im looking at the aune ape player at the moment.
and it seems soooo damn almost there🙂
if it had a rotaty volume control and a bit bigger display.
is it possible to use a different power supply to power this or any other unit in a car?
as i said its almost there.
can anyone suggest a unit that has the above features and DAC built in.
all i want is to be able to play my flac files in my car.
as simple as it sounds, the car audio industry is like a fn turtle.
by the time they catch up to speed we will be not needing flac support anymore.
i have been searching and asking everywhere trying to figure out how to CONVENIENTLY play flac in my car while maintaining a digital signal all the way to the speaker amplifier.
there are options but they require to use analog cables etc.
and running through a headunit as well, alot of converting and processing.
if we only had an indash media player like we do for home theater life would be so much easier...
PS: all IPOD SUGGESTERS, please take a hike. not trying to be rude but thats obviously not an option. otherwise i would be using ipod with ALAC.
and it seems soooo damn almost there🙂
if it had a rotaty volume control and a bit bigger display.
is it possible to use a different power supply to power this or any other unit in a car?
as i said its almost there.
can anyone suggest a unit that has the above features and DAC built in.
all i want is to be able to play my flac files in my car.
as simple as it sounds, the car audio industry is like a fn turtle.
by the time they catch up to speed we will be not needing flac support anymore.
i have been searching and asking everywhere trying to figure out how to CONVENIENTLY play flac in my car while maintaining a digital signal all the way to the speaker amplifier.
there are options but they require to use analog cables etc.
and running through a headunit as well, alot of converting and processing.
if we only had an indash media player like we do for home theater life would be so much easier...
PS: all IPOD SUGGESTERS, please take a hike. not trying to be rude but thats obviously not an option. otherwise i would be using ipod with ALAC.
I would get one of these for the car and get yourself a 7" monitor for the car, hook it up to your amp and away you go!
The WD is way cooler than the Aune becuase you can, if you want, also play videos in your car + you will still get analog or digital audio output from the WD, and you can use a 1TB HDD, which comes with the unit. Very elegant solution i think. and with the 7" monitor they mostly seem to come with 2 inputs so you can hook up a reversing camera whist you are at it.
The WD is way cooler than the Aune becuase you can, if you want, also play videos in your car + you will still get analog or digital audio output from the WD, and you can use a 1TB HDD, which comes with the unit. Very elegant solution i think. and with the 7" monitor they mostly seem to come with 2 inputs so you can hook up a reversing camera whist you are at it.
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i just realized the major problem with any of the home players would be the lack of acc turn on wire.
unless theres a power button on the unit that i can wire up to a small relay to momentarily close the circuit.
and theres really not that many amps that have a digital input.so i would have to run it through
its really bothering me that the car audio manufacturers are always complaining how much car industry sucks.
yet they dont do much to please their customers.
most major companies have been releasing **** in last few years.
repackaged, redesigned units, mostly just different faceplates
they move the buttons around the faceplate and call it a brand new unit...
dolphin animations... no comments
we got all these dacs, HDD players,media servers, media players you name it, for home.
but if i wanted to make a decent system fro car, my only options are overpriced pioneer/alpine/etc unit that still doesnt have all the features that should be there.
or a car PC that is also missing a big chunk out of it.
the car interface.
a simple single/double din usb controlled LCD display with volume knob and a preamp would be soooo nice right now.
ok rant is over lol.(just tired of searching everywhere for a decent solution)
also the WD and seagate and other media centers are not touchscreen capable.
you control them with a remote.
just think about what an ackward situation it would be if you have some 70s german porn flick blasting in your car and your remote battery dies suddenly...
unless theres a power button on the unit that i can wire up to a small relay to momentarily close the circuit.
and theres really not that many amps that have a digital input.so i would have to run it through
its really bothering me that the car audio manufacturers are always complaining how much car industry sucks.
yet they dont do much to please their customers.
most major companies have been releasing **** in last few years.
repackaged, redesigned units, mostly just different faceplates
they move the buttons around the faceplate and call it a brand new unit...
dolphin animations... no comments
we got all these dacs, HDD players,media servers, media players you name it, for home.
but if i wanted to make a decent system fro car, my only options are overpriced pioneer/alpine/etc unit that still doesnt have all the features that should be there.
or a car PC that is also missing a big chunk out of it.
the car interface.
a simple single/double din usb controlled LCD display with volume knob and a preamp would be soooo nice right now.
ok rant is over lol.(just tired of searching everywhere for a decent solution)
also the WD and seagate and other media centers are not touchscreen capable.
you control them with a remote.
just think about what an ackward situation it would be if you have some 70s german porn flick blasting in your car and your remote battery dies suddenly...
