This is more of an IPOD question, but it sort of applies to our cars....

In iTunes when you are importing songs from a CD, I'm curious what format people use, and if they notice any sound quality differences when their IPOD is connected to the TL, such as the DICE, USASpec, etc.

For me, I had no choice but to use one of the compressed formats (AAC) because my IPOD wouldn't fit all the uncompressed formats (WAV, Apple Lossless, etc). I'm still trying to decide if I notice a difference when I burn CDs. I haven't gotten an IPOD kit for my car yet, just listening to burned CDs (probably going to get the DICE soon).

Curious what you guys have experienced?

Thanks!
Rob

 

My personal suggestion is to upgrade to a larger iPod rather than sacrifice sound quality to fit more songs or burning scores of CDs. I have an 80 gig video iPod and I have almost 10k songs on it and they are exclusively mp3 and while that's not as good of a sound quality as WAV files, I don't have much of an option since I don't buy CD's and I don't know of a website that lets you purchase songs in WAV format. I do always try and get the best quality downloads though, worst case being 196 kbps that I will download but I usually try and get 256 kbps or if I ever do import from a CD I always import it at 320 kbps. To me anything over 256 will sound as good as you are going to get from a factory sound system. If you have WAV files I would recommend burning DVD-A discs since that will sound significantly better.

I was originally using the AUX input for my iPod and then bought the DICE kit and I do notice a lot better sound quality now when I have Dolby Digital turned off compared to before. However, when I was using the Aux input I would also leave the Dolby Digital turned on and that gave me a much better sound quality than having it off, although the volume level would be lower. Comparing Aux input with Dolby Digital to DICE unit without Dolby Digital I am much happier with the DICE kit.

I hope that helps.

 

Interesting...I don't recall reading about anyone experimenting with the Dolby Digital option....I'll have to look into that.

Unfortunately, when I first got my IPOD I imported all my CD's at once, and it took forever, so I'm probably stuck with what I have on my IPOD (AAC format). But when I get the DICE I'll try turning off the Dolby Digital.

Thanks!
Rob