Here i am thinking if this could happen. i have my iPOD hooked in my car, and i notice that sound quality is not the same as if i was listening to a regular formated audio CD. therefore can this hurt speakers? I hear that distortion is what blows speakers alot more than "overpowering" them. soo, is distortion and static the same thing? is that what i hear on a lown quality MP3 tune? what would be the best kbps format for an mp3 for less "static/distortion"
i know that 128 suposed to be cd quality but is anything higher than that better?
THanks alot IA.

 

The reason is that you are using your headphone jack for the signal. As a result, you are sending processed sound into your radio. However, if you used the dock, and plugged into the dock jack, you are sending raw sound, thus, having CD quality. You will get distortion if you do it the first way, and technically, yes, distortion can blow speakers....but in your case, unlikely. Try the dock, and you will notice a world of difference.

 

128 is not CD quality -- even 320 is not CD quality.. But it's a different kind of distortion than the one you're thinking of, it won't damage your speakers.

 

192 is CD quality to the human ear.

He didnt actually mean CD quality. He meant "undistorted"

Double processed audio can lead to massive distortion.

 

192kbps is CD quality to the human ear if you have a bad stereo or bad ears -- through a pretty good system, the difference between a 320kbps LAME MP3 and a CD is night and day. In an S (especially one without a sub) the difference is going to be a whole lot smaller.

 

Mp3 is not capable of CD quality despite many claims. MP3 cuts off the high and low frequencies and can introduce considerable distortion. Most car systems are not quality enough to show much of a difference between CD and MP3 however.

If you use better connections you can make a big difference in the sound quality however. It is unlikely that MP3 distortion will cause damage however if you are pushing the limits of your speakers or maxing out the HU to the point it is causing distortion an MP# may be slightly more likely to smoke the speakers than a CD.

 

[QUOTE=NFRs2000NYC,Jul 26 2006, 09:00 PM]The reason is that you are using your headphone jack for the signal.

 

different encoders with different algorithms and settings can preserve different frequency ranges. moreover, most car systems--let alone home systems--cannot reproduce the 22khz max (nyquist frequency) stored as original CDA.

i personally have had some great high quality headphone setup and cannot discern between well-encoded mp3s and cds... but others claim so (most falsely i conclude)... but your mileage may vary. some probably do have extraordinary hearing, but most are joe blow with their klipsch or logitech z-whatever computers speakers who vehemently claim they hear an audible different.. well.. whatever.. your mileage may vary

as far as hooking up ipod through its line-out.. just play the ipod at ~3/4th level and youll be alright. redudant, extranneous sound processing will introduce distortion and artifacts.. but wont kill the speakers. clipping kills speakers...

next point.. clipping kills speakers...most of the time by melting the voice coil wires as power (heat) isnt adequately dissipated... however, as long as its played at a low level, there wont be much power to the voice coils. high amplitude + clipping distortion = fubar'ed speaker.

point of story: dont play sh*tty stuff loud

 

generally, higher bitrate = better... more bitrate = more data stored.

however, any sound file is only as good as the original source.

if i sing into a 3$ radioshack microphone, and have that sampled digitally (recorded converted into a digital signal) with the highest integrity, itll still sound like poo.

if youre downloading various mp3s of the web, their history is dubious... it could be a poor cd, poor rip, poor encoder, or any combinations thereof

 

Double processed audio.... "Overcooked" is if you used the top of the IPOD for your connection (the headphone jack)...like most IPODers do....

First the Ipod processes the original file to its own EQ and settings. That sound then heads to the headunit where it is processed again, before finally coming out of your speakers. The result, sound quality that is as good as sandpaper on a chalkboard. Try it yourself, youll hear a MASSIVE difference between the top and bottom of the ipod.