neo_styles
10+ year member
AKA Pop Twidget
Neither have I. If you don't own the CD, just try to download stuff that's encoded at 192kbps or higher. Look into having a torrent client if you don't already use one. I prefer utorrent.
Bettr n' Revrse
5,000+ posts
I do what I want
Too much of a pain in the ass to down load all that shit then covert it all to 320 so I just use CD's
Alrojoca
10+ year member
Senior VIP Member
2 things:
1 make sure you are not using the headset jack to listen to your iPod and connected to an aux port. If you are not using a USB iPod cable and port on the HU you are not hearing what you should be hearing.
2 Once you hook up your iPod to the computer, click on the music section of your iPod, select the song, right click check info and that will tell you the file size, if it's 128k AAC stereo, no good. 256- 320k, good-best.
I agree, EQ on iPod, off, some tracks, and type of music no matter what setting you use, it will sound bad due to the poor quality recording or the type of music.
1 make sure you are not using the headset jack to listen to your iPod and connected to an aux port. If you are not using a USB iPod cable and port on the HU you are not hearing what you should be hearing.
2 Once you hook up your iPod to the computer, click on the music section of your iPod, select the song, right click check info and that will tell you the file size, if it's 128k AAC stereo, no good. 256- 320k, good-best.
I agree, EQ on iPod, off, some tracks, and type of music no matter what setting you use, it will sound bad due to the poor quality recording or the type of music.
neo_styles
10+ year member
AKA Pop Twidget
That's if the option to compress on transfer is enabled and I think you can adjust what it compresses down to. IIRC, it's 160 AAC and it's pretty awful. Like I said, I'm running 320CBR now and the difference is definitely apparent, especially with dynamics and space
VWBobby
10+ year member
PG and SS nuthugger
If you want to use an iPod in your car, use a USB adapter direct to the head unit. This is the only way to avoid what is already a loss (using an mp3 player).
This was all discussed about a month ago:
http://www.caraudio.com/forums/general-discussion/562271-mp3-ipod-vs-c-d.html
No, CD's are not compressed 320Kbps. No, 320K is not CD quality. Yes, you can hear a huge difference between 192 and 320K. MAYBE you won't be able to tell driving down the road at 60mph with the road noise. However, when there is little road noise, yes I can hear a difference in my car. Definitely different in the home.
The only way to compress music is to remove information or abbreviate sound information in the areas where the codec determines is inaudible.
If you are listening to a 192K or 320K MP3, try turning it up and see if you can hear the digital garbage that comes through. It will sound like a weird robotic crackle sound, especially on higher pitched sounds in quiet passages. You will not hear it on loud songs usually, only the quiet parts. Also, the bass and treble has been cut below 25Hz and above 20Khz. Especially the closer you get to 20Khz. This is why Kenwood and other manufactures have "expanders" for MP3 playback, to help get back some of the sound information that was lost in encoding. Lots of manufactures have come up with circuits or software to help improve the quality of MP3 playback, but it is still just a band aid for the problem (sound loss).
This was all discussed about a month ago:
http://www.caraudio.com/forums/general-discussion/562271-mp3-ipod-vs-c-d.html
No, CD's are not compressed 320Kbps. No, 320K is not CD quality. Yes, you can hear a huge difference between 192 and 320K. MAYBE you won't be able to tell driving down the road at 60mph with the road noise. However, when there is little road noise, yes I can hear a difference in my car. Definitely different in the home.
The only way to compress music is to remove information or abbreviate sound information in the areas where the codec determines is inaudible.
If you are listening to a 192K or 320K MP3, try turning it up and see if you can hear the digital garbage that comes through. It will sound like a weird robotic crackle sound, especially on higher pitched sounds in quiet passages. You will not hear it on loud songs usually, only the quiet parts. Also, the bass and treble has been cut below 25Hz and above 20Khz. Especially the closer you get to 20Khz. This is why Kenwood and other manufactures have "expanders" for MP3 playback, to help get back some of the sound information that was lost in encoding. Lots of manufactures have come up with circuits or software to help improve the quality of MP3 playback, but it is still just a band aid for the problem (sound loss).
gckless
5,000+ posts
CarAudio.com Veteran
This. Use USB for sure. By using the headphone jack, you are then using the shitty iPod DAC, which you don't want to use. That's where all those sound EQ's are applied. You don't have those with USB, it's digital to the HU and then uses the DAC in the HU. While your Kenwood probably doesn't have the best DAC in it, it's miles better than an iPod.
Also, lossless FTW.
Alrojoca
10+ year member
Senior VIP Member
Exactly, funny how we try to solve a problem and overlooked the main sources, like I said before, USB will give you the best sound and digital integration and sound. 2 issues, 128 k stereo files and headphone jack output to aux. if you need to use the aux port, buy one of these iPod iPhone Dock Connector Male to 3 5mm Plug Cable Mm | eBay it will give you much cleaner and better sound than the headphone jack.
And there's your problem, especially when you combine the two. You might actually prefer the digital compressed (nasty) sound of poorly encoded mp3's though. Many people have grown up with them and when they hear clean sounding music, it just sounds "off". Just play and listen to what you enjoy.
Activity
No one is currently typing a reply...
About this thread
