I wanted to know what the best or at least very good way to play music on my RDX with ELS? I'm confused on what it has to be, I'm retreieing it from, um..., questionable sites and the only 5.1 i can find are all DTS, (that just give me static noise on old systems, non DTS) I burned a CD with DTS audio, from what i believe was 5.1, with this work, and will it "use the speakers" to their max potential?

Thanks.

 

So someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think CD-audio format allows more than 2 channels of audio. That is to say, if you're putting 5.1 in, you're only getting 2 out. And it's compressed, albeit not as much as MP3 files.

DVD-audio is another story, you can have 5.1 uncompressed channels of audio there. If you want to get the best sound, maybe look for FLAC (5.1 if available, but even 2.0 will sound great) and find software to convert it to DVD-A format, then burn onto a blank DVD disc. That will be far better than the highest bit-rate MP3 you can shove onto an iPod or anything from a CD.

You can also just buy DVD-audio discs, but the selection is limited. Just never caught on mainstream. Check Amazon for your favorite bands though, never know.

 

DTS wont work DVD Audio will, but its dead. Good luck making any decent selections of your own. You might have to somehow work from concert DVD videos, and that's not a wide selection either.

Get a nice ipod adapter. Mine also has an additional RCA input on the adapter itself and simply plugs inline through the GPS area.

 

Ipod is ok, but even at the highest bitrate you're not close to the clarity of a DVD-A format. I did manage to convert a concert video disc into DVD-audio format, but the audio quality is not as good as actual DVD-A discs. On a typical video DVD the audio takes up a very small amount of space and is still pretty heavily compressed. To me it's on par with CD, just in 5.1 channels vs. 2.

The best way at this point to get the highest quality audio is to find FLAC format files and convert them to DVD-A, then burn and enjoy. As BigHatch mentioned, the format from a consumer perspective is pretty much dead. A shame ours don't play SACD...they are supposed to be on par with DVD-A and there is a much larger selection out there.

In the end, most music has enough natural noise in the production that we won't hear a difference between a high bitrate mp3 and a DVD-A quality recording anyway, but it's worth the extra effort / money when you find a good one.

 

DTS CDs play just fine on the RDX ELS system and are 5.1 channel. They'll play just static on a standard CD player unless you route the digital out to a surround receiver. The format wasn't around very long so there aren't many titles. "Backups" of DTS CDs are easy to make and play fine as well. It's harder to do backups of DVD-A discs because most have copy protection.

Just get an iPod adapter if you don't have a later model with USB input. They integrate with the factory system nicely, displaying track info and sound great. Get a couple of DVD-A discs though because they do sound excellent. I think The Beatles - Love is still available for cheap and it's pretty cool. The Eagles - Hotel California sounds amazing and dropped in price for a bit there because they released it on SACD a couple of years ago.