it sounds more crispy. Even with this low-end mp3 player the sound is extremely good.

I have now in the freezer my Sandisk SDMX 1gb mp3 player. That little devil delivered allready very good sound quality, and after the threathment I will give more test results.

ALL i have to say is WOW. i finely finished with my FMP 1.8. the generic cheap uxcell earphones sound almost good =p... there is more "soul" in them and they dont sound so "im in the bathroom". although they dont sound like some $20 - $40 earphones they are 100% better quality then before.

My FMP with Ipod earphones (which i also froze) and well.... im amazed. everything is crisp and cleaner. kinda sounds like the music is going through some sorta audio filter.sounds awesome no distortion, clean and basically sounds like much more expensive set of earphones and media player.

my Black Hawk as posted sounds much better... BUT i had a problem getting the "Webcam" feature to work on multiple computers. i really didnt care as i bought it for music and playing video's. i discovered that when trying to play ANY WMA file at ANY bitrate it would stutter with rock songs (especially bassie songs). thus i have requested a full refund on it

Re: How to improve your Chipod audio/video quality for free
 

Your post-freeze experiences with the cheap UXCell headphones that comes with the player reminds me very much of mine. I think I mentioned at the beginning of this thread how I could still hear and appreciate the differences even on the cheap 50 cent earphones that came with the Glacier, and I was referring to the "soul" of the music coming through better, despite it being hard to pick out more superficial things like bass/treble with these kind of low-res earphones.

As a long time audiophile and participant in audio discussion groups across the net, I find that audio enthusiasts can basically be divided into two camps: doers (empiricists), and thinkers (rationalists). The doers tend to have better sounding systems. I find it interesting to find the very same parallels in the mp4 enthusiast community.

You said the LCD was clearer on your BH. Indeed, if I haven't mentioned it, if any of my techniques work on sound, they will work to improve video as well. The only thing is, its not as easy for people to notice video improvements as it is for audio (even audio improvements escapes a lot of people!). I have a tweaked-up version of my FMP. Since I have a second FMP, I was able to compared this to the untweaked FMP. Indeed, I could see differences in the video. Colors and constrasts were better. I checked out the Black Hawk model. I can see this player can do a heck of a lot of things. However, WMV isn't listed as one of them, at least not in the official specs that I can see. So I don't know if you have a case for a return based on that.

I did the freezer threatment on my Sandisk SDMX1 mp3 player, and again, the sound quality improved a LOT. Thank you for the good advice.............but I am scared to tell my friends LOL.

Well thanks for letting me know, as I'm always curious to see what other people's experiences are.

...If you're worried about what they'll think of the freezer technique, then you might want to keep my last tweak idea a secret...

Re: How to improve your Chipod audio/video quality for free
 

michiganjfrog, the BH doesnt play WMA files correctly (stutters) and the webcam function doesnt work. Hopefully that is enough to be able to return it for a refund (i dont really like the construction and layout of the player physically either)

Re: How to improve your Chipod audio/video quality for free
 

Actually, just not liking it for any reason is good enough for a return with UXcell, but I think that may be more limited in time than the general warranty (cant recall exactly).