Headunit shopping... recommendations?
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From: Montebello
Originally Posted by Neutered Sputniks,Feb 18 2009, 12:25 PM
LRx 4.300. Switched to an active setup. Before that I had an LRx 2.150.
It's hard for me to justify the price difference between the LRx and VRx lineup for the S due to cabin noise.
I've heard from a reliable source (designs/builds/sells amps) that Alpine used to weight their amps with lead blocks to make them feel heavier...
It's hard for me to justify the price difference between the LRx and VRx lineup for the S due to cabin noise.
I've heard from a reliable source (designs/builds/sells amps) that Alpine used to weight their amps with lead blocks to make them feel heavier...
Just happens that my Lexus got totaled by a huge charter bus and I'm looking for a S now 
Dunno about the "lead" but once you opne up Alpine amps, you know they aren't using top grade components
Also, unlike HU's, Alpine often cut corners for their amps 
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From: Montebello
Originally Posted by philbert,Feb 18 2009, 01:32 PM
It has nothing to do with equipment being "good enough"... the bits are identical. You can argue that the D/A converter in the iPod is inferior to D/A in stand alone players, or the analog output stages are worse (though in this car application the HU is providing the D/A and analog output, so results would be the same), but the actual digital bit information on the cd is identical to the bit output after conversion back from lossless. Stereophile magazine tested and confirmed this:
Originally Posted by http://www.stereophile.com/digitalprocessors/505apple/
Some audiophiles have dissed the AirPort Express on the grounds that its digital output is not bit-accurate. However, I found that this was not the case, that the data appearing on the AE's digital output were identical in the original file. To check this, I compared a WAV file with a duplicate that I had captured on my PC from the AirPort Express's S/PDIF output. I used iTunes on my PowerBook playing a version of the file encoded with Apple Lossless Compression to feed data to the AE. The files were bit-for-bit identical, proving that the AirPort Express is transparent to the music data (as is ALC, for that matter).
Thus, we should still ditch the iPod Bit by Bit is one thing, the fact that I haven't heard a perfectly reproduced compressed music is another. I'll try to capture and compare the data when I have time
Also, bad D/A vs good D/A, has too do with equipment, isn't it?
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From: Coastal CT
Originally Posted by Claus,Feb 25 2009, 03:57 AM
Also, bad D/A vs good D/A, has too do with equipment, isn't it?
The "component" differences at issue are iTunes creating the ALC file, the iPod converting that file to PCM and transmitting it to the D/A converter vs the CD-transport section of the HU transmitting PCM.
Now, you could argue that there is no HU capable of accepting a digital feed from an iPod that is on par with the best of the HUs that accept CDs. But at that point, you better be listening in a "cleaner" environment than an S2000.
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Ahh, but the IPod isn't capable of playing that signal back at the same level as the CD, so it'd be pointless to have a HU that is capable of it.
This is why most USB HU's limit the MP3 quality they can play back - because anything higher exceeds the bandwidth available (USB, mind you, same as the IPod interface).
This is why most USB HU's limit the MP3 quality they can play back - because anything higher exceeds the bandwidth available (USB, mind you, same as the IPod interface).
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From: Montebello
Originally Posted by philbert,Feb 27 2009, 09:52 AM
Yes, I never said otherwise. Just that in this scenario, you're using the HU in the car for the D/A conversion whether it's an iPod with lossless files or the internal CD transport.
The "component" differences at issue are iTunes creating the ALC file, the iPod converting that file to PCM and transmitting it to the D/A converter vs the CD-transport section of the HU transmitting PCM.
Now, you could argue that there is no HU capable of accepting a digital feed from an iPod that is on par with the best of the HUs that accept CDs. But at that point, you better be listening in a "cleaner" environment than an S2000.
The "component" differences at issue are iTunes creating the ALC file, the iPod converting that file to PCM and transmitting it to the D/A converter vs the CD-transport section of the HU transmitting PCM.
Now, you could argue that there is no HU capable of accepting a digital feed from an iPod that is on par with the best of the HUs that accept CDs. But at that point, you better be listening in a "cleaner" environment than an S2000.
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From: New York
I disagree about Alpine. For the s2000, any major headunit is fine. Buy it for the features and ergonomics, not for SQ. Any minor difference in sound quality will quickly be killed by the s2000's noise level. For the s2000, power (loudness) is more important than SQ.
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Originally Posted by NFRs2000NYC,Mar 4 2009, 06:56 AM
I disagree about Alpine. For the s2000, any major headunit is fine. Buy it for the features and ergonomics, not for SQ. Any minor difference in sound quality will quickly be killed by the s2000's noise level. For the s2000, power (loudness) is more important than SQ.
Besides. Alpine's "5V pre-outs" don't actually come close to putting out 5V max, much less across the entire volume range (this is how it adjust volume to the amps, by lowering the voltage of the pre-out).
Eclipse has 8V pre-outs. And that's true 8V pre-outs that actually put out 8V across the entire volume range.
How much does that matter? Well, when looking at amplifier output, a higher voltage in results in higher output, greater power stability, as well as increase sound quality.
But, who cares to hear all that when you can be an Alpine Fan Boi instead
