Base(ic) Question
 

Pardon the pun. My music sounds so much richer when played from the CD in my base Z, rather than from my iPod, through the iPod jack on the head unit. Why is this? Is there anything I can do to make the iPod recordings of those cd's sound stronger short of a new sound system. The system seems OK when used with original cd's. Hate to replace it if the iPod sound is still going to be inferior to the cd's. I just don't want to have to carry my cd's around all the time.

is that the 3.5mm cord u are using? if so, try a different cord. some cords just loose so much fidelity.

you should also consider getting a new aftermarket headunit...

I'm not sure its just a basic Radio Shack cheapee. I check upgrading the cable. Could be an improvement at small cost. Thanks.

All your tunes if bought from iTunes is only at 128kbps. Not sure what it is if you rip your own CD's to iTunes; but this is why I don't like iPods/iTunes. A standard CD is like around 1411kbps. Your CD player will always sound better & louder than your media player; even if the CD contains MP3's or whatever. I only purchase 320kbps MP3, as this is the highest MP3 format there is next to CD quality.

For a more detailed description read this.

First post
http://www.the370z.com/audio-video/6...dio-101-a.html

So if I burn the favorite songs in my computer (iPod) onto homemade cd's, they will be superior to hearing them through the car's sound system when sent into the system from the iPod. I got it. Tha's a shame. I'm disappointed as I was hoping/expecting that the iPod jack would replace the need to carry around all my cd's. I guess it does, provided I'm willing to accept the degraded sound quality. Is the Music Box on the high tech package just as good as the cd sound or is it also compromised?

No that will not help, the music is still going to be compressed. Please read over the above article and you should get a clear understanding. The music box I am not sure I believe even that compresses the music to some extent but I would not know. Another way to get better sound is to upgrade your head unit to one that has a ipod connector cable not just a 3.5mm plug.This way your bypassing the internal dac or digital to analog converter.

Thank you. Very informative.

Hey Bro,
If you get a Ipod Dock connector to 3.5mm, you will have CD quality audio from you AXU input. It will give you a line level output. Itunes is fine.

Amazon.com: Cables To Go 35508 4ft iPod-Compatible 3.5mm to Dock Connector Audio Cable: Electronics

Hope that helps.

It's actually becasue the iPod is using the digital/analog converters built into the ipod and then the signal is porting directly into the stock stereo and amplified.

Lets say you get an aftermarked headunit like the Alpine IVA series with IPod functionality. The difference is the digital/analog converters inside the Ipod are bypassed and the much higher quality ones in the head unit are used instead.

This makes a HUGE difference in sound quality.

^^ that is quite possible. i agree.

Interesting.

Though, at my age, it's probably not much of a concern. Add in road noise in the Z and there goes some more "interference". And don't even talk to me about the windows down :eek: Noisiest open windows I've ever heard in a car.

And besides, what's all this talk of 3.5 connector? My Z just has the usual jacks and the USB connector. The USB connector is what I hook the iPod up to (but to segue to another thread, it doesn't work as advertised most of the time).

The quality of a prerecorded CD is far superior to a compressed MP3 file.

iPod Bluetooth adapters are available, no? O wait, base stereo has no Bluetooth, right?

LOL one question makes everyone worry about there quality of music now.:rolleyes:

For the best quality music from any source your music has to be uncompressed plain and simple. That is why all mine are in apple lossless. Windows Media uses something called FLAC which is pretty similar. When and if some of you start re ripping your cd's to your hard drive you will notice within ripping only a few that they take up much more room on the HD.


Direct from Car Audio 101 Thread:

Music Compression
So I want to shed some light on the different formats out today. The fact of the matter is that almost everyone downloads illegally "I personally do not". But people do not see what they are missing out when they do this. When you download a mp3 or wma file from the internet, not only is the quality very poor but has gotten poorer than from the previous time it was downloaded. Now for some people this is fine. These format mp3 and wma are compressed audio. Weather you rip a cd or download from the web. These formats take the highs and the lows of them song and compress them to the bit rate that you have selected. There are many other formats as well but none as popular as the ones listed. For those that use itunes and buy your songs you are still either getting 128 or 256kbps, so your still compressed.

The standard for most programs is 128kbps than it goes up from there. A normal uncompressed song is around 1035kbps. So what I am getting at is the more compression the worse your music sounds. Now a simple way to get better music is look for better compression rates such as a 320kbps as appose to the standard 128. This will allow the highs and the lows to become more lively. But the best way to avoid compressed music is to buy your cd's. Now a lot of you at this point are saying HA ya but that is tons of money. Well not true, you can get almost any cd from amazon used for around 3 bucks. After getting the cd weather it be from the internet the store or that good friend, the next step is to rip it uncompressed.

For itunes users it is pretty simple just go into your setting and go to the rip tab and select apple lossless. For windows media users go into setting and select Flac or uncompressed. For whatever you use for ripping cd's there should be a setting for uncompressed.

All and all this may not be for everyone, some people do not mind compressed music. Also for people that are happy for thee factory stereo they will still hear a difference just not as much as a aftermarket system. People that just use mp3's for there ipod threw ear buds might not notice the difference unless using a more expensive set of ear buds. All and all I hope this has opened your eyes to a new kind of music.

:icon18: Spot on