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- Jul 9, 2008
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I'm looking for suggestions to improve/upgrade the following:
IPhone 4S streaming flac via WiFI from Seagate Goflex Satellite NAS (hacked to 1.5TB so it carries my entire music collection in the car). I use 8player for the music player since it easily handles the flac decoding which apple does not support natively.
Currently IPhone 4S uses a LOD to feed the AUX IN of my car's Kenwood 9990HD, driving Focal amps and Morel 3-way speakers.
A very fine sounding car system (call it the baseline system), but I'm sure it can be made better with a better source combination.
A couple of things I've tried (or thought about):
1. Instead of AUX IN, I used bluetooth from IPhone to Kenwood, so it is digital out of IPhone and used the DAC in the Kenwood. Result: no good, inferior to baseline sound.
2. Using AUX IN, I replaced the IPhone 4S with the new Sony 806F mp3player using a Sony LOD to bypass the headphone amp. Result: I never got a handle on the sound quality because line out of the sony is way too low in level and I had to jack the Kenwood volume up to maximum to get volume comparable to the baseline (apparently a known issue with Sony)
3. Plugging the IPhone 4S into a Pure i-20 to get digital out of the apple device and let the Pure i-20 be the DAC, using its analog output into AUX IN. Result: haven't done that yet. Would this sound better?
So, what other options do folks here think is worth considering?
A few I can think of include:
4. Use new ALO DAC which takes digital directly from IPhone? Would this sound better?
5. Any other good sounding Android based devices that, unlike Sony, have sufficient line out to drive AUX IN?
My goal is to see if there is a major gain in sound quality obtainable compared with the output of the IPhone 4S. Battery operation and/or automobile based charger converter essential (no AC powered devices need apply).
Thanks
IPhone 4S streaming flac via WiFI from Seagate Goflex Satellite NAS (hacked to 1.5TB so it carries my entire music collection in the car). I use 8player for the music player since it easily handles the flac decoding which apple does not support natively.
Currently IPhone 4S uses a LOD to feed the AUX IN of my car's Kenwood 9990HD, driving Focal amps and Morel 3-way speakers.
A very fine sounding car system (call it the baseline system), but I'm sure it can be made better with a better source combination.
A couple of things I've tried (or thought about):
1. Instead of AUX IN, I used bluetooth from IPhone to Kenwood, so it is digital out of IPhone and used the DAC in the Kenwood. Result: no good, inferior to baseline sound.
2. Using AUX IN, I replaced the IPhone 4S with the new Sony 806F mp3player using a Sony LOD to bypass the headphone amp. Result: I never got a handle on the sound quality because line out of the sony is way too low in level and I had to jack the Kenwood volume up to maximum to get volume comparable to the baseline (apparently a known issue with Sony)
3. Plugging the IPhone 4S into a Pure i-20 to get digital out of the apple device and let the Pure i-20 be the DAC, using its analog output into AUX IN. Result: haven't done that yet. Would this sound better?
So, what other options do folks here think is worth considering?
A few I can think of include:
4. Use new ALO DAC which takes digital directly from IPhone? Would this sound better?
5. Any other good sounding Android based devices that, unlike Sony, have sufficient line out to drive AUX IN?
My goal is to see if there is a major gain in sound quality obtainable compared with the output of the IPhone 4S. Battery operation and/or automobile based charger converter essential (no AC powered devices need apply).
Thanks
