iPod vs. CD

[Tom Messy]

Why do CD's sound so much better than my iPod when played in the car? I have the iPod on a Griffin thingamy that plugs into the fag lighter. There's then a 3.5mm jack lead from that to the front aux-in on the HU.

The HU says it's compatible to connect directly to the iPod via an extra cable, so would this give me better/clearer sound than the aux-in?

Tom

 

[tse_adam]

i personally think connecting the device using leads will always provide a better sound than those FM transmitters.

 

[capnmchl]

A lead will give a better sound.

Also, bear in mind that music on a CD is, as far as your concerned, un compressed, whereas when you put it on your Ipod, it gets compressed into a smaller format. But you usually don't notice these things unless you have a real lossy compression rate, or a really good quality sound system.

 

[pap29]

with a full good sound system its ipod all the way as the sound through my alpine with built in ipod sync is just amazing and i do notice when its not my ipod direct connection.
amazing sound and would recommend to anyone

 

[Antony]

try listening to a CD being played on a nakamichi head unit, then listen to your ipod..

you will soon realise that the quality of an mp3 is RUBISH!!

i had a track i made myself (ala DJ stylee#) and was 35mb in size. excelent quality and clarity.
now to get it on my phone i had to compress it onto mp3 format... it went down to 3MB......

where has all that DATA gone? it now lacks depth and clarity, theres no bass and the dopler style stereo i had worked on so hard had allbut dispeared.

MP3 is rubish!
get an in car din sized DVD player and listen to tru quality sound..

 

[Hugh]

SQ is all dependant on what codecs you use and what sampling and bit rate you use. I bet some of my classical MP3's will kick the arse interms of quality with regards to most modern CD's.

AAC is a better option to use for your ipod than MP3 less data loss. But it all depends on how good the original is.

Plus car audio is an interesting beast as there are way more variables than they are in home hifi. At times is can be 90% install and 10% equipment.