[DerAlte]

Originally Posted by joybhowmik

... however, in a country such as ours - everyone may not have access to high quality connectors -and these are expensive also.

You need to go out and smell the coffee, my friend. That reminds me of the old genre of movies (no offence meant) where the hero, when offered poories for snacks, eats only 4 (out of the dozen offered) saying 'I can't eat so much when there are millions of Indians who don't get 1 square meal a day'!!! Seriously, shielding doesn't cost much money, especially when one uncompromisingly wants the ultimate in listening.

Originally Posted by mohitd

Thank You so much guys. My Ipod is working just fine after I updated the firmware My head unit reads ALAC off the ipod straight. Thank You guys.

Oh yes, 4.2 has some update for playing iPhones / iPods 'better' on HUs over the USB interface; don't know what 'better' means in these circumstances.

[kiran1103]

Hi Gurus,

I just upgraded by HU from Pio 8850 to P80RSII. The aux -in is placed in akward position as one has to keep the flap open to work. Now since there has been discussion on which one should give you less interference and clean music, I wish to confirm the order by which one should have the best output possible. Need your thoughts on the order.

1. Audio CDs,
2. FLACs - Cowon is capable, but the limitation that it has to go through the AUX cable which again a limiter.
3. Mp3 burnt on CDs
4. iPod or iPhone with the Pioneer adapter
5. USB adapter and playing it from USB stick.

Now to acheive best possible output, I have picked up the USB adapter and plan to run Mp3 from USB.

So which option seems better out of the two. Running Cowon via Aux-in cable or through USB stick having mp3's.

[abhibh]

You should have picked up the iPod adapter instead. The USB adapter is a pain in the @$$ with regards to searching and displaying file names.

[govigov]

agreed. get the USB ipod adaptor.

works great on the alpine ida x200 + ipod classic combo.

[kiran1103]

Thanks for the replies.

I could have taken the iPOD adapter but I prefer the Cowon than an ipod. Cowon is great if you have nice headphones. IPoD also is good. How is the delay in searching and seeing the files via USB. Is there a delay comparitive to CD playback, (I guess there would be) but is it negligible or too annoying?

[govigov]

@kiran,

i find the USB adaptor to read all my songs on the ipod in less than 5 seconds, where as it will take ages in an 8 gb pendrive.

any rockboxed player can be better than a stock ipod.

go here - Rockbox - Open Source Jukebox Firmware

PS: the rockboxed clip plus that i am using will be read on the HU but it takes a longer time than the ipod. plus with 120GB classic. i just update the album once in a month leave it in the glovebox and use the rockboxed clip plus for pocket use.

regards,
govigov

[Piyush_Vroom]

Get a USB Adapter for the ipod. If you have IPOD Touch or Iphone then There is an app for iPhone/Ipod Touch called golden ear which lets you play flac files from your iPhone/Ipod Touch

[navin]

Originally Posted by Piyush_Vroom

Get a USB Adapter for the ipod. If you have IPOD Touch or Iphone then There is an app for iPhone/Ipod Touch called golden ear which lets you play flac files from your iPhone/Ipod Touch

That is nice. Will try golden ear on my Touch. Yes I know 64GB wont carry much but atleast it will be great quality. Does Goldenear work with a PC and/or wavpack files?

Originally Posted by govigov

any rockboxed player can be better than a stock ipod.
PS: the rockboxed clip plus that i am using will be read on the HU but it takes a longer time than the ipod. plus with 120GB classic. i just update the album once in a month leave it in the glovebox and use the rockboxed clip plus for pocket use.

I have the 160GB ipod I was given to understand that RockBox wont work with the new generation ipods.

Is there some software like iTunes that can create playlists of flac/wavpack files?

[Prithvi]

Really sad that none of the headunits have Flac support.

[Piyush_Vroom]

Originally Posted by navin

That is nice. Will try golden ear on my Touch. Yes I know 64GB wont carry much but atleast it will be great quality. Does Goldenear work with a PC and/or wavpack files?



I have the 160GB ipod I was given to understand that RockBox wont work with the new generation ipods.

Is there some software like iTunes that can create playlists of flac/wavpack files?

Take a look at the below mentioned links also. They have all the answers you need.

How do I create a playlist when ripping to FLAC? - dbpoweramp

Listen to FLAC audio files on iOS devices | MP3 Players | Playlist | Macworld

Requirements are Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 4.0 or later.

