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Topic: Best In-Car Listening Environment (Read 6768 times) previous topic - next topic
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Best In-Car Listening Environment

I have a Honda Civic '97 with stock speakers and a stock media system.

Before I begin my complicated in-car computer project, I want something simple for a few months. So I decided to use my iPod (with the custom Rockbox firmware) to play some music because the stock system only has a CD (Wave) player.

What I want to know is, which solution would be best? (CD / cassette to Mic Input, Radio to iPod hookup, etc...)

And if there would be a difference when playing FLACs or MP3s (at 320Kbps of course) from my ipod through an external hookup to my speakers.

Best In-Car Listening Environment

Reply #1 –
Quote from: LiNk2008 on
I have a Honda Civic '97 with stock speakers and a stock media system.

Before I begin my complicated in-car computer project, I want something simple for a few months. So I decided to use my iPod (with the custom Rockbox firmware) to play some music because the stock system only has a CD (Wave) player.

What I want to know is, which solution would be best? (CD / cassette to Mic Input, Radio to iPod hookup, etc...)

And if there would be a difference when playing FLACs or MP3s (at 320Kbps of course) from my ipod through an external hookup to my speakers.

Even in the nicest car stereo I suspect you will have trouble distinguishing between well encoded lossy (MP3) (won't even get into the 320Kbps overkill bit) and lossless (FLAC).

Q:  Best option to hook your Rockboxed player to your car?
A:  On as scale of 1-10, 10 being best and 1 being worst option:
10 - UMS - Mount your Rockboxed iPod as a UMS HDD and let your headunit do the decoding.  No possibility of interference.
09 - Line-in to the headunit from the line-out on the dock connector on the bottom of your iPod.
08 - Line-in to he headunit from the headphone jack of your iPod, with volume set to "0" (assuming no net gain in the EQ or Replaygain settings)  Use the EQ preamp to negate any net gain in the EQ.
06 - Cassette adapter plugged into dock connector.
05 - Cassette adapter plugged into headphone jack - see hints above.
01 - FM modulator
Creature of habit.

Best In-Car Listening Environment

Reply #2 –
Well, thank you for that insightful reply, actually learned a few things I didn't know about .

Well the problem with this current setup is that the head unit has no input option at all, just the CD player. And of course I only have 1 120V outlet in the car.

I'm really interested in the first option, using the iPod as a UMS HDD. Could I do that with my stock head unit? I've never heard of this possibility before.

Best In-Car Listening Environment

Reply #3 –
Quote from: LiNk2008 on
Well the problem with this current setup is that the head unit has no input option at all, just the CD player. And of course I only have 1 120V outlet in the car.

Then you are stuck with the FM modulator option.  Not the worst thing in the world.
Quote
I'm really interested in the first option, using the iPod as a UMS HDD. Could I do that with my stock head unit? I've never heard of this possibility before.

No, you need a head unit which supports mounting USB UMS devices.
Creature of habit.

Best In-Car Listening Environment

Reply #4 –
If you're stuck with the FM modulator option then, in all honesty, I very much doubt if you'll hear any difference between lossless FLAC and MP3 encoded in VBR at -V5 with LAME. This would reduce the filesize by around a factor of 7.

Cheers, Slipstreem. 

Best In-Car Listening Environment

Reply #5 –
Awww

Well, thanks for the help guys. I guess the best option would be to replace the head unit altogether. Any suggestions?

Best In-Car Listening Environment

Reply #6 –
As you're based in Canada and I'm in the UK, my advice may be of no use to you on MP3 head-units, but I bought this Alpine last year and am exceptionally pleased with it for the money. You can buy an iPod adapter for it, but I just burn my MP3 tracks to CD-R after encoding with LAME in VBR at -V3 and it plays them great while displaying track info in a nice scrolling dot-matrix display.

Cheers, Slipstreem. 

Best In-Car Listening Environment

Reply #7 –
Quote from: Slipstreem on
As you're based in Canada and I'm in the UK, my advice may be of no use to you on MP3 head-units, but I bought this Alpine last year and am exceptionally pleased with it for the money. You can buy an iPod adapter for it

Note:  You definitely will not be able to control a Rockboxed iPod (at this time) with said head unit, and you might not even get any audio output while in Rockbox.  (This unit (this brand even) has not been reported on in our (Rockbox's) wiki)
That being said, if you use Rockbox's database and load your music through iTunes (or one of its alternatives) you could always dual-boot.
Creature of habit.

