[autorahul]

The problem with HDD is a normal magnetic hard disk has moving parts. Parts which can break if exposed to sudden amount of jerk. There can also be system limitation because of the amount of RAM. If using this ensure that hard disk is securely mounted in as shock absorbing nature as possible. It can take one pothole to ruin your entire collection.

A better, but costlier option would be to use an SSD. A 1 TB SSD would run you about $400 in USA. Even that needs to be cushioned, but since there are no moving parts, chances of damage are very low.

[navin]

Originally Posted by bsdbsd

Sir, my salute to you. A true technophile with a burning passion in your area of interest.

Just to make sure I have not given you any wrong info, you MUST need an Apple device to play Apple Lossless. My HDD suggestion holds good only for FLAC files.

Not really a technophile. More a technophobe. I am just old.

Yes ALAC plays only on Apple devices but I am not married to ALAC so any lossless format can be used. Since my music playback is NOT from the phone I am free to put any format that the HU recognizes in the hard disk.

Originally Posted by autorahul

The problem with HDD is a normal magnetic hard disk has moving parts.

Agreed. My iPod Classic also has a hard disk and it has worked well for several years.

One reason to consider the FiiO player (X5 3rd gen) is that one can put 2 microSD cards (each of 256GB) in them and get 512GB of storage. Yes it is an expensive solution (Rs. 30K for the player and 20K for the cards) but still it is a solution and tech prices fall over time so in time this could be available for less than 25k besides there are cheaper FiiO players too (most can take only 1 SD card).

For those not familiar with FiiO I am including links to their top 2 models (both can take 2 256GB micro SD cards)..
https://headfonics.com/2017/03/the-x5-3rd-gen-by-fiio/
https://headfonics.com/2017/09/the-x7-mark-ii-by-fiio/

You can buy them here (the X3 can take only 1 SD card).
https://www.fiio.co.in/products/fiio...s-music-player

[autorahul]

Originally Posted by navin

One reason to consider the FiiO player (X5 3rd gen) is that one can put 2 microSD cards (each of 256GB) in them and get 512GB of storage. Yes it is an expensive solution (Rs. 30K for the player and 20K for the cards) but still it is a solution and tech prices fall over time so in time this could be available for less than 25k besides there are cheaper FiiO players too (most can take only 1 SD card).

Another option which you can try for a few days is using cloud storage. Apple has introduced iCloud Music Library which allows you to upload 100,000 songs to iCloud for 120/month (individual plan) only. The first 3 months are free so you can get a good feel for it.

Check out the below resources for more info
https://www.imore.com/icloud-music-l...ultimate-guide

https://www.apple.com/in/apple-music/plans/

[navin]

Originally Posted by autorahul

Another option which you can try for a few days is using cloud storage.

How would one access cloud storage in a car? I don't think even given India's cheap 4G plans that is practical.

On the other hand if someone knows of a cheap way to add solid state storage in a car say a cheap SD card player that would be really nice.

Meanwhile, bsdbsd's thread has been well and truly hijacked. (OT: Is "bsd" related to the FreeBSD OS from the early 90s?)

[autorahul]

Originally Posted by navin

How would one access cloud storage in a car? I don't think even given India's cheap 4G plans that is practical.

I constantly use 4G (Airtel) to stream Youtube videos in Full HD. The cloud storage would be accessible using Apple Music app. Occasionally, you might face a few seconds delay if you change a song suddenly, but if going with playlists or paying albums in sequence, it should be fine. All you need is a good 4G plan

Might be worth giving it a try, as the first 3 months are in any case free.

BONUS: You could use it with a Carplay enabled HU too!

Originally Posted by navin

Meanwhile, bsdbsd's thread has been well and truly hijacked. (OT: Is "bsd" related to the FreeBSD OS from the early 90s?)

Might not be a bad idea to move it to a separate thread, as this problem could be faced by others too.

[navin]

Originally Posted by autorahul

I constantly use 4G (Airtel) to stream Youtube videos in Full HD.

Might be worth giving it a try, as the first 3 months are in any case free.

Wow! I live in another world. I like all my data stored locally. I don't trust the internet (which has the propensity to go down just when I need it the most).

I still think an iPod or FiiO player (the later is looking more promising) like the X3 MkIII with a 256GB SD card might be the best option.

[R2D2]

Originally Posted by navin

Meanwhile, bsdbsd's thread has been well and truly hijacked. (OT: Is "bsd" related to the FreeBSD OS from the early 90s?)

