MDI niggles

[G-rig]

The car environment isn't that bad and the mk6 has better sound deadening as well and is pretty quiet.

I already have a home setup and headphones but see your point.

There is nothing wrong with the iPhone sound quality when using decent quality files, have you tried listening to it with decent headphones?

People don't need to do any mods then.

Ps no one listen to mav as he's got an iPhone himself.

[Maverick]

The car environment isn't that bad and the mk6 has better sound deadening as well and is pretty quiet.

I already have a home setup and headphones but see your point.

There is nothing wrong with the iPhone sound quality when using decent quality files, have you tried listening to it with decent headphones?

It will still not be as good as coming from a CD even if the Apple Lossless really is "lossless" and not "loss loss" which is the statement that started this discussion.

Ps no one listen to mav as he's got an iPhone himself.

Damn it, I've been outed but this only adds credibility to my icrud/iturd comments! (it's a work phone and soon to be replaced with a non apple product - getting an iturd was not my doing)

[G-rig]

The point is there's not much point using CDs as the vw speakers and head unit/amp aren't of high quality.

[Maverick]

The point is there's not much point using CDs as the vw speakers and head unit/amp aren't of high quality.

?? Since when?

You can hear the difference between a CD and a lossless format on the icrud/iturd so how can the stock head unit and amp not be of high enough quality?

[Frankenstrat]

The point is there's not much point using CDs as the vw speakers and head unit/amp aren't of high quality.

I'm really reluctant to get involved in this discussion, however I'd like to raise the point that an important part of the digital>analogue chain is the D/A converters. That's why high-end CD players cost so much, it's the quality of the converters.

Second point, digital is already a lossy medium. A sine wave has to be sampled considerably more than 44 times a second to give close to a continuous analogue waveform. Since CDs are 44.1Hz you're stuck with a less than perfect medium to begin with. Audiophiles (and gear-snobs too, I suspect) will often refer to 'graininess' in digital recordings due to this. For them it's vinyl or nothing.

Third point, car+driving=noise. It's not the perfect environment for listening to music, so why bother getting all heated up? Listen to the radio if it bothers you that much.

[skeep]

I got the MDI factory fitted (armrest) and use the MDI-USB cable to my Sony walkman media player. There is a short pause in playback (1 second tops) about 3 seconds after i turn key (probably memory buffer related), but thats it. Is this what you guys are talking about? If it is then I don't see what the fuss is about.

[AdamD]

I'm really reluctant to get involved in this discussion

As am I, but... here goes...

A sine wave has to be sampled considerably more than 44 times a second to give close to a continuous analogue waveform. Since CDs are 44.1Hz you're stuck with a less than perfect medium to begin with.

Most CDs (and most mp3s) have a sample rate of 44,100Hz (44.1Khz) - somewhat higher than 44Hz. Many other formats are often encoded at 48Khz.

I agree that, generally, the sound quality produced from a lossless audio file played back on a head unit via an iPod connector is lower than when the same file (or a digital equivalent, from a CD or SD card for example) is decoded by a head unit's preamp - but this assumes that the quality of the DACs (Digital to Analogue Converters) in the iPod are inferior to those in the preamp doing the same thing. (There's also the possibility of analogue signal degradation between the iPod and the head unit.) But as I know nothing about the quality of the DACs in the RCD/RNS-510, I won't say I'm "sure" one way or the other.

At any rate, it's fair to say that if you're extremely picky about the fidelity of the audio reproduction in your car, an iPod is probably not the best solution for you as its playback quality is compromised by that lack of a digital bitstream output. If, like me, you're moderately fussy but love your music, an iPod may well do the job just fine.

My 2c.

[G-rig]

Mavatron is defending the MDI unit and trying to blame the iPod, even though my setup worked perfectly with the last (retro fitted) MDI i had.

[Maverick]

Mavatron is defending the MDI unit and trying to blame the iPod, even though my setup worked perfectly with the last (retro fitted) MDI i had.

G-MuzikPhile is defending his icrud/iturd when the discussion is around quality of audio and if you want quality use a CD otherwise use MP3's of whatever quality floats your boat and enjoy the convenience of having thousands of songs available rather than having to swap CD's!

[G-rig]

G-MuzikPhile is defending his icrud/iturd when the discussion is around quality of audio and if you want quality use a CD otherwise use MP3's of whatever quality floats your boat and enjoy the convenience of having thousands of songs available rather than having to swap CD's!

I've got thousands of songs on the ipod but not in mp3 format but makes no difference with the convenience. I dont really listen to that many mp3's these days and rather choose a player (computer and portable etc) that can play formats without converting.