Ipod playback through car stereo

[Wallace]

I'm a new Ipod user and am working through the process of setting up my car
for it's playback.
I've tried the easy stuff (FM transmitters and an FM modulator) and not been
happy at all. The sound quality isn't anywhere near what I get from CD's

So now I'm considering replacing the headunit with an aftermarket unit that
has an aux in.
Just for grins I did some experimenting with the Ipod and my home stereo. I
took the headphone output and went through RCA adaptors to input the Ipod
into my home receiver.
It sounded a bit over driven and compressed. I turned the volume level of
the Ipod down but it didn't change the sound quality.
I'm wondering if this is just the nature of MP3's (I did use the highest
sampling rate option on Itunes)?
Or is the poor quality a result of converting a headphone out to RCA level
inputs?
Incidentally, the Ipod sounds great through my set of Bose headphones.

I'm looking for opinions on how best to interface the Ipod to a car with the
goal being high quality sound.
thanks all,
Tom

[Psych-O-Delic Voodoo Thunder Pig]

> Or is the poor quality a result of converting a headphone out to RCA level
> inputs?
> Incidentally, the Ipod sounds great through my set of Bose headphones.
>

Get an iPod cable with line-out. The cable will connect to the iPod docking
connector and give you a true line-out which will work with your home stereo
or aux-in on your car headunit. This is what I use at home and in the car
and it works great and sounds good too.

jp

[Troy T.]

If your going to trplace your HU, the best one to go with is the Apine
HU's.You actually plug it into the dock connector and you controll your
ipod through the HU. They have awsome sound quality

[Simon Dean]

Wallace wrote:

> I'm looking for opinions on how best to interface the Ipod to a car with the
> goal being high quality sound.
> thanks all,
> Tom
>
>

Several solutions.

You really need Line Out on your iPod. I have used a "Sik Imp" for this
in the past which also has a power adapter. Well recommended, but Im
sure there are others.

There are various other aftermarket head units that can control iPods
now. Troy T. suggested and Alpine, Im going to suggest a Clarion.

All my kit is Clarion, with a Clarion Head Unit and an iPod interface
(EA1251B/EA1251E), together with my Bluetooth Hands Free Kit (BLT433),
and a CD Changer all connected to the same system.

I like it.

Obviously the draw back - you need to keep buying these various
interface units - I don't know if support for the iPod is built into the
Alpine.

Cya
Simon

[I Love Edsels]

I recently had a Panasonic cq-c3433u installed and the guy attached a
cord to the aux input on the back of the unit. I don't have an ipod,
and can't seem to lure anyone who has one into my truck...so I have no
idea if it sounds good or not.
Tom (different one)


On Sun, 03 Sep 2006 09:41:01 +0100, Simon Dean
> wrote:

>Wallace wrote:
>
>> I'm looking for opinions on how best to interface the Ipod to a car with the
>> goal being high quality sound.
>> thanks all,
>> Tom
>>
>>
>
>Several solutions.
>
>You really need Line Out on your iPod. I have used a "Sik Imp" for this
>in the past which also has a power adapter. Well recommended, but Im
>sure there are others.
>
>There are various other aftermarket head units that can control iPods
>now. Troy T. suggested and Alpine, Im going to suggest a Clarion.
>
>All my kit is Clarion, with a Clarion Head Unit and an iPod interface
>(EA1251B/EA1251E), together with my Bluetooth Hands Free Kit (BLT433),
>and a CD Changer all connected to the same system.
>
>I like it.
>
>Obviously the draw back - you need to keep buying these various
>interface units - I don't know if support for the iPod is built into the
>Alpine.
>
>Cya
>Simon

[Norman]

"Wallace" > wrote in message
. ..
> I'm a new Ipod user and am working through the process of setting up my
> car for it's playback.
> I've tried the easy stuff (FM transmitters and an FM modulator) and not
> been happy at all. The sound quality isn't anywhere near what I get from
> CD's
>
> So now I'm considering replacing the headunit with an aftermarket unit
> that has an aux in.


I got one of these for my head unit -

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Aux-Input-Plug-for-Renault-Update-List-Head-Unit_W0QQitemZ330024875661QQihZ014QQcategoryZ14932 QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

This is for a Renault although you can get them for other makes. It attaches
to the cd changer port in the back of the head unit and you just plug the
other end (3.5mm plug) into the iPod and away you go. I bought mine for £15
although you can make them yourself for a about £4.

Norman

[puttster]

"Wallace" > wrote in message
. ..
> I'm a new Ipod user and am working through the process of setting up my
car
> for it's playback.
> I've tried the easy stuff (FM transmitters and an FM modulator) and not
been
> happy at all. The sound quality isn't anywhere near what I get from CD's
>
> So now I'm considering replacing the headunit with an aftermarket unit
that
> has an aux in.

I bought a VR HU that has a USB input. Best Buy and JVC make one also. So
far I have plugged a thumb drive in and it finds the songs and plays just
fine. I don't have an Ipod but it seems to me if you mated the USB ports it
would work okay.

