New Option to turn off EU Volume Cap?

I can confirm this too. Bought the IPod Classic 160gb in black from Argos Ireland today 17/10/12 and it has indeed an option to turn off the EU volume cap. A serial number check shows manufactured in late 2009 so it looks like Apple addressed this problem near the end of production by giving the buyer a choice. Firmware version is 2.0.5 PC

Hi

Just recently bought a Classic 160gb and cannot see this option in the Volume Limit settings. If anyone has it on otheir EU Ipod, would there be any chance of describing it in more detail and/or posting a photo?

Would love to see it....

Cheers

Max

No,I'm pretty certain mine is the latest model. If I can give you any details (model number, serial, etc) to help show whether it is or not, let me know what you would need and I will reply with the necessary details.

It also doesn't really make sense that there would be an imposed EU limit which was then taken away again...???

I'm pretty jealous right now!

Is there any way yours might be a US model do you think?

Badgorr;

Does it actually state EU Volume Limit, or simply Volume Limit? All iPod Classics (worldwide) have a Volume Limit, that can be turned off. However, all EU iPods have an EU Volume Cap (often referred to as volume limit), but this is an extra feature on all mp3 devices sold within the EU, not just Apple.

If your iPod really does have a "EU Volume Limit off" option, which version of the iPod software is your iPod using? (Look under Settings/About - and two extra clicks to find the "Version".)

Until now (that is, this post), I am not aware of any option to turn off (or "get round") the EU cap. Nor am I aware of any US model that has an option to "turn off" the EU cap. There is no cap (or EU limit) on US models!

(EU - the European Union and the countries within it.)

Well, i'll answer those questions from my EU iPod....

Mine just states volume limit. Nowehere does it say anything about an EU Limit. My version is 2.0.4 PC. Model = MC297.

I'm with the fiend in as much as most of what I've read states there is no way to remove the EU Limit. So if anyone des have this option on an EU Ipod, please do post some pics for all to see....!

Cheers

... and I'm with Max Dread, I'd like to see some pictures.

WOW! Thank you so much for uploading that. I knew nothing about it. Does not seem to be that well known on the net generally.

Was interested to read in one of those links that the hardware is considered poorer on the newer version. Does anyone reading this with experience feel the same?

😮 Wow!

Okay - apparently, it is so!

I'm amazed, astounded, flabbergasted even.

To address the question you asked originally Badgorr, is this a new option as i've read nothing about it on the forums etc?

I think the answer is that it's an option on the most recent version of Classic, which uses the 2.0.5 version of software and I think you'll find that very few people know about it. Yours is the first real evidence I've seen here. Don't forget, that option is probably not available on Classics bought outside the EU area. (If anyone knows differently, please say.) Many of the long-term contributors to these discussisons are from outside the EU area, so this development would sail way over their heads. For the rest of us, if like me, you've had a Classic for sometime, you'll find that your Classic may be on 1.1.2 PC, as mine is! (Mine is model MB150.)

The obvious question that other people will ask is: "can I update my Classic to the 2.0.5 version?" The answer is I suspect not. There have been no updates (or upgrades) for the Classic for some time, and broadly speaking, that's becasue there has been no need. The Classic (as complex as it is) is a much less complex device than the iPod Touch and iPhone. If anyone has received an Apple update to their Classic recently, let us know.

Can't say I'm too impressed by the actual on-screen text though. The question {do you want to enable EU Volume Limit?} is known as a "closed question". The only possible answers to a question like that are "yes" and "no" - but the choices shown on-screen are "on" and "off".

Curious though, that Max Dread's Classic, also model MC297, is using a different software version.

Max Dread: with the iPod connected to iTunes, look on the Device/Summary pane. Is there an update option available to you?

I don't actually use iTunes. But there's a chance my partner may have it installed on her laptop. If she has I'll hook it up and take a look. I have read in a couple of places people who have tried what you suggested, and they said the option to update was definitely not there....

From what little I've been able to read (and that's mostly the links provided by Badgorr, because - as you say - this seems to be little well known on the web), there was also a hardware change with the most recent iPods. This HW change makes it work with FW 2.0.5, and also makes it impossible to change an "old" iPod 7th Gen from 2.0.4 to 2.0.5. So it looks like its a case of one or the other.

What's even more interesting is the suggestion in one of those links that the "new" iPod compatible with 2.0.5 has poorer sound quality.... That especially I would like to know more about.

I have posted this as a query on several forums and will report back if anything revelaing comes from that.

Cheers

Max Dread wrote:

I don't actually use iTunes. But there's a chance my partner may have it installed on her laptop. If she has I'll hook it up and take a look.

Hold on!

If you connect your iPod to her iTunes Library, be careful that iTunes does not remove all your content and put her library on it instead. iPods can only Sync with one Library at a time and you have to connect the iPod to iTunes in order to look for updates for it.

To be frank, I'm not sure you would gain anything from such an update, were it possible. In fact, from what we read here, you would lose - because (apparently) the sound quality will be reduced.

There are better ways of "overcoming" the volume cap anyway. Portable pocket headphone amplifiers are the solution. Check out amplifiers from Boosteroo and FiiO. They run on a disposable battery. (Just be careful of your hearing.)

Message was edited by: the fiend

...so you're clearly not in the camp of those who "worship at the alter" of the 5.5g as it had a fabled Wolfson DAC? (Your OP says it all?)