Quick audio question
 

This is a stupid question but still.


I have a 2009 Z so that means that I don't have ipod plugin, no dvd, no fancy touchscreen, no HDD and so on.

I only have mah 6 slot CD reader and AUX input.


now I have been tired of always switching cds and burning new ones so I have decided to start using my 5th gen Ipod Nano.


all good and well. but I have noticed that my music is alot quieter compared to my CDs, say I play a song on a CD, loud bass and all putting the system on full blast is kinda overdoing it. but when I play the exact same song, exact same file through my ipod and its almost half the loudness.

so what could be causing this? is it just that AUX sucks or do I need to change the equalizer?

I am not an audio guy so I have no idea.


though I also had the same experience kinda with my headphone, I used to use earbuds with that ipod but a couple of months ago I bought a sennheiser HD205 headset and I noticed that the thing plays alot quieter too.

I'm not sure if this is causing the problem, but normally audio CD's have much higher quality recordings on them...and when you download mp3's or rip them off your CD more often that not you will be sacrificing a lot of the audio quality in order to get them into the nice 5 mb size.

You can start downloading/ripping songs in CD quality, but it will just take up much more room on whatever device you are using to store the music. I think the goal of the lower quality was to strip off the frequencies that human ears cannot interpret while maintaining the frequencies we can hear...you can read more about it on the audio FAQ in this forum, or just google it.

This might not be the answer to your problem, but could be a contributing factor. I'd say try to rip the songs off of one of your CD's that plays "loud", and then burn the ripped songs onto another CD and then put that in your CD player. If the new CD sounds "quieter", then maybe thats the issue.

the CDs are MP3 files too.


that is what I mean by taking the exact same file on the CD and putting it on the ipod.

did you try turning the volume on your iPod up?

....ofcourse I am not that much of a idiot :roflpuke2:

1. Make sure iPod volume is where you want it. Check
2. Go into iTunes and hit 'Volume Leveling' to even the volume of all your MP3's
3. Play audio through AUX port.
4. If your still using the stock head unit, adjust your Bass/Mid/Treble numbers to get a little bit more quality/volume
5. If you're using an aftermarket head unit, look for some kind of "Loud" feature, if there is one, turn that ON.


Sadly all CD's will play louder/have better quality than any MP3 player. It's just part of the problem. An Aftermarket Head Unit won't make this as pronounced, or if you have an after market amplifier going to your speakers as it will boost the signals power level. But with the stock system, you're kinda limited to what it gets. This is why I don't use CD's in it and only use my iPod.

Hope that helps. :tup:

Thing to remember. The plug on the iPod that plugs into the Aux is generally pushing little tiny earplugs. No amplification.

true. but still I would of expected the head unit to amplify the signal.

and meh if I could I would change my whole setup but that is too costly + time


any suggestions on possible equalizer setting on the ipod itself?

This will sound dumb, but I've done it a few times:
If you get the jack *almost* all the way in, it might look like it's in correctly but have only one channel of output blending against both input channels on the headunit. If you have mono sound and half the volume it's one explanation, and it would be free to fix.

The ipod is going to be quieter than a cd because the cd is being read and than directly amplified. The ipods signal is being amplified and than sent out and than amplified again. The ipod is not going to have the same amplification as a true pre input of rca's. I would not recommend enabling volume correction in itunes.

Have you tried using one of the FM Transmitters for the iPod and using the radio to pick up the signal? Might sound different than 3.5mm jack??

I only say/do this due to I didn't at first, but then I'd be listening to my radio and a really quiet song would come on... So I'd have to turn the radio up to get it to an audible volume... the next song would be almost CD Quality and would almost bust my ear drums, let alone the speakers! :inoutroflpuke:

I guess I could try buying something like the PARROT MKi9200. had one of those in my megane and that thing was awesome.

but then again that was all connected to a nice amp and focal speakers.

Would installing that fix the shitty noise coming out of my ipod

Just buy a ipod integration kit for your stock radio. This way your bypassing the ipods internal amp and your controlling the ipod from the head unit. Search crutchfield for the kit.

Just an FYI....there is no truth to this as long as you are ripping the MP3 at a decent level (128k and above). The ripped MP3 has lost parts of the music/song that are generally not noticable by the human ear. Dont believe me....google it.

oh i can definitely tell the difference between a 44.1kHz 16bit or higher sampled wav. file vs a 128k, 256k, and 320k mp3's. but the acoustics in the car isnt that great nor are the speakers or wiring or HU in my car so this is why i usually just listen to mp3's in the car.

for real listening i dont like mp3's.

there are main 3 reasons why the ipod is quieter through the 3.5mm aux input on the car vs playing them directly off the mp3 CDR.
1. the ipod should not blow people's ears out when played.
2. the ipod is running on limited battery power so amps need to have minimal power consumption... should be just loud enough to power high impedance headsets (some studio headsets).
3. on the car side, cheap aux input pre-amps are generally noisy so they dont put much amplification.

i am sure 90ST can elaborate more on impedance. :)