[jc]

Wallace wrote:
> I'm a new Ipod user and am working through the process of setting up my car
> for it's playback.
> I've tried the easy stuff (FM transmitters and an FM modulator) and not been
> happy at all. The sound quality isn't anywhere near what I get from CD's
>
> So now I'm considering replacing the headunit with an aftermarket unit that
> has an aux in.
> Just for grins I did some experimenting with the Ipod and my home stereo. I
> took the headphone output and went through RCA adaptors to input the Ipod
> into my home receiver.
> It sounded a bit over driven and compressed. I turned the volume level of
> the Ipod down but it didn't change the sound quality.
> I'm wondering if this is just the nature of MP3's (I did use the highest
> sampling rate option on Itunes)?
> Or is the poor quality a result of converting a headphone out to RCA level
> inputs?
> Incidentally, the Ipod sounds great through my set of Bose headphones.
>
> I'm looking for opinions on how best to interface the Ipod to a car with the
> goal being high quality sound.
> thanks all,
> Tom

I recently went through this. There are a number of units that will
let you
control your iPod directly through your stereo, but most are very slow
unless you have a very small collection or are willing to rely
exclusively on
playlists.

Everyone seems to agree that the Alpine system is the best, but I found
even that took *minutes* to scroll through all my Artists, and forget
about
doing a song-based search. Not to mention that most units only give
one line of text, which makes it really easy to overshoot while
scrolling through
lists. By all reports, most other options are much slower. I decided
that I'd
much rather control things through the iPod itself.

In the end, I went with a unit that had a rear aux inputs (I chose a
Duel 2825,
but there are many), and added a Blitzsafe Uii Universal Ipod
interface,
which I wired directly into the wire harness, that provides a plug to
connect
directly to the iPod. This has the nice feature of charging the iPod
and
also pausing it when I shut the car off.

I'm *extremely* happy with the result.

-jc

[jc]

puttster wrote:
> "Wallace" > wrote in message
> . ..
> > I'm a new Ipod user and am working through the process of setting up my
> car
> > for it's playback.
> > I've tried the easy stuff (FM transmitters and an FM modulator) and not
> been
> > happy at all. The sound quality isn't anywhere near what I get from CD's
> >
> > So now I'm considering replacing the headunit with an aftermarket unit
> that
> > has an aux in.
>
> I bought a VR HU that has a USB input. Best Buy and JVC make one also. So
> far I have plugged a thumb drive in and it finds the songs and plays just
> fine. I don't have an Ipod but it seems to me if you mated the USB ports it
> would work okay.

Generally, this will "work" to the extent that you will see one
directory with
all of your iPod songs in it. At least the JVC unit requires a
separate
(and expensive) interface to actually control the iPod, but by all
reports
it is extremely slow.

Bottom line, don't even think about buying one of these built-in
iPod interface units without trying it first and don't believe ANYTHING
the salesman at Best Buy tells you - ever!

-jc

[Wallace]

Hey thanks for all of the great input and suggestions on my iPod dilemma. I
really appreciate you folks sharing your experience and expertise.

It looks like the best way for me to accomplish iPod playback through my car
is to get a new head unit that has an aux in. (I'm not really that
interested in controlling the iPod through the headunit.)
I played around with a couple of units at a local car stereo shop and found
that the sound quality of the iPod was greatly improved with some gentle EQ
'ing.
So... I'm looking for input on a decent head unit that has built in 5 to 7
band EQ.

Any suggestions?

thanks,
Tom

"jc" > wrote in message
oups.com...
>
> Wallace wrote:
>> I'm a new Ipod user and am working through the process of setting up my
>> car
>> for it's playback.
>> I've tried the easy stuff (FM transmitters and an FM modulator) and not
>> been
>> happy at all. The sound quality isn't anywhere near what I get from CD's
>>
>> So now I'm considering replacing the headunit with an aftermarket unit
>> that
>> has an aux in.
>> Just for grins I did some experimenting with the Ipod and my home stereo.
>> I
>> took the headphone output and went through RCA adaptors to input the Ipod
>> into my home receiver.
>> It sounded a bit over driven and compressed. I turned the volume level of
>> the Ipod down but it didn't change the sound quality.
>> I'm wondering if this is just the nature of MP3's (I did use the highest
>> sampling rate option on Itunes)?
>> Or is the poor quality a result of converting a headphone out to RCA
>> level
>> inputs?
>> Incidentally, the Ipod sounds great through my set of Bose headphones.
>>
>> I'm looking for opinions on how best to interface the Ipod to a car with
>> the
>> goal being high quality sound.
>> thanks all,
>> Tom
>
> I recently went through this. There are a number of units that will
> let you
> control your iPod directly through your stereo, but most are very slow
> unless you have a very small collection or are willing to rely
> exclusively on
> playlists.
>
> Everyone seems to agree that the Alpine system is the best, but I found
> even that took *minutes* to scroll through all my Artists, and forget
> about
> doing a song-based search. Not to mention that most units only give
> one line of text, which makes it really easy to overshoot while
> scrolling through
> lists. By all reports, most other options are much slower. I decided
> that I'd
> much rather control things through the iPod itself.
>
> In the end, I went with a unit that had a rear aux inputs (I chose a
> Duel 2825,
> but there are many), and added a Blitzsafe Uii Universal Ipod
> interface,
> which I wired directly into the wire harness, that provides a plug to
> connect
> directly to the iPod. This has the nice feature of charging the iPod
> and
> also pausing it when I shut the car off.
>
> I'm *extremely* happy with the result.
>
> -jc
>