MP3Car.com - View Single Post - can a carputer replace a high end av dedicated system?

hannibal · 10-26-2004, 01:22 PM

just wanna add my 2 cents...
Of course, your $5000+ Alpine system will sound better than my 5 yr old Celeron based PC. But what if I spent $5000 on my PC?? Now, we're comparing apples to apples.
The biggest difference between the two is the amount spent on dedicated audio performance. As someone mentioned, thats all the Alpine engineers care about. Now imagine if all those resources were used to design an audio PC. PC parts are cheap compared to Alpine components. For $1000, I bet you could buy all the hardware you'll ever need (PC + 5.1 digital sound, DSP, etc).

The difference in price would be best spent on programming to integrate the system. I think thats the part youre missing. I honestly doubt anyone here has $4000 worth of custom software. With that amount invested in custom programming, I would wager my Celeron PC could rival your Alpine in sound quality and ease-of-use. And, as we all agree, it could do things (internet, burn CD/DVDs, MPEG4) the Alpine could never do.

Bottom line, I think the difference between Alpine and a PC isnt the hardware. Its the time, resources, and money put into tying it all together with excellent user friendly programming. Even on mp3car.com, I think people are just starting to put more emphasis on this portion of the carPC design.

10-26-2004, 01:22 PM	#26
hannibal Constant Bitrate Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Washington DC Posts: 143	just wanna add my 2 cents... Of course, your $5000+ Alpine system will sound better than my 5 yr old Celeron based PC. But what if I spent $5000 on my PC?? Now, we're comparing apples to apples. The biggest difference between the two is the amount spent on dedicated audio performance. As someone mentioned, thats all the Alpine engineers care about. Now imagine if all those resources were used to design an audio PC. PC parts are cheap compared to Alpine components. For $1000, I bet you could buy all the hardware you'll ever need (PC + 5.1 digital sound, DSP, etc). The difference in price would be best spent on programming to integrate the system. I think thats the part youre missing. I honestly doubt anyone here has $4000 worth of custom software. With that amount invested in custom programming, I would wager my Celeron PC could rival your Alpine in sound quality and ease-of-use. And, as we all agree, it could do things (internet, burn CD/DVDs, MPEG4) the Alpine could never do. Bottom line, I think the difference between Alpine and a PC isnt the hardware. Its the time, resources, and money put into tying it all together with excellent user friendly programming. Even on mp3car.com, I think people are just starting to put more emphasis on this portion of the carPC design. __________________ My first carPC! MP3/CD player Celeron 633MHz - 10GB Seagate - 64MB PC100 - Win XP Soon to actually find its way into the car!