# AT LAST!! Good sound from my E46 Stereo...



## remington (Jul 3, 2003)

I've had my 2003 325i for about 15 months now and like we have heard so many times, the stereo SUCKS! I had the ipod adapter installed at the dealer a few days ago, and the sound is so much better than CDs sound! I can't explain it, but there is great bass, clear highs, power, crisp clarity, and that feeling like there are pillows over the speakers is gone! It's awesome! (not to mention having steering wheel access to over 1000 songs). Can anyone tell me why there would be such a difference??


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## STEVE46 (Aug 25, 2004)

The bad sounding MP3s are canceling out the bad sounding stereo system... making a Super Stereo Sytem, capabable of impressing all audiophiles and leaping tall buildings. :rofl:


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## remington (Jul 3, 2003)

STEVE46 said:


> The bad sounding MP3s are canceling out the bad sounding stereo system... making a Super Stereo Sytem, capabable of impressing all audiophiles and leaping tall buildings. :rofl:


Actually they aren't MP3s, they are AACs.


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## webguy330i (Jan 9, 2002)

remington said:


> Actually they aren't MP3s, they are AACs.


 ^ that matters not.

Isn't the signal out of the ipod amped? I can't remember.


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## shizat63 (Feb 14, 2002)

That doesn't really make sense. MP3's are compressed :dunno: 

Is that HK or non-HK?


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## remington (Jul 3, 2003)

shizat63 said:


> That doesn't really make sense. MP3's are compressed :dunno:
> 
> Is that HK or non-HK?


non-HK.
I know it doesn't make sense but nevertheless it's true. I'm open to any explanations. Maybe it is because it is amped as someone suggested??


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## webguy330i (Jan 9, 2002)

Yeah so are AACs, just "better compressed".


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## jgrgnt (Apr 27, 2002)

The headphone jack on the top of the iPod is amplified. The dock connector is line-out.


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## fuz (Feb 6, 2002)

There is a difference between purity of sound reproduction and just good sounding music.

The iPod may be altering the sound by DSP or something to make stuff sound better though headphones or what not. It's the same thing that FM radio stations do to make up for the lower quality sampling rate of radio.


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## pony_trekker (May 26, 2003)

remington said:


> I've had my 2003 325i for about 15 months now and like we have heard so many times, the stereo SUCKS! I had the ipod adapter installed at the dealer a few days ago, and the sound is so much better than CDs sound! I can't explain it, but there is great bass, clear highs, power, crisp clarity, and that feeling like there are pillows over the speakers is gone! It's awesome! (not to mention having steering wheel access to over 1000 songs). Can anyone tell me why there would be such a difference??


1. More compression.
2. EQ. The IPOD's EQ settings -- especially the ROCK and LOUDNESS settings


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## Mantis (Sep 7, 2004)

Not possible,
cds will sound beter then the Ipod.

If you want better sound from your stock system,find higher quality speakers aftermarket.If you live near a Tweeter,go see there car specialists and get some new speakers.You can keep you stock head unit if you want the factory look.This is what I will do when I buy mine.

They have beter sounding speaker systems that require no cutting or drilling.Drop and go.

Dan

I pod is way cool with 1000 sounds at the wheel.I like this feature.


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## Fast Bob (Jun 4, 2004)

Mantis is correct (sort of)...CDs will sound better, but only if the car is parked & not running....CDs have a very high signal-to-noise ratio, close to 100db....in a quiet listening environment, this is great, but in a high-ambient-noise-level environment (i.e. a car), it sucks, because the lowest audible sounds and the highest audible sounds are so far apart,that they get drowned-out by the ambient noise level while driving, and you have to crank the volume level up to the point where the system distorts like a MF in order to hear the *entire* audible spectrum....this is why formats like MP3 (or even the lowly cassette) which are highly compressed and giving maybe 65db S/N ratio are far better for the car stereo, as you`re hearing the entire (compressed) body of music at much lower levels, hence, less distortion, more perceived clarity, etc. Also, the factory-supplied HK unit offers minimal tone controls, with *no* control over the all-important midrange frequencies.

