Save your money and give the aerial the 12v it is missing after fitting the Alpine, Number 5 in the lowest connector in the diagram.
Save your money and give the aerial the 12v it is missing after fitting the Alpine, Number 5 in the lowest connector in the diagram.
Just phoned ICE shop to arrange iDA-X305 purchase/instal, & it turns out that the iDA-X305 is not compatible with the LCR's OEM CD stacker. Crap!
Really want to have a CD option when it comes to re-sale - just my luck that the only punters who'll be interested in buying my LCR will be non-iPod luddites!
Why do you need CD's these days, just stick all your tunes on a usb drive, i've got a 16GB one and it holds about 200 CD's worth.
As for resale, just keep all your old stuff and put that back in, but really who gives a **** about what stereo is in a car when you buy it?
I have had the aftermarket ones, alpine, pioneer.
I have gone back to the Aura with the connects2 ipod connector, as i got fed up taking the face out every time
As long as i can hear my music, I'm happy.
I have gone back to the Aura with the connects2 ipod connector, as i got fed up taking the face out every time
As long as i can hear my music, I'm happy.
Lol, you must live in a rough area... I have never removed my faceplate.... Just use all the tools given to you in the box to secure it to your dash, and its going no where... plus you have an alarm... have faith in your car!!
Plenty of folks don't like MP3s' compressed sound (especially over-35s, according to statistics), it's why more DL sites are offering Lossless & FLAC - even iTunes is moving towards 256kbps AACs. Conversely, neither does everyone have an 120GB iPod loaded with 100s of CDs ripped as Lossless.
Imagine this scenario: there're 2 LCRs for sale that are approx same price, age, mileage, condition etc & same colour, but one has audio that suits you, the other does not - which are you going to buy? Just want to keep my resale options open...
(Hmm, hang on, maybe I should incl my 120GB iPod when I sell the car - by then, it'll be worth sod-all 'cos a new/better version will be avlbl?!)
Guess it depends on what floats yer boat - some folks are a bit, erm, anal re sound-quality/h-fi, some are not.
(Don't get me started re upgrading power leads, interconnects & bi-wire speaker cable... 
) 320kbps? Cor, what a waste of your Alpine's 24-bit DAC.
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Guess it depends on what floats yer boat - some folks are a bit, erm, anal re sound-quality/h-fi, some are not.
320kbps? Cor, what a waste of your Alpine's 24-bit DAC.
Been there done that, but prefure to have to boot space these days.
Whats the 24-bit DAC all about?
DAC - Digital-Analogue-Converter. Digital music formats - MP3, AAC, CD's AIFF etc - need to be converted to analogue so that they can be heard.
Most CD-based HUs use 1-bit DACs 'cos the sound-quality is easily extracted from CDs. However, 'cos non-CD HUs are relying, potentially, on MP3's inferior compressed sound, the manufacturers have to compensate, otherwise their HUs would sound very 'tinny'.
Hence, decent digital receiver HUs have a 24-bit DAC, a type normally found in quality home h-fi.
![[B)]](/forums/styles/seatcupra/oldforumsmileys/shades.gif "Cool [B)]")
The larger the DAC, the more info it can extract & the more detailed the sound will be. And if you use larger, more detailed files - such as Lossless or AIFF - then a 24-bit DAC is able to effect more detail retrieval & overall transparency + you'll hear tighter, more articulate bass, a richer midrange & less flat, more expansive imaging.
Using 320kbps with a 24-bit DAC is the audio equivalent of having a 42-inch, 1080p hi-def plasma TV but only using it to watch VHS tapes instead of DVDs or BDs.
Unfortunately, there's no ideal compromise at present, options are 2-fold, & quite extreme: rip CDs as AAC/320kbps[EDIT] (better than MP3/320kbps, but not ideal) & maintain approx the same number of songs/tracks already on your USB drive. Or get an iPod Classic 120GB (awaiting deliv for mine), which'll take at least 200 CDs ripped in Lossless that will sound very crispy on your Alpine.
The latter seems extreme & a bit of an upheaval, but the way things are going we'll soon be DL-ing all our music in Lossless-type CD-quality - or even better, uncompressed files? - & streaming music wirelessly from desktop/laptops into our home hi-fi systems. iPods storage capacity seems to get bigger with each upgrade & the Naim Uniti has put the cat among the pigeons in the high-end hi-fi sector, so it won't be long before the Uniti's format is copied & avlbl for much fewer £s from other manufacturers. Plus, our ears will become re-educated as Blu-ray's uncompressed, 'pure' & high-detail sound becomes the norm.
As an experiment, why not rip the same music track (pick one that is obviously well recorded/mixed, as opposed to a 'Boom! Boom!') twice - 1 as Lossless, the other AAC/320kbps[EDIT] - to your USB drive, then play it on your Alpine & decide which format you prefer?
The latter seems extreme & a bit of an upheaval, but the way things are going we'll soon be DL-ing all our music in Lossless-type CD-quality - or even better, uncompressed files? - & streaming music wirelessly from desktop/laptops into our home hi-fi systems. iPods storage capacity seems to get bigger with each upgrade & the Naim Uniti has put the cat among the pigeons in the high-end hi-fi sector, so it won't be long before the Uniti's format is copied & avlbl for much fewer £s from other manufacturers. Plus, our ears will become re-educated as Blu-ray's uncompressed, 'pure' & high-detail sound becomes the norm.
As an experiment, why not rip the same music track (pick one that is obviously well recorded/mixed, as opposed to a 'Boom! Boom!') twice - 1 as Lossless, the other AAC/320kbps[EDIT] - to your USB drive, then play it on your Alpine & decide which format you prefer?
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As an experiment, why not rip the same music track (pick one that is obviously well recorded/mixed, as opposed to a 'Boom! Boom!') twice - 1 as Lossless, the other AAC/iTunes Plus - to your USB drive, then play it on your Alpine & decide which format you prefer?
Thats a good idea, i can hear the difference when compressed at 320kbps as you can hear more of the frequency range, anything lower just sounds a bit weak.
Cheers for the info, you sound like you know your stuff. I produce music and hate sending demos to people as low bitrate mp3 coz they sound naff, i think i'm going to need to rip all my old cds again at some point.
Wiki: "WAV (or WAVE), short for Waveform audio format, also known as Audio for Windows[2], is a Microsoft and IBM audio file format..."
Hmm, always get a bit twitchy when I see the words 'Windows' & 'Microsoft' in a product description.
A CD's standard file-type is AIFF, so if you want to rip with best-possible quality, then you might as well select AIFF in iTunes 'Import Settings' (via 'Preferences') - WAV can't improve or 'boost' AIFF files.
Below is an example of the same track's - Elbow's Grounds For Divorce - file size/kbps when ripped as AAC/320kbps, Apple Lossless, AIFF & WAV:
AAC/320kbps: 320kbps / 8.6KB
Apple Lossless: 1026kbps / 26.9MB
AIFF: 1411kbps / 37MB
WAV: 1411kbps / 37MB
Perhaps AAC/320kbps is the best compromise for 4-16MB iPods/iPhones when using earbuds, while Apple Lossless is best for 120MB iPods playing via earbuds or decent (Alpine!) HUs?
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