High-quality music player, plays perfectly FLAC+APE+WAV+AIFF+ALAC files for Lossless Music Lovers

It also recognizes accompanying CUE files, and lists individual tracks so you can pick up your favorite one very easily. You just need to make sure CUE file shares same file name with the music file. Similarly, to display the cover art, you just provide the image file with same name. Golden Ear recognizes embedded cover art and CUESHEET comment tag inside flac files.

Music files can be grouped either by artists or by albums. You can even simply show all files in one single play list.

Golden Ear provides a straight forward control interface. You can use three playback modes: 1) Continuing in order; 2) Shuffle; 3) Loop one track/song.

Just put your collection onto your device via iTunes file sharing, then you can start listening to high quality audio everywhere you go.

Note:
1. Golden Ear on iPad enjoys a rich set of themes.
2. Make sure your CUE files are UTF8 encoded, otherwise East Asian languages may not be recognized correctly.
3. Please use high quality earphone.

Recommended:
- iPad/iPhone4/iPod Touch 4g or later models;

Minimum:
- iPhone 3gs

Earlier models may not be smooth in playing.

[navin]

Piyush, thanks for the links.

1. An ipad is a bit to big for use in a car.
2. my ipod touch (64GB) is the one with a camera so I assume it is one of the later ones

From the looks of it I will have to convert my wavpack files to FLAC WavPack Audio Compression

[mayankjha1806]

I also tried searching for a FLAC player in a Car before settling with Mp3, as i was not able to figure the difference better a FLAC playing Vs an (320 KBPS) mp3 playing on my Onkyo at home so how would i be able to make out the difference on a Car Audio.

I tried some audio comparison tools to figure out whats the difference between FLAC and Mp3 (@ 320) the tools do show some difference but most of them aren't audible.

Just an FYI, i have all my music in FLAC but on the move (Phone and Car) i prefer Mp3 for lack of storage capacity. I guess when flash storage capacity reaches 512GB and 1TB and is affordable is when i can think around moving with FLAC and ditch Mp3 for good.

[laxmanrk]

Originally Posted by kiran1103

Hi Gurus,

I just upgraded by HU from Pio 8850 to P80RSII. The aux -in is placed in akward position as one has to keep the flap open to work. Now since there has been discussion on which one should give you less interference and clean music, I wish to confirm the order by which one should have the best output possible. Need your thoughts on the order.

1. Audio CDs,
2. FLACs - Cowon is capable, but the limitation that it has to go through the AUX cable which again a limiter.
3. Mp3 burnt on CDs
4. iPod or iPhone with the Pioneer adapter
5. USB adapter and playing it from USB stick.

Now to acheive best possible output, I have picked up the USB adapter and plan to run Mp3 from USB.

So which option seems better out of the two. Running Cowon via Aux-in cable or through USB stick having mp3's.

Dear kiran

The aux-in for this model is not placed on the front of the HU. The socket to the bottom of the flap on the front is used for Time Alignment.

The aux-in is placed at the rear. In my Skoda I have run a 3.5mm jack cable into the glovebox from this. I can choose to play ipod/ phone/ any other source using this.

If you need help in locating this aux-in port I can send you the installation manual.

In my car currently I have added the CD-UB100 USB adapter and this reads mp3s @ 320kbps without much hassles. I have not tried wav/ flac files though as this car is chiefly used by dad and the mp3s suffice for his kinda useage.

Yeah! I also agree the USB does not display the names of tracks etc quite as well as some other HUs.

[govigov]

Originally Posted by mayankjha1806

was not able to figure the difference better a FLAC playing Vs an (320 KBPS) mp3 playing on my Onkyo at home so how would i be able to make out the difference on a Car Audio.

I agree! may be carputer is the way to go to get flac in our cars. but upgrading speakers/amp/damping to get the quality of flac may be a real pita.

[VEA]

I have recently upgraded my HU to Alpine ICS X8 hoping that it would play FLAC from a USB input. But it doesn't play, the unit simply wont recognize any flac files in the usb drive and say "no files" in the drive. Now, I think I have 2 options,

1) play lossless files from my 160 GB ipod classic, but i was never impressed by its sound quality playing through my previous kenwood 8036BT. All my files are flac and i would need to go through converting it i believe.

2) Buy a samsung S3/Note2 and load my flac files in it and play through the mirror link/ drive link. I am hoping that this will work, but i need to buy the compatible samsung phone before trying it. I also have a feeling that this might sound better than option 1.

Please advise me gurus, whether to buy a phone just for this and try option 2, (it would also serve as navigation equipment through drive link) and whether this will work and have better quality output than the ipod. Is there any other way to play flac files directly from a usb drive on this head unit?