RF remote control of UNCOMPRESSED WAVs?

[budget minded]

i'm REALLY starting to get annoyed that there's NO WAY i can find to remote control uncompressed audio on my bicycle stereo system! i'm also annoyed that information on technologies that would allow me to do so are so hard to find.

i've looked into PMPs streaming via bluetooth & wifi once i learned that both techs aren't synonyms for "internet" only to learn that they also degrade sound quality and are absolutely useless!

A LOT of technology is geared towards ipods, but that's a dead end as ipods use hard drives that can't be used near unshielded subs and refuse to play WAVs anyways.

sonos sounds good on paper until you learn it won't work without computers

car stereos now let you use your PMPs and flash drives, and marine ones even use RF remotes, but NONE of THEM will let you use WAVs either!

just try to find an off the shelf RF preamp/volume control! sure, circuit benders can build them, but if you don't build circuits, it sucks to be you

every single time i learn of a promising technology, it suffers some fatal flaw that makes it absolutely useless

- you need to read a dozen books to learn how to build it yourself

- it won't work with full fidelity uncompressed WAVs or trashes them in transmission

- requires hard drives or computers that can't take being bumped around or magnetic fields

- use USELESS infrared (my trailer is BEHIND my bike & all gear is under fabric)

- are married to crappy sounding WAV hating overpriced and overrated ipod

etc.

i've tried to find gear that will do this seemingly IMPOSSIBLE task at 2 other forums to no avail. i refuse to believe that there's no way to remote control flash memory with RF using WAVs. if 24/96 & 1/192 have been around 10+ years, i shouldn't have to settle for evil mp3 crap now!

please.... someone tell me there's a way to do this SIMPLE task without having NASA build it for me! having to stop my bike every time i want to change tracks or volume on my cowon media player (which DOES WAVs) is not acceptable.

i used to hate mp3 for being a step in the wrong direction when 24/96 was finally available (and for basically killing it off), but now i'm starting to despise it violently for killing mediocre 16/44.1 off too!

i'm ALMOST inclined to look into remote control cars technology to build a 'robot' that pushes the buttons on my cowon by remote! there has to be a better way. there has to.

[budget minded]

no one knows of ANY technology that will accomplish such a simple task? no one?

[budget minded]

for what it's worth, despite kenwood & alpine techs BOTH stating they can't play WAVs & inquiries at several car & marine stereo shops online, i found that at least SOME pioneer premier decks will play WAVs off my Cowon U5 & let me navigate with no problems.

it IS doable afterall. all i'd need to do is get a universal RF to IR remote to make it work.

i might even be able to find a way to wire the IR repeater into the back of the deck so i don't have to mount it back a few inches to mount a repeater in front of it. i'll have to redesign my trailer to accommodate the the deck, but on the upside, the units have cool looking blue retro VU meters that will add "bling" to the system and compliment the electric blue plasmaspheres.

i'd have preferred a system that better integrates with navigating folders, but at least i've found a WORKABLE solution now

[dangus]

The $20 2 gig thumbdrive player I got at Staples plays wavs. The free Ipod 3G (nearly dead battery) that I got off Freecycle plays flac, once it's been "upgraded" with Rockbox. Shielding and shock-mounting an iPod shouldn't be hard, and it opens up a wide choice of control options.

[budget minded]

shielding the ipod would defeat the RF capability making the ipod useles. besides that, ipods are total crap because they won't play WAVs and i'm NOT wasting an extra hour converting EVERY mix i make for a night's riding to apple lossless AND ipod sound quality is crap anyways eg. 65dB S/N.

i totally agree that they have the best controllers, but i want to use WAVs as-is "drag & drop" style. i HAVE considered them, but i want the absolute BEST fidelity possible and a car stereo deck isn't going to have shabby D/A converters, will allow some EQ tweaking (until i get a 31 band parametric), put out the right power level to the amps (mp3 players have skimpy headphone level amps, line level is higher) and best of all, i'd be able to turn my amps on with the deck's remote switch instead of having to reach inside the trailer and flip the circuit breaker's switch i originally intended to use.

now that i know pioneer premier car stereo decks will do WAVs without complaining via USB (even though their not advertised as doing that) i'll just get one & eventually a cheap 32gb or larger thumb drive to hold a bunch of mixes ready for any situation or mood.