FreeBSD is still very much alive today. Now in version 11, my open source router/firewall software (pfSense) runs on FreeBSD.

As for the topic of this thread, my newly installed Pioneer AVIC-F80BT plays FLAC files and no other lossless formats like .wv or .ape. Another restriction is FLAC files cannot be read off CD/DVD media and must be on USB or SD drives.

[bsdbsd]

Originally Posted by autorahul

I constantly use 4G (Airtel) to stream Youtube videos in Full HD.

BONUS: You could use it with a Carplay enabled HU too!

Absolutely right. I have been using AirTel 4G streaming since long time and haven't had much issues. Videos stream very well too. This is a good option to try. Starting September 2017, AirTel has started adding any unused data of current month to next month's data.

Originally Posted by navin

Wow! I live in another world. I like all my data stored locally. I don't trust the internet (which has the propensity to go down just when I need it the most).

I still think an iPod or FiiO player (the later is looking more promising) like the X3 MkIII with a 256GB SD card might be the best option.

You must jump on to the streaming Internet bandwagon sooner or later, trust issues apart. . Who knows what you will discover...

The FiiO solution seems expensive. As /u/autorahul has mentioned, a high capacity SSD (Samsung EVO 1TB) should address your requirement. Additionally, your iPhone local storage and cloud can fill in the gaps.

Not to forget, you will need a USB SSD enclosure to enable USB interface.

https://www.amazon.com/Anker-inch-Ex...+SSD+ENCLOSURE

[SunnyBoi]

I'm currently using a Pioneer 80PRS. Although it does not play FLAC, I convert all my FLACs to WAV. I'm using a 128GB SD Card inside the HU and a 128GB pendrive as well.

I also have an alien DAC hidden behind the dashboard, connected to AUX2 of the 80PRS. I use my android phone/tablet to connect via USB OTG to the DAC and play FLACs using USB Audio player pro. The quality of audio coming thru the DAC is miles ahead - even when playing the same WAV thru 80PRS or phone/DAC combo.

I'm not interested anymore in headunits that play FLACs. I'd rather spend that money on a nice DAC and maybe a DSP as well. Use a phone/tablet as a source. It will be a far better proposition than using a Fiio or something similar purely because these will be much easier to use in a car than a music player.

[navin]

Originally Posted by bsdbsd

The FiiO solution seems expensive. As /u/autorahul has mentioned, a high capacity SSD (Samsung EVO 1TB) should address your requirement.

https://www.amazon.com/Anker-inch-Ex...+SSD+ENCLOSURE

Sticking to parts available in India what if I use this combo? Total cost about Rs. 5000. Makes sense? Are there better/more reliable parts (I just took the first 2 links Amazon gave)?

https://www.amazon.in/Kingston-SSDNo...=SSD+hard+disk
AND
https://www.amazon.in/transparent-ex...6A4ACE123NM4C4

Can I put an "internal" SSD (like the Samsung one below) in a case and make in "external" USB hard disk?
https://www.amazon.in/Samsung-500GB-...=SSD+hard+disk
or should I use a ready built solution like this one?
https://www.amazon.in/Transcend-512G...=SSD+hard+disk

This would cost me about the same as a FiiO X3 MkIII WITHOUT the SD card and I get about 3x the storage of a iPod Classic 160GB.

Do I need to load any software on the hard disk to play the music? Or do I just load any file recognized by my HU?
Do I load the files in a folder structure (I have stored my music as "Artist/Album/Title")?
How do I make playlists without software?

Pardon me if my questions are stupid or elementary.

Originally Posted by SunnyBoi

I also have an alien DAC hidden behind the dashboard .

Can I connect the USB hard disk (see above) to a portable DAC and then the DAC connects to the HU? How does the HU connect to the DAC? I assume the hard disk would connect via USB. The HU still needs all the "metadata" of the music so it can display Artist, Album, Title and Album Art so you can't use analog outputs of the DAC can you?

How do I power the DAC? via USB?
Which DAC do you use? Schitt? Dragonfly? Audioengine?

[bsdbsd]

Originally Posted by navin

Sticking to parts available in India what if I use this combo? Total cost about Rs. 5000. Makes sense?

