fomoz
100+ Head-Fier
hello,
i have a Pioneer head unit in my 2002 Sentra with stock speakers. it's an ancient deck, i had to get a P-BUS to 1/8" mini plug wire on eBay to allow an aux-in.
i listen to electronic dance music. i've been using the aux-in connected to my Sansa Fuze via headphone out (at 100% volume). it was satisfactory, but since i got a LOD and a headphone amp for my Westone 4 (and my incoming full-size headphone), i decided to try this amp out in my car.
the settings that i use on the deck are SLA (Source Level Adjust) set to +4 (increases aux-in volume) and "LOUD" set to Medium (U-shaped EQ), no other EQ.
first of all, LOD vs headphone jack. the LOD definitely sounds more clear (it's a hand-made LOD with Elna SILMIC II capacitors, got it on eBay), but it sounds thin (same bass but louder highs, inducing sibilance at the same volume) compared to the headphone out.
so then i decided to try out my new Graham Slee Voyager connected via LOD. for reference purposes, i left the head unit settings at the same level and i adjusted the volume on the amp to be the same as directly from the LOD. this means that the volume knob on the amp was at around 50%.
woah. for studio-made tracks i left the contour switch on Flat (Contour is the other choice, it's a hardware U-shaped EQ). it makes the sound very rich and drives my car speakers very well, it almost feels like i have a sub (i don't). overall, i'm very impressed and i'm very happy that this amp is useful in the car, too.
warning: for best results, make sure that you adjust your amp volume to around the same as it is from the LOD. otherwise you might have distorted sound and/or damage our HU and/or speakers. i found that increasing the volume on the amp a tiny little bit gives me a more powerful sound. finding the optimal position is actually fun, i'm guessing that this is what it feels like to have a real pre-amp on a high-end home speaker system.
i've also tried turning off the head-unit EQ ("LOUD") and using the Contour switch instead. they sound very similar (possibly due to the poor quality stock speakers) so i can't tell the difference of which is better. i find that the Contour switch is immensely useful for live sets that lack bass (in addition to head-unit EQ), therefore i will only use Contour when i need more bass.
thanks for reading.
i have a Pioneer head unit in my 2002 Sentra with stock speakers. it's an ancient deck, i had to get a P-BUS to 1/8" mini plug wire on eBay to allow an aux-in.
i listen to electronic dance music. i've been using the aux-in connected to my Sansa Fuze via headphone out (at 100% volume). it was satisfactory, but since i got a LOD and a headphone amp for my Westone 4 (and my incoming full-size headphone), i decided to try this amp out in my car.
the settings that i use on the deck are SLA (Source Level Adjust) set to +4 (increases aux-in volume) and "LOUD" set to Medium (U-shaped EQ), no other EQ.
first of all, LOD vs headphone jack. the LOD definitely sounds more clear (it's a hand-made LOD with Elna SILMIC II capacitors, got it on eBay), but it sounds thin (same bass but louder highs, inducing sibilance at the same volume) compared to the headphone out.
so then i decided to try out my new Graham Slee Voyager connected via LOD. for reference purposes, i left the head unit settings at the same level and i adjusted the volume on the amp to be the same as directly from the LOD. this means that the volume knob on the amp was at around 50%.
woah. for studio-made tracks i left the contour switch on Flat (Contour is the other choice, it's a hardware U-shaped EQ). it makes the sound very rich and drives my car speakers very well, it almost feels like i have a sub (i don't). overall, i'm very impressed and i'm very happy that this amp is useful in the car, too.
warning: for best results, make sure that you adjust your amp volume to around the same as it is from the LOD. otherwise you might have distorted sound and/or damage our HU and/or speakers. i found that increasing the volume on the amp a tiny little bit gives me a more powerful sound. finding the optimal position is actually fun, i'm guessing that this is what it feels like to have a real pre-amp on a high-end home speaker system.
i've also tried turning off the head-unit EQ ("LOUD") and using the Contour switch instead. they sound very similar (possibly due to the poor quality stock speakers) so i can't tell the difference of which is better. i find that the Contour switch is immensely useful for live sets that lack bass (in addition to head-unit EQ), therefore i will only use Contour when i need more bass.
thanks for reading.
