I read an article 'awhile back' that said a person should get a jack that goes from the WIDE jack off the iPod to audio input (such as a car stereo) as opposed to going from the headphone jack off the iPod to the audio input. The article said it will improve the sound quality at least 3X because the audio emitted thru the headphone jack was xx DB and the audio coming thru the WIDE jack was xxx DB and produced MUCH better sound quality. I THINK I read this on the LA Times technology section, but I can't find it there (If that was indeed the place), and it has been at least 6 months since I read it. Does anyone know about this ? If so, I will go looking for that 'special' wire, as opposed to the 'normal' phone jack to phone jack wire...
I didn't know sound came out the "wide" connector? I thought that connector could only be used for charging or connecting to your computer?
No, it can be used for both - remember, this is where you pipe the music from your PC to the iPod - not thru the headphone jack. The theory can (should ?) hold true going the other way, and the article I read said it did just that, but few know about it, I'm not sure Apple will even discuss it, but I am going to run up to my Apple store and ask anyway.
The question is, where do I get one for a Car adapter ? I stopped in at the Apple store today - they said they are out there on the market, they are good, but... Apple does not make them or sell them. I just figured I would ask here before I go dig into research mode.
Found it ! http://www.cablestogo.com/product.asp?cat%5fid=614&sku=35508 Now I need to find the one that you can play off of AND use a car charger on at the same time. But, at least the wire I was talking about does exist.
Found a couple that works with Kenwood or Alpine stereos. http://www.crutchfieldcanada.com/iPod_Adapters_for_Car_Stereos_s/305250.htm Tony.
Thanks Tony. Yeah, I started looking on Crutchfield's site, the Kenwood cable is kinda what I am looking for, I may have to consider buying one and making some changes to it, but I need to find an iPod schematic so I don't fry it, LOL.
How about an option for a home stereo? I frequently use my iPod using the headphone jack and the two RCA plugs into my stereo, but the sound quality sucks. My wife always acts as if I've done something wrong to make it sound that way.
Jim, they do make those, just go off the link I posted above - cablestogo.com, they have them. http://www.cablestogo.com/product.asp?cat_id=218&sku=35507&relatedItem=true When you pull the audio off the docking connector as opposed to the headphone jack, it's supposed to give 3x or 4x the bandwidth (or whatever). And I've seen the same cables on EBay for < $10. It's a 'docking connector to dual RCA jack connector' cable, or something along those lines. Now the problem becomes if you use a car docking connector, you cannot run it off the car charger.... surely someone makes an all-in-one docking connector, I just need to dig deeper..... PS - Jim, as you probably already know, it also depends on what your bit rating was when you put the music to your iPod, if it was just 96db, it's won't sound nearly as good as the... whatever it is, 238db, or the 180db, but the better you want the sound, the higher the bit rating must be, and the bigger the MP3 file is. On one hand you could have a song that takes up 800Kb of space, but if you pull down the same song at a higher bit rating, it could be 2-3Mb, not Kb.
Simmer down. I was going to link the same site of the cable you showed. Just havin' a little fun since you had found it on your own.
I didn't know that. Appears that most everything in my catalog is at 128kbps. I'll buy a cord, see if it makes a difference.
It may make a bit of a difference, but if you want to test the difference, load up the same song with the different bit settings, listen to each one, and see what difference it makes. Of course: you will have to rename each version to something slightly different. 128kb is good enough for ear buds, but for hi-def audio, not really. Heck, I still prefer wax over CD..
digital interface versus analog interface. however, i'm not sure if a dock connector to phono/aux would produce that much better sound quality than a jack-to-jack type connection, since it's still digital to analog...then again i'm not sure about the limitations of the mini jack, so it may be OK. i have a DICE iPod unit in my M3, and it works well [it even charges my iPod when it's plugged in!] a lot of other companies offer something similar for other makes/models, i'm sure. my ipod connector works with the factory radio and even lets me control my ipod with the steering wheel controls. it Dislays song titles on the factory HU as well.
That was my concern also, because unless you go digital-to-digital, you won't hear the 'best' sound, but the question is how much of a difference is there when you go digital to analog vs. analog to analog.... we shall see (or hear) soon.....
Ok, I am not into advertising, but I just received my 'IMP' from WWW.SIK.COM to listen to my iPod Nano in my car, and the difference is night-and-day, for me. Sound quality is MUCH improved. FWIW
Cool! - Glad it worked out. [And thx for the link] You also record all your stuff at the highest bit rate, correct? - Have you tried at a lower rate? - Maybe it will still sound awesome..... Cheers, Ian
Most of my stuff is at 160, some is at 192, very little is at 128. I just wanted a happy medium to use, and some of my 'critical' stuff such as Mannheim Steamroller I go as high as I can. You don't necessarily need an 'IMP' - they do make direct dock connecting wires as I posted in earlier postings in this thread, the difference is the IMP will allow you to both charge AND use line audio out.
