Most of us here have good car audio equip... yet we listen to mp3s...pfft.

[regxjin 10+ year member]

I just got into the car audio market after I bought a car and found out the stock system ***** ***.

I would often get so fustrated with the sound quality that I wouldn't even play music in my car...

However...

after purchasing a 4ch amp, a sub, and some front mid/tweeters, my car system has gone from...

a piece of **** to a semi-good system.

BUTTTTTTT...

I have 1 important question for all you guys...

I know most of you guys are probably running mp3s as your main sourceof music.

BUT.. we all know that even at 320kpbs the sound quality isn't great and most likely will bring out even more craptastic sound since most of our aftermarket speakers are so crisp and clean.. that mp3s will sound pretty horrific. Am i right???

So what's the point in spending all this money and time on acquiring such great car audio equipment when most of us will be playing mp3s??

I doubt a lot of you guys "buy" cds... and the music source is so limited in flac codec...

so.. what do you guys do? How do you justify getting all this great gear.. only to be playing subpar quality mp3s???

*discuss*

Click to read more...

 

[-01limited- 10+ year member]

To make the bitches wet in my passenger seat.

 

[d2k 10+ year member]

I just got into the car audio market after I bought a car and found out the stock system ***** ***.I would often get so fustrated with the sound quality that I wouldn't even play music in my car...

However...

after purchasing a 4ch amp, a sub, and some front mid/tweeters, my car system has gone from...

a piece of **** to a semi-good system.

BUTTTTTTT...

I have 1 important question for all you guys...

I know most of you guys are probably running mp3s as your main sourceof music.

BUT.. we all know that even at 320kpbs the sound quality isn't great and most likely will bring out even more craptastic sound since most of our aftermarket speakers are so crisp and clean.. that mp3s will sound pretty horrific. Am i right???

So what's the point in spending all this money and time on acquiring such great car audio equipment when most of us will be playing mp3s??

I doubt a lot of you guys "buy" cds... and the music source is so limited in flac codec...

so.. what do you guys do? How do you justify getting all this great gear.. only to be playing subpar quality mp3s???

*discuss*

lol... good point!!

cmon guys, tell us that all this UBER equipment we buy is able to magically improve source quality..

 

[nateberrier 10+ year member]

To make the bitches wet in my passenger seat.

The GF giggled when I gave her a demo of my 18 for the first time, she was all leanin forward. I was all skewzmewtfrudoin? and she was all "It feels good" //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

Anyhow, 320kbps sounds IGHT 128 makes me FUUUU. I get higher than 320 and or flac most of the time from demonoid no problem though. I run MP3 cds.

MX and BMX and all those other tools come on most radios to "restore" the sound. My alpine does a good job, most new pioneers make it worse, the old pioneers dont do too bad. but mostly I will say that XM radio makes me FUUU at the sound quality and most youtube rips the same. Hell if you have the internal EQ turned on on your iPod I say gtfo my car. I can tell but point being 320 I can do it and I dont notice it too much but FLAC IS SLDFJKHWEL:T

 

[Johnny Law.Lulz 5,000+ posts]

Most of the people on this site are here to get loud. While its not the best sound quality, it doesnt sound too bad to most of us. Ive never had a problem with it.

 

[whitedragon551 5,000+ posts]

Any MP3, if its properly encoded, from 224kbps and up will sound exactly the same as a lossless format to the human ear. We can only detect changes under 224kbps. So a properly encoded 320kbps MP3 you will not hear a single difference in SQ. But naturally the keywords are properly encoded. The issue is finding a source that knows what they are doing. I find it best to grab a FLAC copy of what I want and then encode to a 320Kbps MP3 that way I know it was personally done right.

There are differences in DAC's though and that may be were the SQ quality changes. I use my iPod Touch for my MP3 source. You want to make sure the internal iPod EQ is off or as flat as possible. Only about 20 or so headunits bypass the internal iPod DAC's and they are inferior to the the HU. Some early iPods had better DAC's than the current ones so they naturally sound better and the differences can be seen on an O-Scope.

