I do not use my IPod for my music system. It is for portable playback of (for me) of wav files. Yes, through a dock it sounds fine. I would say it is comparable line out to a few hundred dollar CD/DCD player. Others may think it is better.

I would much rather listen to CDs through a Music Hall CD 25 ($600) than my Ipod...given the choice. Check the Stereophile Buyers Guide for some great player options.

No, not all cd players and CD are flawed. You need to travel to a local audiophile dealer and listen to some of the $1K CD players being offered today. Remember...Buy right...Buy once. Buy a good one and you will enjoy it for the next ten years+.

Hi. I asked a similar question under the title iPod playing lossless vs CD player.
I also want to know about this, but I haven't received any comments yet.
Did you gain any information about this?

Hi. You say you have both a good cd player and an ipod docked in a marantz dock. Have you tried comparing them as different sources? Did you find any differences? Could you tell them apart? Could you tell us which model of cd player you have?
Thanks.

For me- I pod or I phone is better playing full fat audio but only via a line out cable (lod) as it passes all the noise trickery in the unit and gives plain old unmessed sound!

Depends. Are you comparing the combined digital/analog outputs of the two devices or are you feeding the digital outputs of both devices to the same D/A converter and comparing just the digital differences?

It's certainly possible for an iPod to sound better than an entry level CD player. For best sound from an iPod, bypassing the built-in DAC is the way to go (see Wadia). Playing lossless on an iPod feeding a high quality DAC will give you fantastic sound quality.