Yes, absolutely. But for the SSD caddy, I suggest Transcend given in the link below, due to its robust construction and great heat dissipation capabilities. I use the below caddy extensively for Nintendo Gaming.

https://www.amazon.in/Transcend-Port...cend+ssd+drive

Just for variety, you can try SanDisk 120GB SSD as well. Surprised that Samsung Evo 120G is not available anymore (which would have been my choice).

Originally Posted by navin

Can I put an "internal" SSD (like the Samsung one below) in a case and make in "external" USB hard disk?
....
This would cost me about the same as a FiiO X3 MkIII WITHOUT the SD card and I get about 3x the storage of a iPod Classic 160GB.

Yes, that's exactly what you are doing in the first step of buying an 120G SSD, and put it in a caddy so that you can connect the SSD to a USB port. No difference between the first and second question here (apart from the capacities). To be safe, stick to 120G, and see how it works out.

Originally Posted by navin

Do I need to load any software on the hard disk to play the music? Or do I just load any file recognized by my HU?
Do I load the files in a folder structure (I have stored my music as "Artist/Album/Title")?
How do I make playlists without software?

Pardon me if my questions are stupid or elementary.

None of your questions are elementary. They are all valid, solid questions. The SSD is just a storage unit - its dumb. You need to connect it a head unit which has exposed a USB interface. I believe your requirement is to have high quality music played through the cars HU. Just connect your SSD to HU, and your HU should immediately recognize the SSD and read and play files off of SSD. All software lies on HU. SSD will have your music - preferably stored in folders.

I dont know the answer to your playlist question. I have never tried it. If time permits, I will try and let you know.

You are fully dependent on your HUs ability to read and play high quality files, at a quality acceptable to you. No external DAC is needed.

/u/sunnyboi should be able to answer your questions on DAC. It seems like a whole new ballgame.

If you want me to try something before you actually try out the above, let me know. I have connected my HDD (not SSD) to HU and it played all the music files without issues. I need to create some FLAC files though. Please let me know how I can create FLAC files. Thanks.

[bsdbsd]

Originally Posted by SunnyBoi

I'm not interested anymore in headunits that play FLACs. I'd rather spend that money on a nice DAC and maybe a DSP as well. Use a phone/tablet as a source. It will be a far better proposition than using a Fiio or something similar purely because these will be much easier to use in a car than a music player.

Just fantastic. Seems like you have hit upon an ideal combination. Hopefully /u/navin should be able to cook up the above and also experiment how FLACs sound off SSD.

[SunnyBoi]

Originally Posted by navin

Can I connect the USB hard disk (see above) to a portable DAC and then the DAC connects to the HU? How does the HU connect to the DAC? I assume the hard disk would connect via USB. The HU still needs all the "metadata" of the music so it can display Artist, Album, Title and Album Art so you can't use analog outputs of the DAC can you?

You need to connect all of this to an android device and use its interface. The RCAs coming out of the DAC can be connected to the head unit.

EDIT : with this setup, android bypasses its internal/phone DAC and sends digital out thru USB which is then converted to normal audio signals by the DAC. If you use normal/stock player apps on android, it gets resampled to 16/4.1 or 48khz. If you use a dedicated app like USB Audio Player Pro, it bypasses this restriction and can send upto 24/192.

I have done a/b testing with my laptop and phone on such a setup in the car and it sounds exactly the same.

If you want an all in one solution, you can look at chinese android HUs. I know few people who have connected a DAC and a USB HDD to it, routed audio out thru the DAC going into amps. Except these, I'm not aware of any other head units where DAC can be directly connected to the head unit.

Originally Posted by navin

How do I power the DAC? via USB?

I use a powered USB hub, USB hub is powered by a phone charger.

Here's a photo from my Nexus 7, which has the powered USB hub connected to it alongwith a 128GB pen drive and a Behringer DAC.

Originally Posted by navin

Which DAC do you use? Schitt? Dragonfly? Audioengine?

Pretty much any USB DAC will work. I have personally used a Behringer UCA202, Audinst MX1, Objective ODAC and currently using an Alien DAC.

PS: I just pieced together unused audio stuff I had for my car setup viz Nexus 7, Alien DAC and the hub. Even the cheap Alien DAC sounds miles ahead of the supposedly very good 80PRS.

If I feel lazy to take out the tablet, I can even connect my phone and play songs through it, although it wont charge with OTP on, unlike my Nexus 7.

