Hi all,

I recently purhcased a used '08 with a factory (non-Bose) stereo and connected the ipod with an $10 accesory cable. Disappointed with the results as the sound doesn't come close to resembling the CD player. Is it the $10 cable or is this just what I have to accept?

 

Well, it's not going to be as clear as a CD. The poor quality could have a few reasons - poor bitrate on the audio, crappy cable, shoddy connection. But it shouldn't sound awful.

How do you have it connected to your radio? Need more info to help you troubleshoot.

 

make sure all the equalizers are turned off on the ipod and also try playing with the ipod's volume to see if that makes a difference. you have the aux cable that looks like headphones right?

 

The problem could be the iPod and not your stereo. When you rip a CD to your computer it generally dose it in MP3 format which, while smaller in size, is crap as far a quality. In an MP3 the High's and Low's are sacrificed in favor of a smaller size. So if your iPod is filled with MP3's, your quality is going to be down no matter what system you play it on. If you want to test to see if this is the problem rip a CD to your computer using Apple Lossless format (assuming you are using iTunes, I think you can change the ripping format buy going to the preferences menu) put it on your iPod and play it on your car stereo. If you notice a increase in quality, thats whats going on. Apple Lossless is a format which is full CD quality. That would be what I would try.

 

Thanks Harmless....that was the issus I hadn't used the ipod in a long time and had to re-install itunes. It's default was to import the files in a mp3 format. I used your suggestion and it now sounds great.

 

Hey, who needs lossless playback on a car audio setup? Slap me around and call me Susie but lossless is overkill in an environment such as a car. But then again, an mp3 encoded under 192kbps is crap no matter where you are. My codec of choice is OGG @ Q6 on portable music (keyword: portable...aka save the most space without compromising too much for quality). On my home audio setup, FLAC is my codec of choice.

PS: I never liked the sound quality from an iPod. And don't even think of using any EQ on an iPod. Don't know if things have changed by now, but when I had mine in early '02, I was horrified.