I just had my AUX input installed and was very disappointed in the sound quality coming from the iPod. I have the "Belkin Auto Kit for iPod w/ Dock Connector" and so was not using the earphone jack but the one in the Belkin.

Needless to say, I did some research on the web and found this article:

Tweaking the iPod Equalizer

Short Version:

1. Use MP3Gain on your mp3s.
2. Use euPod on your iPod to increase the volume.
3. Connect to car
4. Enjoy excellent music sound!

Hope this is helpful.

 

Ta very much...didnt have a noticeable problem with my Nano..downloaded the SW anyway to play about with. Thanks for the heads up!!

 

The Belkin line out is amplified, and has lousy sound IMHO. Get the Monster iCarCharger--see info here:
http://forums.e60.net/index.php?showtopic=12430

Also, it appears that euPOD product applies to volume comming from the headphone jack (not the line out when using the dock connector like the Belkin and Monster products use).

FWIW, I use Exact Audio Copy w/ LAME encoder @ 256kbps VBR, then normalize with MP3Gain, and with the Monster adapter the sound is excellent.

 

stream,

Have you directly compared the belkin to the monster? I wonder if my sound quality problems are caused by the belkin that I use.

 

I originally had the Belkin, and wasn't happy at all with the sound quality, and after hunting around on the web, saw lots of discussion on various audio forums confirming my concern, with people modifying the Belkin to bypass the amp--below is an example. Too much trouble for me, plus I then found a Monster unit, and since I've been very happy with all the Monster products I have for my home theater system, I went with the Monster.

http://forums.ipodlounge.com/showthread.ph...in&pagenumber=1

 

I stopped by my local Compusa today to pick up a Monster icarcharger. My only issue with my aux-input is the lack of bass. I was hoping the icarcharger would improve the bass response. Unfortunetly it did not. I'm not sure what to try next. I'm resorting to burning onto cd's again :\

I use EAC to rip my cd's and (lame-3.96.1 - -b256 -ms -h) to encode. I don't think the quality of the mp3's is the problem, everything coming out of my ipod regardless of what was used to encode is lacking bass.

 

Are you normalizing w/ MP3Gain? If not, try that. I also set the iPod equalizer to rock. My Logic7 equalizer is set like a U, and I have the treble & bass settings up slightly from middle. The bass response is very pronounced. I have a 4th gen iPod w/ color screen (the gen just before the new video iPod). I've heard they've improved the sound quality with successive gens--not sure which gen you have.

 

I have a 30gb Photo Ipod. I copied over an album without any encoding to test out the bass response. I'll see how that goes.

 

Stream,

What sound level did you normalize your MP3 files in MP3gain? 97dB? or default 89dB?

 

Usually 94dB, unless a lot of the tracks on a CD are clipping, then I'll lower it (never below 89d until most tracks aren't clipping.