Originally Posted by bsdbsd

Just fantastic. Seems like you have hit upon an ideal combination. Hopefully /u/navin should be able to cook up the above and also experiment how FLACs sound off SSD.

I'm not able to grasp the total conrtext of this discussion since the posts from previous page dates back to 2007. Does navin wants to connect a HDD to his existing head unit? In this case, the limiting factor is FAT32 and a max of 500GB partition only can be used.

Some head units like Pioneer have a folder limitation of 512, i.e., they will be able to read only from the first 512 folders.

I read he wanted to use a fiio instead. I have a friend using a fiio X3, using the SPDIF out going into a miniDSP 6x8 and to his other speakers. Whereas the quaity of audio is excellent, usability is horrible thanks to the small screen and buttons. Audio players are not practical to use in cars as a source, large screen tablets fare much better, especially when paired with a USB DAC to give you much better audio quality.

[navin]

Originally Posted by bsdbsd

Yes, absolutely. But for the SSD caddy, I suggest Transcend given in the link below, due to its robust construction and great heat dissipation capabilities.

Just for variety, you can try SanDisk 120GB SSD as well. Surprised that Samsung Evo 120G is not available anymore (which would have been my choice).

Just connect your SSD to HU, and your HU should immediately recognize the SSD and read and play files off of SSD. All software lies on HU. SSD will have your music - preferably stored in folders.

Thank you so much. I am ordering that Transend SSD case and the Samsung 850 Evo SSD (500GB). Even if my car can't use it I am sure I can use it as a back up hard disk for my laptop or some other purpose. My risk purchase, hence, is only the Transend case.

Originally Posted by bsdbsd

Just fantastic. Seems like you have hit upon an ideal combination. Hopefully /u/navin should be able to cook up the above and also experiment how FLACs sound off SSD.

FLACs should sound the same off SSD or HDD (I use FLAC/WavPack from a HDD in my Home Media Player).

Originally Posted by SunnyBoi

You need to connect all of this to an android device and use its interface. The RCAs coming out of the DAC can be connected to the head unit.

EDIT : with this setup, android bypasses its internal/phone DAC and sends digital out thru USB which is then converted to normal audio signals by the DAC.

I'm not able to grasp the total conrtext of this discussion since the posts from previous page dates back to 2007. Does navin wants to connect a HDD to his existing head unit?

Ok let me bring you up to speed.

Firstly this is NOT an urgent requirement as my iPods are still operational. I was looking ahead when my iPods die (a few older ones already have) and since Apple does not make them anymore what the options would be.

That said: my goal is to play music (preferably lossless) from a storage device (that sits in the glove box) that is NOT my phone on a HU. I would be using the HU's screen to display Album Art and Metadata (Artist/Album/Title etc.) and to search through folders AND if possible "play lists".

My first option was that FiiO player with an SD card but that combo costs about 25k for 256GB (15K for the FiiO player and 10K for the SD card). https://www.amazon.in/Samsung-256GB-...+SD+card+micro

bsdbsd suggested why get a player when the HU already can perform that function and all you need is storage. So for about 15K I could get a SSD Case and a 512GB SSD. Twice the storage for about half the price (of the FiiO combo).

That's when you came in with your DAC idea. I have used external DACs at home so I know what they are capable of but in a car I need to keep it simple (because my wife and I are in our 50s and our learning curve is not great) and reliable (both of us are chauffeured most of the time so even the chauffer should know how to operate this - this is the advantage of a playlist).

Now the challenge was how to connect the media storage (the SSD in this case) to the DAC and the DAC to the HU and still have the HU control the SSD (search through folders, display meta data etc.).

[bsdbsd]

Originally Posted by navin

Thank you so much. I am ordering that Transend SSD case and the Samsung 850 Evo SSD (500GB). Even if my car can't use it I am sure I can use it as a back up hard disk for my laptop or some other purpose. My risk purchase, hence, is only the Transend case.

Ok. You will do fine with Transcend case. No worries at all.

Originally Posted by navin

That said: my goal is to play music (preferably lossless) from a storage device (that sits in the glove box) that is NOT my phone on a HU. I would be using the HU's screen to display Album Art and Metadata (Artist/Album/Title etc.) and to search through folders AND if possible "play lists".

I am assuming that the HU you already have has the ability to connect to HDDs. Have you confirmed that?

Be advised of the 500GB limitation as well, as /u/sunnyboy has mentioned.

Before you order, lets prepare a checklist first, go through them, tick them off.