Remote on/off is easily done with a switch or relay. Not such a big issue if playing porn if you ask me.
The only media player?
No there are heaps of brands around. I suggested it because it takes an internal HDD, but there are many brands that will do this. You can even get some with TV tuners built in.
If you wanted a "no compromise player" but in a small package Xtreamer makes a nice looking one (not tried it though)
Xtreamer Ultra Announcement!
You should take a look for yourself and decide if this is something you want or need?
Perhaps its overkill for the car?
The Xtreamer does allow you to connect a monitor (so they say on the website) but I was not able to ascertain if you could connect a touchscreen monitor to it.
Perhaps a carputer is more your scene?
I do empathize with you though. The car audio scene is a bit behind where it should be. At the moment media players are kicking that a$$ out of the domestic audio industry as well. IMO media players when tweaked with better caps etc. and mated with a good DAC are at least the equal if not better and more convenient than Cd players/transports.
No there are heaps of brands around. I suggested it because it takes an internal HDD, but there are many brands that will do this. You can even get some with TV tuners built in.
If you wanted a "no compromise player" but in a small package Xtreamer makes a nice looking one (not tried it though)
Xtreamer Ultra Announcement!
You should take a look for yourself and decide if this is something you want or need?
Perhaps its overkill for the car?
The Xtreamer does allow you to connect a monitor (so they say on the website) but I was not able to ascertain if you could connect a touchscreen monitor to it.
Perhaps a carputer is more your scene?
I do empathize with you though. The car audio scene is a bit behind where it should be. At the moment media players are kicking that a$$ out of the domestic audio industry as well. IMO media players when tweaked with better caps etc. and mated with a good DAC are at least the equal if not better and more convenient than Cd players/transports.
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i pretty much just want a nice quality unit to play flac files. i have backed up all my cds in flac format and now theres nothing available to play flac in the car. i used to listen to music at home it was ok. but now the car is where i have most of my music and...
the player i mentined was the best option i could find.
thats why i created this thread to see if anyone else knows about a player that will work better than this one.
volume knob an bigger display and
i only have a single din opening so no space to fit 2 units anywhere.
the problem is not finding the combo but finding the unit that has the features in one.
i can build a car PC but theres still no interface for the car besides that USB super knob.
and a good quality DAC is not a bad thing to have in the car🙂
the player i mentined was the best option i could find.
thats why i created this thread to see if anyone else knows about a player that will work better than this one.
volume knob an bigger display and
i only have a single din opening so no space to fit 2 units anywhere.
the problem is not finding the combo but finding the unit that has the features in one.
i can build a car PC but theres still no interface for the car besides that USB super knob.
and a good quality DAC is not a bad thing to have in the car🙂
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hmm... I'm getting an idea: Building this!
What would be needed to make this work? Let's see what I've drawn from the previous posts:
1 DIN car player
Rotary volume knob
Digital inputs (USB?, SD-card?, (e)SATA HDD?)
LCD display
Built in pre-amplifier (power amplifier?)
ACC turn-on wire input
Am I missing anything?
What would be needed to make this work? Let's see what I've drawn from the previous posts:
1 DIN car player
Rotary volume knob
Digital inputs (USB?, SD-card?, (e)SATA HDD?)
LCD display
Built in pre-amplifier (power amplifier?)
