Audio Quality

Hexerei · 07-13-2004, 04:33 PM

What are your experience with going from a headunit to a carpc playing mp3s? Based on the quality of the sound I mean. I'm going from playing mp3 cds in an alpine 7995 to a carpc running through the alpine headunit's AUX input. I didn't think about it until I just got sound working on my Epia MII 10000 running linux. Right now it's setup in the house through a Sony LBT-D390 stereo and for some reason the mp3s don't sound as clean as the mp3 cds in my car. Do you think this could just be my stereo? Granted they are not the exact same mp3 files (I havn't taken the CDs out of my car to test yet) but I ripped these at 192kbps (in music match 8) and the ones in my car are probably 75% 128kbps and 25% 192kbps (ripped from various programs).

I have the PC volume at 75% and my stereo volume at 22 out of 30, just for normal volume. Even then the music doesn't sound very clean.

I'm stil going to mess around and see if I can fix it, but how many of you ran into this? and did you get it fixed or does it not bother you?

MrSpace · 07-13-2004, 04:38 PM

I dont,, have car experience, but my laptop is connected to my high end audio setup (Linn Classik) wih the headphone jack into RCA into the aux input of the stereo and it's total *****.

It plays not even half as loud.

IMO you'll have to get a sound card with SPDIF and then send digital signal to your amp.

Etienne

DjBac · 07-13-2004, 05:25 PM

if u have analog outputs then use line drivers!!!!
With these the amps won't distort in order to get out some music, so the quality will be better and the volume much higher!!!

As MrSpace said the best way to connect your PC to an amp is SPDIF!!!

U can do it in the car with digital processors... LIke Apline PXA-H900 (the best one in my opinion), PXA-H700 and other brands!!!

Hope this helps!!!

sfay93 · 07-13-2004, 05:33 PM

I have my PC connected to my 5 channel amp through the line out jack. It sounds great and goes much louder than I could ever want. have you checked where the volume controls are for master and wave? I can't even set mine all of the way. Sound is great as well.

DjBac · 07-13-2004, 05:41 PM

The line out on most soundcards do not supply much power (current)!!
Try a line driver and you will have an even better setup!!!!

Hexerei · 07-14-2004, 12:17 AM

Is it safe to run a line driver into my home stereo or my car's headunit? I'm not going direct to the amps when I put this in my car. I will be going to the headunit so I can use that for radio and a volume control knob for the carpc.

ayclens · 07-14-2004, 12:27 AM

This is a godsend for car audio...indash linedriver and EQ (and sub level control!):

http://www.audiocontrol.com/MobileAu...ash/index.html

It can be had on Ebay for just over $100 used.

The three.1 is what I have and is what you would want if you were running your carputer with NO head unit. The four.1 has an AUX input and would be ideal for running your carputer WITH a headunit.

WhiteRabbit · 07-15-2004, 05:13 PM

ive noticed that mp3's even burned to cd format sound like **** in my car. ive never found a suitable replacement for recordings straight off the shelf.

pip · 07-15-2004, 05:18 PM

FLAC and APE and other 'lossless' formats are indistinguishable from a CD, as long as it was ripped well to begin with. However there may be a difference in sound quality between the CD in your head unit and the sound via the line-in...but you can hardly blame that on the coding

WhiteRabbit · 07-15-2004, 05:37 PM

is there widespread support for these formats? all I see online is mp3....

and then theres always the question of how much space tdo these formats take up, i may as well have waves if they take up the same space....

ayclens · 07-16-2004, 01:16 AM

FLAC, APE, and Shorten "lossless" formats take up approx 50% of the original WAV file size.

welthqa · 07-22-2004, 05:24 PM

I've thought on this a lot recently. My altima came with stock speakers that produced a lot of bass and were very clear. People kept asking me what kind of sub I was running. When i switched to my pc, all that bass went away. the sound was slightly less clear, but that never bothered me. Boosting the bass thru software didn't seem to help at all. I think that because I'm using the onboard sound I'm not getting as much bass as I used to. I'm concidering purchasing one of the expensive sound cards with the little knob connecter things that I'll fab into the console.

Has anyone else experienced a drop in base with onboard sound processor? Did a better card fix this?

brandon · 07-22-2004, 05:35 PM

- I had a stock HU and used speaker level inputs to my amps, the sound was decent.
- I replaced my stock HU with a carPC using an M10000 mobo and the onboard sound card, there was a major improvement in the sound quality, sounded even better than some of my co workers with aftermarket setups.
- Then I purchased an Audigy2 soundcard and now have an audio orgasm every time I get into my car.
For alot of people, the stock soundcard on the mobo will probably do the trick.

prerunnerv6 · 07-23-2004, 10:24 AM

The only installed car-pc's I've used just ran old MPXPLAY and a Soundblaster card. (I know, I'm ancient.

But for just mp3's, it never fails.) These setups always had good SQ. I then tried to use a laptop and it's headphone jack and it didn't sound good at all. Tried again with another pc with on-board sound. Sounded better than the laptop, but still not as good as the old Mpxplay and Soundblaster card.

So far, I've preferred using a dedicated sound card or external device as opposed to the on-board sound outputs.

starfox · 07-23-2004, 02:10 PM

Yeah, notebook / laptop soundcards are usually quite noisy. Due to space constraints on the PCBs, signal integrity doesn't take priority.. Same with onboard sound, the most important factor is to minimise cost.

welthqa: you're not using some sort of group loop isolator are you? do you have anything connected in between the PC and your head unit / amplifier?

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