iPod to Car Stereo

[RyanW2050]

Merry Christmas guys.

I've been given a pretty nifty ipod for Christmas and i don't want to suffer through the sound quality of the FM transmitters used as car ipod players.

Do you guys see any problem buying one of these 3.5mm to dual RCA cords:

and hooking it up to the aux input of my car headpiece?


I would like to hack up an ipod car charger to mount the 3.5mm male plug on the charger itself. So it charges and outputs at the same time, just like a store bought FM transmitter would, without the ****ty ass quality.

I don't know much about this past the fact that i can plug the cord above into the back of my stereo.
Is there going to be any problem with just plugging it in?
Will the stereo need way too much juice out of the ipod than the headphone jack will give it?


thanks a lot,
Ryan

 

[RyanW2050]

There's also this:

The seller claims that this is better output than the 3.5mm, but you can't really charge while you're outputting with this.

 

[rustbucket]

I have the firewire version of this little guy:Amazon.com: PocketDock Line Out USB: Electronics

It works nicely with a 3.5->RCA into the Aux jack on the back of my stereo. I haven't tried to charge it as firewire accessories are hard to find, but the USB version should charge from any standard USB charging kit.

 

[PhaedrusX]

If you have RCA auxiliary inputs on your car stereo, I don't see any reason why either cable wouldn' work.
If an iPod charger is important, look at one made by Belkin. It charges through the iPod line out, but also has a decent 3.5mm audio line-out built into the charger.
This way you can both charge your iPod and get a clean audio signal (using 3.5mm to RCA cables).
Best of both worlds.

 

[RyanW2050]

I've read that the 3.5mm connection is amped by the iPod, and i should want my stereo to do the amping.


Is this really that big of deal in terms of quality?

 

[PhaedrusX]

The Belkin product I was referring to has a 3.5mm out that is connected directly to the audio line-out of the iPod. It is not connected to the amped headphone out.
In the situation I described, the mini to RCA cable would connect to the 3.5mm out on the Belkin, not the iPod headphone out.
Ideally yes, you should want your car stereo to do the amping. The Belkin would allow this, and imo there is an audible difference in sound quality between the headphone out and the line out on an iPod.

 

[PhaedrusX]

I can't find a link to the specific unit I have, but something like this should serve the same function:

SiK S03-1004 imp iPod Car Charger