USB vs. Ipod Interface Box

[BlurredVision 10+ year member]

I have an Eclipse CD4000 radio. Wonderful sounding unit. A friend of mine got a Pioneer with USB and it sounds great, better than any CD I've ever heard. He says its the raw data transfer or some crap. With my unit I need a box to use an Ipod for it: http://www.crutchfield.com/S-3dHAWDhlX9e/popups/accessory.asp?i=099IPC106 Would this sound as good as USB or is it time to upgrade? I just brought a knock-off ipod that uses USB a couple of months ago, but I will to buy an ipod adapter and get a pod if it sounds good.

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[Trey803 5,000+ posts]

sound quality cannot sound better than its original recording.....like a cd.

 

[tonyroc14 10+ year member]

and ipod sounds like a cd, its just mobile

 

[Jekku 10+ year member]

and ipod sounds like a cd, its just mobile

You are partially correct.

Any compressed audio file sounds as good as the original depending on the bitrate it was compressed.

BTW, Can you call FLAC files compressed? The file size for a folder of songs is the same as the cd you "ripped".)

 

[BlurredVision 10+ year member]

Okay, I hear what you guys are saying but we would burn cds with tracks that were different bitrates and they all sounded different on the cd (lower highs, lower bass, etc). We put those same tracks on a USB drive and they all sounded the same. There's no advantage to USB sq wise?

 

[bigbangtheory 5,000+ posts]

I have to go with the crowd saying you can't get much better than the original recording.......like a CD.

I have both the 3.5mm to 2.5mm wire to hook up my ipod and an ipod adaptor for my Pioneer PRS, just dont have the adaptor hooked up, so can't really comment on that. But as far as my wire I use to play the ipod, it is a night and day difference from CD to iPod.

Maybe it is a subjective thing, I don't know. I just know what my ears hear.

 

[darqnez 10+ year member]

The "Raw" data he spoke of may just be .wav files.

I have a CarPc and for the albums i REALLY LOVE, i dont compress them at all, I rip them into .wav files and play those, no compression, no loss.

If there is a head unit with USB that could plug directly into an external hardrive and play .wav files I would be extremely interested in owning one! I have a 750gb sata 3gb USB hardrive in the car so storage is no issue without compressing, and even though I use a DAC and not a sound card on my PC, I still think a proper HU would sound better.

Do you know what model he has or does anyone know of a HU that can take a external USB hard drive and navigate/Play files directly?