Fixing iPod nano 3G sound quality issues

Getting a used iPod Nano 3G

iPod Nano 3G was my first iPod in high school - I got it from eBay while studying a year abroad in USA over a decade ago. I loved it - thin, slim, big screen and a marvelous control wheel. Though I liked the last version Apple released - the one with a touch screen - something about that control wheel always stuck with me.

I decided its time to get a new one for my hardware collection, so I picked one up on Vinted. The battery was surprisingly good, and in general, it was in very nice condition.

Headphones

Using a retro player wihtout retro headphones just didn't feel right. I used to have Sennheiser PX100-ii and absolutely loved their sound and form factor, but the prices for those right now are pretty wild - £100+ for used ones.

After some research I settled on another classic - wired Koss Porta Pro. These are around £40 new from Amazon. On Reddit, the consensus was you have to replace default pads with YAXI PADS to significantly improve sound and feel.

Who am I to question Reddit? So I got two pairs of those - black ones and orange ones - to add to that retro feel.

Uploading music

I wasn't sure how would iPod's OS would work with the new-ish MacOS - I am running MacOS Sequoia. After reading some iPod subreddits, I was absolutely sure I would need to set up iTunes to be able to upload music to the iPod Nano 3G. But I was too lazy to start figuring out how to install it, as it was discontinued some years ago.

After connecting the iPod, it was instantly recognized by finder. And - to my great surprise - it was also recognized by the default Music app that is pre-installed on macOS.

Using the Music app, I had no issues syncing my music library in a couple of minutes.

Sound issues

As soon as I played the first song, I noticed massive sound issues. I'm not an audiophile, so we're talking massive issues. Everything below the mids sounded terrible - like a broken cable or a damaged headphone driver.

My first suspicion was that the headphones I just bought were defective (often the case when you get someone's return). So I tested them with my Mac - the sound was great.

My next thought was - as you might expect - that I got scammed! Not the first time I had bought something secondhand that was repacked with some Chinese components or had water damage.

Fortunately, I had another iPod Nano 3G in my drawer - with a mostly dead battery, but good enough to test the sound.

And it sounded as bad. What are the chances I got scammed with both of them? Hopefully zero.

After some light googling, I stumbled upon this thread. The author mentioned that the latest firmware these iPods were running had many sound issues. I checked - and yes, both of them were running the latest firmware, 1.1.3.

Worth a shot! (So much for the bug fixes, Apple)

Downgrading firmware

The next step is to downgrade the firmware to 1.0.3 (you can download it here). After some more googling, yet again I had the impression I would have to install iTunes for that if I was running a new macOS.

Still being lazy (just like an hour ago), I decided to poke around. And behold - if you select your iPod in Finder, you can see a Restore button.

Not super sure what it would restore - firmware or content - I selected the firmware file and waited. Something was going on for a few minutes, and then it looked like it got stuck.

I was afraid to disconnect it right away so as not to brick the iPod, so I left it for an hour or so. It was still stuck at that point, so I decided to pull the plug and disconnected it.

The iPod rebooted, and voilà - it was running firmware v1.0.3.

And no need to install iTunes, upload firmware to some secret folder so iTunes would see it, etc., etc.

The finalle

I had to sync my music library, as the iPod was wiped clean at this point.

After a few minutes I tried again and to my surprise the sound was perfect! No weird issues, trembling etc. It all sounded just as I remembered.