needforspeed

Now discovered that there is no way to apply custom eq to an ipod, so making things sound more bass heavy in itunes is a waste of time.

But.. just swapped my Belkin cable for a low profile monster cable and ..... sound is much clearer and more stable.

I'm happy now.

subterFUSE

This is correct.... because not all music is recorded in the same studio, with the same gear, by the same engineers, or mastered the same way. The amount of bass your MP3 files have depends on how the music was recorded, mastered and encoded. The iPod itself has little to do with it, relatively. Sure you can adjust the EQ on the iPod, but you're better off just starting with high-quality source material.


I listen to music which I record myself in my home studio, and then I master it on my computer. I rarely encode my audio files, because I am a stickler for sound quality.... but when I do encode, I go with lossless formats. The combination of high-quaity recording, proper mastering and good encoding will get you the best results from your MP3 player.

If your music is lacking bass, I would suggest using some audio editing software to boost the levels rather than trying to use the limited iPod EQ. (I use SoundForge 8.0)

pgravita

I totally agree with you ACRIBB,

The Aux Input is really lack bass. I have tried using other audio sources (Portable TV, Portable CD and s cheap MP3 player) and all lack bass. :thumbsdown:
The bass is normal/OK when using the car's CD player.
Like you, I suspect there is something todo with that 300Kohm resistor or the PreAmp input of the car's audio system just lacks quality, like all other current BMW Sound systems.

If anybody can find out to how tweek this problem pls post.

In my opinion, there is no need at all to tweek your MP3 players/Ipods to boost the bass. They all sounds find originally.

Best regards,
David

needforspeed

Thanks for this, one thing that is ODD is that for cd's that have similar bass characteristics, itunes encodes some with lot's of bass and others with very little. My ears suggest that this is because the ipod and itunes are weak on low frequency bass, but better at punchy (bass drum) sounds.

Problem with what you suggest is that I have 3000 mp3's on my ipod, what I really want is a way to APPLY a custom EQ setting to ALL of them automatically. I don't mind that I will still have variance so long as most of them have a bit more low frequency sound. Do you know of a suitable programme - will soundforge do this?

WebDefy

Does anyone know of this type of volume leveling software that works with WMP10 or an Iriver?? My system sounds great with the Iriver hardwired in but I don't have prem sound and it's level is extrememly low.

needforspeed

There's a volume levelling prog called MP3 gain that's mentioned at the start of this thread, which can boost or lower the volume of all of your MP3's.

What I want is a similar programme which I can use to run through my MP3's and apply a custom eq to boost the bass levels.

subterFUSE

Part of the problem is iTunes. iTunes is, quite possibly, the worst media player ever... and the quality of its encoding is horrendous. Even their Lossless encoding is poor.


Yesterday I listened to a CD in my car, and was blown away by the difference in sound quality over the same CD recorded in lossless format to my iPod. Night vs. day. The bass was so much clearer and more defined on CD.

will_the_thrill

My .02 on the Ipod, audio quality, and the best input solution I could find:

As a part time musician, music engineer, audiophile, etc., I'm really picky about sound quality. My ipod is mainly filled with aiff files (uncompressed) from my cd collection which I keep on my computer.

I followed Stream's installation procedure and had the monster line out/charger installed. Unfortunately, I ended up with engine noise and hard drive noise from the ipod itself amplified through the speakers.

I stumbled upon some web posts mentioning the impedance of the aux input and headphone outputs and came to the conclusion that the reason I have this issue and Stream does not is because I have a different generation ipod with a different impedance from my line out. (Or my installer botched the aux install...I understand impedance matching about as much as origami).

I used the headphone output but hated the sound quality compared to the monster line-out (with my engine off). I finally found another line out adapter called pocket dock and it works flawlessly (but no battery charger). Not only is the engine noise and ipod hardrive noise eliminated, but the volume level is much closer to the BMW's cd level (higher than the monster output).

For anyone else having bass loss or noise introduced to the line, it may be an impedance mismatch.

Although the ipod will never sound as good as Logic 7's cd player, because the ipod audio is transmitted through a 1/8" miniplug (horrible audio technology), I really like the convenience of the ipod again as the sound is very close to that of the cd player. There is a 15% decrease in audio quality compared to the cd player in terms of richness (hearing the full reverb or depth/space the music is in), bass, and imaging. But 99% of my friends would never hear the difference. If I really want to listen to my favorite music, I'll still burn a cd of it.

Here's the pocket dock link if anyone is interested:


Oh, and I too dislike the eq on the ipod...

__________________________________________________ _________________________
'06 530i Silver/Grey, Sport, Premium, Nav, Premium Sound, Cold Weather, aux install

my530i

Will,

Have you had a chance to read this thread?
http://forums.e60.net/index.php?showtopic=23293
This will close the gap between CD and iPod/MP3 player.