What Device?

[nauty220]

What device is everyone using to store music to plug and play on your boat?

I have always used an ipod or iPhone knowing I am probably giving up sound quality for efficiency however it has never been a problem, until now.


At higher volume levels, my iphone 4s is crystal clear with the opposite for my ipod. After some time on google I found the article attached below (2010). My ipod is the classic with the code A1238 on the back, had no idea it lacked good sound quality compared to others even after playing for years on past boats. I figured I would just stick with my iphone but storage issues with the cloud drive me nuts.

http://macintoshhowto.com/itunes/whi...o-quality.html



MY QUESTION: What is the best device for us to store music on to plug and play on our boats?????

[s_kelley2000]

Are you hooking up your ipod/iphone using the headphone jack or the charger port on the bottom? If you are using the headphone jack maybe try using the charger port to USB connection if you stereo supports that and see if that improves the sound quality. I use the charger port to USB connection and I have not noticed any sound quality difference between a 4, 4S or Touch but I have not been specifically looking for a difference either. All 3 devices sound good to me but I am far from an audiophile and I only have a slightly above average system in my boat.

[nauty220]

I am using the USB and from what I have read the 4, 4s, and touch all have the better (for apple) audio chips than Ipod classic and other versions of the iphone.

Still wondering as many of us spend money upgrading our stereos if their is a better storage device out there than the multi function apple devices most of us use.

[Quinner]

Really good question, curious to hear what else is available, if anything.

Have never noticed a distinct difference in sound quality between various I-devices we use however the difference between a CD and any I-device is somewhat significant IMO.

[EarmarkMarine]

What device is everyone using to store music to plug and play on your boat?

I have always used an ipod or iPhone knowing I am probably giving up sound quality for efficiency however it has never been a problem, until now.


At higher volume levels, my iphone 4s is crystal clear with the opposite for my ipod. After some time on google I found the article attached below (2010). My ipod is the classic with the code A1238 on the back, had no idea it lacked good sound quality compared to others even after playing for years on past boats. I figured I would just stick with my iphone but storage issues with the cloud drive me nuts.

http://macintoshhowto.com/itunes/whi...o-quality.html



MY QUESTION: What is the best device for us to store music on to plug and play on our boats?????

We've been using external/compact/12volt driven DACs that also provide a large improvement in voltage. Combined with lossless files you will get extremely good sound quality. Rummage around MusicDirect and a few of those type sites. Also, Odin at Earmark sells a DAC unit.


David

[scottb7]

I use old iphone 3gs with pandora or iheart radio and it is great. no complaints. i go thru headphone jack.

[nyryan2001]

Do you have decent cell coverage where you boat? ----> Pandora. no files to download. type in a genre of music, song title or artist....and it goes from there.

[Texan1554]

Spotify takes Pandora to the next level if you're interested. $10/mo lets you access pretty much every song ever, create playlists, see what you're friends are listening too, share playlists, make colaborative playlists, and it has the same radio feature as pandora. If you have 3G where you boat then you can access everything. If you don't you can select playlists that you want available offline and it download them to your device.

[nauty220]

We've been using external/compact/12volt driven DACs that also provide a large improvement in voltage. Combined with lossless files you will get extremely good sound quality. Rummage around MusicDirect and a few of those type sites. Also, Odin at Earmark sells a DAC unit.


David

Thank you David. Will this accomplish the same thing as an ARC ps8 digital processor?

[swankster]

We use iphones 3gs and 4s and my son made us a usb flash drive which is great to use. I don't know what file format he used but it sounds good with the factory sound system.

[EarmarkMarine]

Thank you David. Will this accomplish the same thing as an ARC ps8 digital processor?

Nope, as they are two very different things.
The Arc Audio piece is a DSP. I'm a huge fan of these in the controlled environment of a car. We just happen to use the Audison Bit 1 and Bit 10 versions. These 'digital sound processors' are purely for correcting the listening environment. EQ, time/distance/phase correction, crossovers and more in one box.
The DAC replaces the digital to analog conversion contained within the storage device (ipod for example). Provided you use lossless downloads of material with good origin, use large storage files, and capture all data, then a digital storage device would assumed to be close to equal from device to device. However, there are real weaknesses in the internal chips that do the DAC processing. After all, these units were intended for earbuds and not big 2-channel system playback. But with a great outboard DAC (smaller than a pack of cigarettes) the digital to audio conversion can be outstanding.

David

[DJH]

I use a 6th generation iPod nano connected through the USB interface - works great. With the exception of occasional playlist tweaking it stays in the boat. I tried to use an iPod shuffle connected the same way but it doesn't integrate with the Clarion/Linc interface.

[lucky7t]

We just drop files on a 64g thumb drive. Easy and small

[ES]

I find that listening to music for a long time through iPhone/ipod tends to warm it up quite a bit. Even more so when connected to the charger and out on the water all day. My solution is to load a few thousands songs on a USB stick and just keep it plugged in all the time. I have the first generation LINC and the USB port is in the glove compartment, which fits a small USB flash drive perfectly.
LINC even allows folders on USB flash drives, so I have one called "Fun" and another called "Relax". If you export the songs through itunes, it will also retain the artist and song name, which will display on your screen.
I don't recall if LINC can read formats different from MP3. If it can't, you will need to convert the songs into that format (e.g. iTunes now mostly uses the format .m4a).