Thread: Apple=Fail

Zune fo life!

That indeed sucks... however:

Unless you are running uncompressed audio that is truly "HD audio" quality, there is no reason on earth to not use a $10 stereo cable to connect your mp3 player to your receiver.

Now, since you said that the audio coming over the stereo cable you're using now "sounds like crap"... I've gotta ask. What kind of files are you playing? What is the source? What is the characteristics of the file (bitrate, channels, etc). What receiver/speakers are you playing back on? Just curious. Maybe your ears are way better than mine, but I play 320kbps mp3 over a stereo cable, on a ~$500 Pioneer receiver with a ~$1200 Athena speaker setup, and I can barely tell the difference from the original CD. I've never really even experimented with HD audio, other than the tracks on Blu-Rays.

Originally Posted by Veovis

That indeed sucks... however:

Unless you are running uncompressed audio that is truly "HD audio" quality, there is no reason on earth to not use a $10 stereo cable to connect your mp3 player to your receiver.

Now, since you said that the audio coming over the stereo cable you're using now "sounds like crap"... I've gotta ask. What kind of files are you playing? What is the source? What is the characteristics of the file (bitrate, channels, etc). What receiver/speakers are you playing back on? Just curious. Maybe your ears are way better than mine, but I play 320kbps mp3 over a stereo cable, on a ~$500 Pioneer receiver with a ~$1200 Athena speaker setup, and I can barely tell the difference from the original CD. I've never really even experimented with HD audio, other than the tracks on Blu-Rays.

When I tried this I got some added noise. I also HATE to adjust the volume every time. I have a cable in the car for my receiver that I am always plugging/unplugging. I will take the line out any day over headphone output.

Originally Posted by Veovis

That indeed sucks... however:

Unless you are running uncompressed audio that is truly "HD audio" quality, there is no reason on earth to not use a $10 stereo cable to connect your mp3 player to your receiver.

Now, since you said that the audio coming over the stereo cable you're using now "sounds like crap"... I've gotta ask. What kind of files are you playing? What is the source? What is the characteristics of the file (bitrate, channels, etc). What receiver/speakers are you playing back on? Just curious. Maybe your ears are way better than mine, but I play 320kbps mp3 over a stereo cable, on a ~$500 Pioneer receiver with a ~$1200 Athena speaker setup, and I can barely tell the difference from the original CD. I've never really even experimented with HD audio, other than the tracks on Blu-Rays.

Well...I was just using the default Apple settings (AAC encoder at 256 kbps for stereo). Played over my Sony 5200ES head unit,and Infinity IL60s plus the surround speakers (7.1 setup). With the first little docking unit,it was coming directly from the Apple USB port (the wide one you would use to sync it),and transmitted thru a fiber optic cable to the receiver. It sounded fantastic (especially for compressed audio). Now it comes from the little mini headphone jack to the analog speaker inputs....the difference is huge.

It really isn't the music I was concerned about....my cd's are only about 20ft away....it was podcasts that I really wanted to listen to. The difference is massive between the two setups. With the current mini-jack setup,I have to turn the amp up to about 60% just to hear it in another room. With the fiber,the same amount of volume was achieved at around 30%....and with much more clarity. With the fiber setup,I could have listened to the music on my ipod without driving me nuts....not completely cd quality,but a hell of a lot closer than it is now. There is really no comparing the two different setups...it's not even close.

You don't have to buy official Apple branded accessories, but you do have to buy accessories that pay the Apple tax. (i.e. they get the chip.) On a side note, plenty of receivers now have built in iPod docks. Just about every one I've looked at offers the option. I've not run into any issues with my mine, but then again, I strictly use my iPod touch as a portable media player. I stream MP3s to my home theater system via my TiVo.

The internet functions came in very handy during vacation. I didn't have to get out my laptop for 90% of my internet needs. The only time I actually used my laptop was to offload pictures from my camera, and next time, I'll be bringing more SD cards to hold pictures and leaving the laptop at home.

As for the difference between mp4 vs wma... they're both compressed audio formats. Both have their drawbacks. Not all media players play either or both formats, and Microsoft's DRM is just as shitty as Apple's. I get around all the format bullshit by buying my music in CD form and ripping to good old MP3. It works in anything, and there's plenty of utilities out there that will manipulate them. Screw WMA and MP4. Online music stores FTL!

ninja: Get MP3Gain. It analyzes the volume of your music and 'normalizes' it so that the music all has the same peak output levels. Works like a charm.

Originally Posted by dex71

Infinity IL60s plus the surround speakers (7.1 setup)

Are you using all 7 channels for what you're listening to? How many channels was the source recorded in?

Sansa Fuse... never looked back.

Does everything I want it to and can play mp4s if I ever need it to. Can sync with media player and a few other players. Has a micro sd slot for extra space/storage.