Best In-Car Listening Environment

Reply #8 –
Okay, well this seems to be getting a little more complicated than I first anticipated.

To be honest, I just referred my Rockboxed iPod because it's the only one I currently have to use for music. I didn't even imagine controlling it through my head unit.

What I want to do in the end is get a laptop with a 5.1 sound card and hook that up to my speakers directly. And of course a little touch screen to top it all off.

But here's a more generic question, which would apply to all peripherals (i own a pocket pc also). Could I just use a headphone jack and get the same quality as any other method?

Best In-Car Listening Environment

Reply #9 –
Quote from: LiNk2008 on
Could I just use a headphone jack and get the same quality as any other method?


Yes, this is the option I rated (subjectively) a 8/10.  (Though my ratings were mainly contrived to emphasize that Line In > Tape Adapter > FM Modulator (and FM modulator losing by a large margin) and that the dock port's line-out was superior to the headphone jack)

The advantage of Rockbox in this situation is you can easily know you are driving said headphone jack at line-level, not below (decreased signal to noise ratio (to the point quiet passages can unnecessarily fall below the noise floor)), not above (clipping).
A volume level of "0" in Rockbox (assuming (as I mentioned) you don't have gain in other stages turned on) is line-level through the headphone jack.

Apple O/S - who knows what graphical volume level corresponds to line level?  (Likely a few "clicks" below max as the hardware is capable of > line level.)
Unknown PPC program - ditto on the unknown.
Creature of habit.
 

Best In-Car Listening Environment

Reply #10 –
I used to use an FM adapter when I drove a 1990-model car with only a radio (no tape, line in, or CD). And it was really, really terrible. I would barely consider it working.

I heard it's possible to hack FM transmitters to broadcast a more powerful signal (legally it's limited by the FCC) but I just wouldn't even bother.

Since you're going to be replacing a lot of stuff anyway, just go ahead and get a decent head unit with line-in and be done with it. Having your unit directly interface with your iPod sounds like a gimmick used to sell expensive units to me. There's nothing wrong with using a simple auxiliary input.

Best In-Car Listening Environment

Reply #11 –
Quote from: slks on
sounds like a gimmick used to sell expensive units to me.

Sounds like a flippant remark to me, but I can see why someone would say that. 

Head units that interface with iPods allow you to pay better attention to the road.  Not all of them are expensive.

Best In-Car Listening Environment

Reply #12 –
Alright, interesting suggestions. I will look into it further or just decide to buy a newer model car ;P.

If I were to use a PPC though, I would use TCPMP (Best mobile program I've ever found). Plays AVI, HD video, FLACs whatever, with barely any CPU usage.

Best In-Car Listening Environment

Reply #13 –
You can use an ipod-ready stereo with rockbox.You can't control it from the head unit, but the line out and charger should still work. Dash mount it, navigate from your ipod and listen through your head unit, and you'll have the best of both worlds.

Best In-Car Listening Environment

Reply #14 –
no need to spend money on an ipod ready unit though if you're going to use rockbox.  just get a decent HU with a front or rear (or both) aux input and run your line out from the ipod to that and you're set for now.

Best In-Car Listening Environment

Reply #15 –
I have a 2005 Honda Civic (UK model).  What I did was to install a small power amp  Inside the dash mounted to the stock head unit cradle.  I bypassed  the stock HU entirely and modified a wiring adapter intended for din HU's so the amp could just plug in to the factory wiring without modifying it.

The amp is a Nakamichi PA 150 which is a 14 wpch 4 channel amp.

My 3rd gen iPod drives the inputs of the amp directly from the headphone socket via a small in line remote that came with the ipod and which provides play/pause skip forward/backward and +/- volume functionality.

I replaced the front door speakers with some MB-Quarts.  The little remote is to the side of the seat and can be operated easily by feel and does not detract from driving attention.

If you want a HU with full ipod integration at a very good price, then this JVC unit looks like a very good option:  http://www.incarexpress.co.uk/view_product...?partno=KDPDR41