i'll see if i can get the pioneer's IR remote to work with the deck with mirrors reflecting back. i'll be able to easily see if the deck's receiving IR by putting a cheap camera with IR in front of the deck's receiver. if i can't get that to work, plan B is to get a logitech harmony remote with an optional RF to IR converter and beam THAT back at the car stereo deck. i might even end up hacking the IR converter so it's LED is mounted in the trailer's "hitch beam"

another reason i like that approach is that the premier decks have REALLY cool looking retro electric blue VU meters that would add a little "bling" to my trailer.

thanks for your help, but an ipod is just too fussy for my needs even though almost EVERY accessory i'd want to use with my Cowon only works with ipod. the PMP i'd REALLY like is kenwood's EXPENSIVE "sound keg" if i went that route as it's supposed to have excellent SQ, but i'm sure a car stereo deck would have very close SQ. my Cowon's SQ isn't shabby at all. it only loses a little bit of HF air & imaging compared to my respectable sony DVD player's analogue outs in direct A/B comparisons.

i'm considering using my cowon software's "music visualization" software that came with the CD on a pair of video monitors too. one good sized monitor is actually CHEAPER than 4 small LED "color organs".

before any of this happens though, i need to either find storage for the trailer, or a ground floor apartment. i'm going to confront my rental agency about signing a lease in a couple days. i think i'll have to give them notice. i already wasted THIS YEAR waiting for them to free up the storage unit they told me they'd rent out after they build a new one for their lawnmower etc. i could have been rolling in fall of '07 if it wasn't the start of the rainy season.

[Don Hills]

Originally Posted by budget minded

shielding the ipod would defeat the RF capability making the ipod useles. besides that, ipods are total crap because they won't play WAVs and i'm NOT wasting an extra hour converting EVERY mix i make for a night's riding to apple lossless AND ipod sound quality is crap anyways eg. 65dB S/N.

Let's see now... You're listening to speakers on a moving bicycle and you're complaining about a device with a 65 dB S/N? Classic iPods (hard drive models) have sound quality far better than your application needs.

(I wish there was a smilie for "walks away, shaking head"...)

[budget minded]

no, i WON'T be on a moving bicycle. the whole point of the system is PARKING downtown around all the cookie cutter nightclubs that will only play soulless techno & gangsta crap... never ANYTHING upbeat & funky.

my trailer is meant to be a portable DISCO & will have light towers with 4 LED projectors to get the ladies dancing. the entire system is geared towards no compromise sound quality eg. evil boomy bass ports. *shudder* every step away from neutrality & SQ ads up. i'm aiming to have SQ that embarrasses big buck car & truck systems (as heard by people on the street) & ESPECIALLY nightclubs.

the S/N ratio on ipods is the only spec i can quote, but i've read reviws stating they don't sound that great and that the latest generation sounds even worse than the earliest units. the point is moot, ipods won't play WAVs and i refuse to own anything that won't. i had to ARGUE with the crooks at creative labs about returning media players advertised as playing WAVs but that didn't. (except off a mic in lofi mono)

ipods CAN be made to sound good with external D/A converters like the wadias, but refusing to let me play WAVs is unforgiveable. besides that, ipods are overpriced poseur fodder. i bought my nice little cowon for a fraction of the price of a comparable ipod & my S/N is 95dB! 30dB is an HUGE difference. even moving coil phono preamps aren't that bad.

i won't need a PMP anyways. USB sticks are dirt cheap.

[stevecole]

Hi There,

Let me get this striaght - you have a sound-system installed in a trailer that you haul around behind a (UK slang term) Push-Bike? Why?

[janneman]

iPods and other palyers play flac, and flac is same quality as wav (uncompressed). I think there are rf controls for iPods.

Anyway, I find it unlikely that your dancing girls will complain if you don't have wav.

jd

[cocolino]

car stereos now let you use your PMPs and flash drives, and marine ones even use RF remotes, but NONE of THEM will let you use WAVs either!

for what it's worth, despite kenwood & alpine techs BOTH stating they can't play WAVs & inquiries at several car & marine stereo shops online, i found that at least SOME pioneer premier decks will play WAVs off my Cowon U5 & let me navigate with no problems.

Besides Pioneer (and not only their premier decks) there are also a couple of Kenwood car headunits from the last generation (the current units seem to don`t do WAV anymore.....) that do WAVs from USB (harddrives or sticks) and have a remote control. The display and navigation is also decent, considering the limited space of a car unit. Look for KDC-7537U or KDC-W9537U, at least this are the model numbers over here in Europe. There might be named differently in US though.