Regards,
Bob


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## marchello2000 (Jan 31, 2004)

*Similar experience with Jukeboz Zen*

I installed the AUX IN into my 3er and experienced similar effect of better quality through AUX (with my beloved Jukebox ZEN from Creative) than FM or CD. I did several tests and came to the conclusion that it's not really better than CD, in fact the quality is very much the same, if you compare the exact same songs from exact same source and with 0 equalization on the Zen side (no surprise here). So basically what you are hearing is the iPod's equalizer at work.

Mark


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## FenPhen (Jan 13, 2004)

Fast Bob said:


> this is why formats like MP3 (or even the lowly cassette) which are highly compressed and giving maybe 65db S/N ratio are far better for the car stereo, as you`re hearing the entire (compressed) body of music at much lower levels, hence, less distortion, more perceived clarity, etc.


I'm having a hard time finding exact numbers via Google, but I believe a high-quality MP3 can have the dynamic range of a CD recording. Also, dynamic range is a function of how much resolution you can get between the extreme values of a waveform, so 16-bit audio on a CD directly translates to ((2^16) log10) * 20 = 96 dB. A higher bit-rate MP3 can achieve that level of accuracy.

One thing to consider about the audio source, is it possible your portable music player has better DACs to the line-out than the HK unit has for the CD player?


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## remington (Jul 3, 2003)

marchello2000 said:


> I installed the AUX IN into my 3er and experienced similar effect of better quality through AUX (with my beloved Jukebox ZEN from Creative) than FM or CD. I did several tests and came to the conclusion that it's not really better than CD, in fact the quality is very much the same, if you compare the exact same songs from exact same source and with 0 equalization on the Zen side (no surprise here). So basically what you are hearing is the iPod's equalizer at work.
> 
> Mark


I've set the EQ on the ipod to level.
Maybe I'm just imagining things.


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## Jim H (Feb 9, 2004)

Fast Bob said:


> Mantis is correct (sort of)...CDs will sound better, but only if the car is parked & not running....CDs have a very high signal-to-noise ratio, close to 100db....in a quiet listening environment, this is great, but in a high-ambient-noise-level environment (i.e. a car), it sucks, because the lowest audible sounds and the highest audible sounds are so far apart,that they get drowned-out by the ambient noise level while driving, and you have to crank the volume level up to the point where the system distorts like a MF in order to hear the *entire* audible spectrum....this is why formats like MP3 (or even the lowly cassette) which are highly compressed and giving maybe 65db S/N ratio are far better for the car stereo, as you`re hearing the entire (compressed) body of music at much lower levels, hence, less distortion, more perceived clarity, etc. Also, the factory-supplied HK unit offers minimal tone controls, with *no* control over the all-important midrange frequencies.
> 
> Regards,
> Bob


Keep in mind that there is a difference between file compression and audio compression.


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## pony_trekker (May 26, 2003)

Jim H said:


> Keep in mind that there is a difference between file compression and audio compression.


The Ipod has audio compression too.


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## Jim H (Feb 9, 2004)

pony_trekker said:


> The Ipod has audio compression too.


Can't it be turned on and off? I could be wrong about that one, so just asking.


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## macgiants (Jul 15, 2004)

remington said:


> I've had my 2003 325i for about 15 months now and like we have heard so many times, the stereo SUCKS! I had the ipod adapter installed at the dealer a few days ago, and the sound is so much better than CDs sound! I can't explain it, but there is great bass, clear highs, power, crisp clarity, and that feeling like there are pillows over the speakers is gone! It's awesome! (not to mention having steering wheel access to over 1000 songs). Can anyone tell me why there would be such a difference??


Just got mine installed today too - :thumbup:

The sound does seem a bit better (maybe it's psychological though).

I noticed that the iPod stays on and charging even when you switch the car off. If it stays that way, does it have any effect on the car battery? Personally I'd rather just leave the iPod sitting in the glovebox all the time. I would guess it doesn't drain the car battery very much, but I'd rather not find out for myself.


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## FenPhen (Jan 13, 2004)

macgiants said:


> I noticed that the iPod stays on and charging even when you switch the car off. If it stays that way, does it have any effect on the car battery? Personally I'd rather just leave the iPod sitting in the glovebox all the time. I would guess it doesn't drain the car battery very much, but I'd rather not find out for myself.


It very likely stops charging when you lock the car, or 15 minutes after you've moved the ignition to position 0.


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