 

[d2k 10+ year member]

Any MP3, if its properly encoded, from 224kbps and up will sound exactly the same as a lossless format to the human ear. We can only detect changes under 224kbps. So a properly encoded 320kbps MP3 you will not hear a single difference in SQ.

& there it is.....//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/cool.gif.3bcaf8f141236c00f8044d07150e34f7.gif

 

[nateberrier 10+ year member]

Any MP3, if its properly encoded, from 224kbps and up will sound exactly the same as a lossless format to the human ear. We can only detect changes under 224kbps. So a properly encoded 320kbps MP3 you will not hear a single difference in SQ.
There are differences in DAC's though and that may be were the SQ quality changes. I use my iPod Touch for my MP3 source. You want to make sure the internal iPod EQ is off or as flat as possible. Only about 20 or so headunits bypass the internal iPod DAC's and they are inferior to the the HU. Some early iPods had better DAC's than the current ones so they naturally sound better and the differences can be seen on an O-Scope.

Alpine full speed =s bypass, most kenwood and newer pioneers do not.

Also I notice a difference between one 24bit dac to the next and 16 or less is also a big FUUUUU. Also notice differences in encoding, one 320 will sounds worse than others and some 128s and vbrs will sound better than some of my 320s. I would imagine this is because someone took a 128 or 160 or w/e and tried to upconvert it (doesnt work ladies) FUUUU.

But anyway, Ipod typically sounds better on the alpine decks Ive owned. 860 from pioneer is the best deck i have ever owned and mp3s sounded good no matter on it haha. but no ipod interface.

 

[snoopdan 5,000+ posts]

So what's the point in spending all this money and time on acquiring such great car audio equipment when most of us will be playing mp3s??

Hair tricks. See sig.

 

[theMessenjah44 10+ year member]

Hair tricks. See sig.

exactly...it's louder...how many people spend as much on their highs as their substage anyway? it's primarily SPL on CA

 

[Cruzer 10+ year member]

i use 320kbps on a flash drive, so no eq to bypass or anything like that. i havent really looked into getting better quality music but hearing the difference between 128kbps and 320kbps im satisfied with having at least 320kbps. if there is an easy alternative to getting better quality, great, but downloading 320kbps albums at the click of a button is simple enough

 

[05fronty 5,000+ posts]

i play tapes still

 

[Johnny Law.Lulz 5,000+ posts]

I keep 8 tracks at all times for the ultimate SQzzz //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/fyi.gif.9f1f679348da7204ce960cfc74bca8e0.gif

 

[05fronty 5,000+ posts]

I keep 8 tracks at all times for the ultimate SQzzz //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/fyi.gif.9f1f679348da7204ce960cfc74bca8e0.gif

then for extreme sq i have a record player in my ride also.

 

[whitedragon551 5,000+ posts]

Alpine full speed =s bypass, most kenwood and newer pioneers do not.
Also I notice a difference between one 24bit dac to the next and 16 or less is also a big FUUUUU. Also notice differences in encoding, one 320 will sounds worse than others and some 128s and vbrs will sound better than some of my 320s. I would imagine this is because someone took a 128 or 160 or w/e and tried to upconvert it (doesnt work ladies) FUUUU.

But anyway, Ipod typically sounds better on the alpine decks Ive owned. 860 from pioneer is the best deck i have ever owned and mp3s sounded good no matter on it haha. but no ipod interface.

I was about to say that Ive heard properly encoded 128kbps MP3's that sound better than improperly encoded 320kbps MP3's. However not all Alpine fullspeed connections bypass the iPod DAC's. There are only a handful of Alpine units that do bypass the iPod DAC's.

Crutchfield offers a search function that lets you filter out the HU's that do bypass iPod DAC's:

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