ipod or zune hd

[yuncon2]

i'm about to buy a pioneer deh 800 prs and i've heard how the ipod sq isn't great so i'm wondering if the zune hd connected by the aux cord will be much better or would connecting it through a usb wire be better? if anybody knows it would help me a lot. thx

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[ejschultz 10+ year member]

If you're going to be using the headphone output on the Zune, it's not going to be superb. Keep the volume on the Zune about 3/4 of the way as the output will clip just like the preouts on a head unit. Sound quality from any player is going to depend on the format and the bit rate you rip at. From my experience, WMAs and AAC files tend to sound the best. MP3s lose a little. I use MP3s. My music is all 192 kbps in the MP3 format. I have an iPod touch that I use on my 800PRS. First of all, the iPod connection for the 800PRS is pretty slow. I've got another adapter on order that will let me control the iPod with the iPod, not the HU. Overall sound quality on the 800PRS with the iPod vs any other HU I've owned (mainly Alpine), is great. It's the least noisy adapter. The music is pretty clear, I can't tell how compressed I have it. If I play a CD then switch to my iPod, I can tell a difference, but if I get in my car and go straight to iPod, the iPod sounds great. Lastly, doesn't the Zune HD just have a higher resolution screen? Audio should sound no different between a Zune, Zune HD, iPod, Zen, or whatever MP3 player you're looking at, assuming bitrates and file formats are comparable.

 

[yuncon2]

thx that helped me a lot more. well my second choice is the pioneer avic u310bt. i'm not sure how sq will sound on that compared to the 800prs but i'm sure it'll be close. i'm not looking for the special navigation or bluetooth it offers although it's a plus. i'm also not a fan of touch screens. in any case i know they have this thing where they make it so they expand the ipod's compressed songs so that you can get the original quality. main question would probably be how would this hu compare to the 800 prs?