I am thinking of gerttting an ipod and also using it in my 350Z. I have an after market stereo already thus nice sound quality. Apple claims its AAC format is spuerior to regular mp3 format and rivals CD quality.

Can someone that owns a 350Z that has an ipod installed give me feedback on the sound quality I can expect when using an ipod?

If you give me pro's and con's on methods of installation and ease of use in the car while driving etc too it would be helpful. Yes, I did a search already and did not see too much on sound quality of ipod vs CD etc...

Thanks,

Jeff - zland

 

i think the only way to wire an ipod into a stereo is analog inputs. FM mods suck, and will make the best sounding mp3s sound like crap. I find the AAC format good, better than 128kbps mp3, but no where near a cd. Sometimes you cant tell the difference, but often times i find 192kbps mp3s better, and no control on where i can play them. I have 4 computers and an ipod personally, and i want to play on all of them. I use my ai-net aux in with an rca-miniplug adapter and it sounds awesome. I had itrip and a belkin fm tuner and those were so terrible it made me sick. If you are truely looking to unite your z and ipod, get any alpine HU 2004 model beginning with CDA, and it will be compatiable with the new ai-net ipod adapter box. This allows full control of the ipod and you can keep it out of site. Should be out in september.

 

Using auxiliary inputs is the way to go. The sound is a bit low. I use the Belkin auto kit which has a built in amp and charges the iPod at the same time. With that the sound is great. Sounds just like the CDs.

 

I am sure the alpine set up is good but as you might read in my signature, I already have a eclipse head unit thus dont want to buy a 2nd head unit for my 350z AND truck.

 

I've got an alpine with line in hooked to my 3g ipod via a SIK Imp auto cable (www.sik.com). This uses the dock interface for the line level output which goes to the line in on my HU. This is the only way to go. Do not go through the top headphone output, quality is not as good. Also RF sucks. I had the iTrip before I got my setup going and it is marginal at best.

As far as sound quality and file format is conerned I really noticed how much my mp3's sucked once I got a nicer stereo to pump it through. They sound fine on my PC and even home stereo (mid-range system). These are 192kbit/s mp3 so they are not too shabby.

If you have CD's which you would like to rip to play on the iPod I highly reocmmend you do it in 224kbit/s AAC with iTunes. This will take up the same space as mp3 at 192kbit/s and sounds noticeably better.

For mounting I am using the belkin tunedock cup holder mount. It doesn't look pretty (its all white) but it puts the iPod in a good position for operating it from the driver's seat. Hope I helped!

 

Thanks JC, very helpful. I knew the collective knowledge of my350z.com would be able to help me out. Thanks everyone!

Jeff - zland

 

No problem, anytime! Now too bad there is not trade in program for the 4G iPods. I feel ripped with the improved battery life!!!

 

don't try to connect your ipod through headphone out. if you do that, you will have 2 diff. way to adj. volume from ipod itself and your head unit.
what i did was connecting the ipod through BELKIN auto charger (http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatProdu...duct_Id=149006) this one has analog out on the charger so it will disable ipod's volume control so you will need to change volume through your headunit. (one tip: this car charger has own volume control unit on the side, make it lower level, it will give you better sound)

also you will need to connect only one cable (dock cable) to connect when you get it to the car. Not headphone cable and charger cable.
i'm using this setup for long time and has no problem yet.

PM me if you have any questions.