How is the sound quality of the MP3 when played in the car? I hear it is not as good as the regular tracks. Anyone know how they sound?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 95TEG &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">How is the sound quality of the MP3 when played in the car? I hear it is not as good as the regular tracks. Anyone know how they sound?</TD></TR></TABLE> 10 to 1 compresion does not make for good SQ. 94

 

So you are saying its not worth buying a deck specificaly for playing MP3?

 

It would be difficult to hear any difference between a 192kbps mp3 file and the original when you factor in road noise. Depending on the quality of the amplifiers and speakers in your system you might not be able to notice a difference anyway. What is your setup?

I have a mp3 capable deck, and I love being able to put around 150 192-320kbps mp3 files on a 700mb CD.

 

personally i can hear the sq difference, cds all the way for me

 

trust me you wont know the diff between a 320 kbps and the original cd.....that way theres no need for a changer

 

Well I am looking into getting an Alpine deck capable of MP3 Playback, no external amps, and Sony Xplode 2 way 6 1/2s up front, and 3 way 6x9 in the rear. Just want to see if the sound quality of the mp3 is any good.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 95TEG &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Well I am looking into getting an Alpine deck capable of MP3 Playback, no external amps, and Sony Xplode 2 way 6 1/2s up front, and 3 way 6x9 in the rear. Just want to see if the sound quality of the mp3 is any good.</TD></TR></TABLE>Why you want to connect Sony Xplodes to an Alpine HU?
That's like putting Motegui wheel on a Mercedes...

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Eric R &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Why you want to connect Sony Xplodes to an Alpine HU?
That's like putting Motegui wheel on a Mercedes... </TD></TR></TABLE>

lol, true words, but sont xlpods can sound sort of ok, maybe, sometimes, if...you get the point


and i CAN tell the difference between an mp3 and an original cd

 

I have an Alpine mp3 player in my EF. There is definitely a difference in sound quality using mp3. It's like the diff. between the radio & cd that I've experienced in the past. Alpine does have a sound processor built into them called Media Expander(MX). It does brighten up the sound a little, but still not as good as a regular cd. It's still awesome getting like 150 songs on 1 disc. As far as your system is concerned, you are not going to hear much diff. using sony speakers. If you don't already have the speakers, I would reccomend picking up some MB Quarts off of ebay. They are way less expensive than in retail stores. I paid like $150 for a set of reference series components. The cool thing is you can mount them in a coax configuration if you want the ease of installation. If not the Quarts, at least get some infinity's. They are a much better sounding speakers (in my opinion) and are about the same price as the sony's.

 

I'd say mp3 sounds in a car deck pretty much the same as on your PC (assuming you have good speakers). It does not sound the same as the original cd, but it shouldn't be a problem, unless you are very picky. Just convert your songs to 128kbps as you can't tell the difference between 128 and 320...no matter what someone says

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Odessa &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I'd say mp3 sounds in a car deck pretty much the same as on your PC (assuming you have good speakers). It does not sound the same as the original cd, but it shouldn't be a problem, unless you are very picky. Just convert your songs to 128kbps as you can't tell the difference between 128 and 320...no matter what someone says </TD></TR></TABLE>

You can also get a deck that supports .wma files. A 64kbps .wma has equivalent sound quality to a 128kbps .mp3 file. At that rate you could fit nearly 300 songs on a cd.

 

when i played MP3 files on my deck, i couldnt really notice a difference... maybe my deck is just superior i think it might be because i always DL many high quality mp3's only... who know?

 

To hear the difference you have to compare it to the original cd, bought from a store.

 

true audiophiles will ALWAYS notice the difference. good sound processing and tuning will make the mp3s sound good, just not as good as a cd would sound under the same tuning.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 95TEG &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">So you are saying its not worth buying a deck specificaly for playing MP3?</TD></TR></TABLE> Not at all, being able to have all the songs you like on a few CDs is great, I use MP3 myself, and I have my changer installed were the pass. airbag goes, so its not like I can't change cartages easy[when driveing].

All I'm saying is, for SQ MP3 is not the best, and any one saying they cann't tell the diff., has a tin ear, and yes the better your setup the easier it is to tell.

So go ahead get one,MP3 is just one more thing you can take advantage of on HU nowadays.

hope this helps 94

 

APN CDA-9835 is one of the best new decks that are out. You can get the one i have, the 9815 really cheap now. Use MX3 and that will make all the difference in SQ.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by itr_dc2 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">APN CDA-9835 is one of the best new decks that are out. You can get the one i have, the 9815 really cheap now. Use MX3 and that will make all the difference in SQ.</TD></TR></TABLE>

What is MX3? Also, where is the cheapest place to buy Alpine Decks for those who have bought one? Thanks for all the input.

 

i have two WMA file cds and they sound the same as a cd

i hear no loss in quality

if you dont know, a WMA is basically an MP3

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Odessa &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">To hear the difference you have to compare it to the original cd, bought from a store.</TD></TR></TABLE>


thats what i do...

 

I have used an mp3 deck for the last 3 years, the one's they sell nowadays are very good with mp3's. especially alpine, they even have a mediaExpander that somehow fills in some gaps mp3's have. If your really picky and have a big setup (ie high end amps, high end speakers) you might notice a small difference in sq. To me, I can barely tell if at all on most songs. With your setup, not even with an amp there will be no difference.

get the mp3 player, you'll love not having to change cd's for a week or more.

 

MX3 is the processor Alpine builds into it's units to brighten the sound. I reffered to as MX or media expander. As far as where to get one...Ebay is where I got mine. I ordered the cda-9830 for $240...it retails for $330. It was brand new in the box. I love it, I don't know how I ever survived w/o MP3, even with my changer.

 

Bump

 

From reading this post, it seems a lot of people don't know a lot about mp3's. You can't talk about mp3 quality without including bitrate. I have to agree with Jim, if you're using a good encoder, and encoding at 320kb/s, and factor in road noise, I'd be very surprised if you could tell the difference between the cd and mp3. Besides, mp3 playback is just an additional feature, you'll still be able to playback your regular cd's. Definitely worth having.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by parvo99 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">From reading this post, it seems a lot of people don't know a lot about mp3's. You can't talk about mp3 quality without including bitrate. I have to agree with Jim, if you're using a good encoder, and encoding at 320kb/s, and factor in road noise, I'd be very surprised if you could tell the difference between the cd and mp3. Besides, mp3 playback is just an additional feature, you'll still be able to playback your regular cd's. Definitely worth having. </TD></TR></TABLE>
if you read carefully, bitrate has A LOT to do with this thread. mp3s CANNOT match the sound quality of a cd for the simple fact that it is a compressed version of the original. if you have a DVD burner and you burn a 9gb dvd onto a 4.7gb disc, you must compress. a good eye will notice the compression. mp3s, just like compressed dvds, are very liveable, just not the same as the original.