ACC turn-on wire input
Am I missing anything?
i went ahead and ordered a booksize pc from foxconn for 170.
and will order a USB touchscren from mp3car.
the problem lies in connecting these above components to the rest of my system while also making them usable in the car.
i got PC on one side
and the amp with speakers on the other side.
but nothing to connect them together.
i can use a preamp but i have no idea how is the interface on the PC it will be a btcch to adjust volume while driving or even skip to next track using the touch screen.
so i thought of getting a USB dac that has a volume control
but then it doesnt have the skip fwd and back buttons
the above player has the fwd/back and playlist controls but doesnt have the volume know .
wft its never in one package theres always something missing.
or for a bit lower quality i could just use an audio control half din EQ/preamp that has volume control and send it to the amp.
is there a real noticeable difference when using an external DAC such as one offered by aune VS using a built in sound card dac with 3.5 jack outputs?
and will order a USB touchscren from mp3car.
the problem lies in connecting these above components to the rest of my system while also making them usable in the car.
i got PC on one side
and the amp with speakers on the other side.
but nothing to connect them together.
i can use a preamp but i have no idea how is the interface on the PC it will be a btcch to adjust volume while driving or even skip to next track using the touch screen.
so i thought of getting a USB dac that has a volume control
but then it doesnt have the skip fwd and back buttons
the above player has the fwd/back and playlist controls but doesnt have the volume know .
wft its never in one package theres always something missing.
or for a bit lower quality i could just use an audio control half din EQ/preamp that has volume control and send it to the amp.
is there a real noticeable difference when using an external DAC such as one offered by aune VS using a built in sound card dac with 3.5 jack outputs?
I have tried one of those little atom PCs and found the onboard audio output to be quite acceptable. I would wait and see if you like the sound before buying anything else.
If you are using a touchscreen, I'm fairly sure the playback software will have a volume control that will be usable from the touchscreen. there is so much software I'm sure you will find one to suit. Most audio playback software has eq. I dont see much need for any other equipment.
I think this would all be pretty easy from the touchscreen.
I presume you will be running widoze software?
If you are using a touchscreen, I'm fairly sure the playback software will have a volume control that will be usable from the touchscreen. there is so much software I'm sure you will find one to suit. Most audio playback software has eq. I dont see much need for any other equipment.
I think this would all be pretty easy from the touchscreen.
I presume you will be running widoze software?
yep im thinking of getting xp media edition since it has the quick boot player in it
my main concern is keeping that clean signal.
the whole reason for this headache is to get best possible signal sent to my amp.
i mean there would be no point of playing flac in the car if using analog cables
it would be same as just playing 320kbps mp3s from a head unit.
thres no car audio amps with toslink.
and theres no USB dacs that have 4-5 volt output to jump directly to the car amplifier.
having a sound card or DAC and then another audio processor just adds to the errors and noise.
so currently im thinking of getting that usb dac from aune and mounting it very close to amp and move the volume knob to the front somewhere.
that way my RCA wires would be minimal length.
my main concern is keeping that clean signal.
the whole reason for this headache is to get best possible signal sent to my amp.
i mean there would be no point of playing flac in the car if using analog cables
it would be same as just playing 320kbps mp3s from a head unit.
thres no car audio amps with toslink.
and theres no USB dacs that have 4-5 volt output to jump directly to the car amplifier.
having a sound card or DAC and then another audio processor just adds to the errors and noise.
so currently im thinking of getting that usb dac from aune and mounting it very close to amp and move the volume knob to the front somewhere.
that way my RCA wires would be minimal length.
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If you do get a dac, make sure it uses op-amps as an output filter, and then you could change the gain of the circuit to give you 4-5 volts out.
I dont agree with you about the "no point to playing flac" if you are using analog cables. The losses in short cable runs are probably less audible than using a DAC chip poorly implemented providing objectionable sound.
(or insert your own analogy here) But thats just my opinion. The Signal to noise ratio is a car is likeley to be much less than at home, due to background road and tyre noise. So, I dont think cable quality is going to be a deal breaker.
I might be stretching this but if your amps and speakers sound good to your ears, you can probably sort out 95% of the obectionable peaks and dips etc. with decent software EQ.
I dont agree with you about the "no point to playing flac" if you are using analog cables. The losses in short cable runs are probably less audible than using a DAC chip poorly implemented providing objectionable sound.
(or insert your own analogy here) But thats just my opinion. The Signal to noise ratio is a car is likeley to be much less than at home, due to background road and tyre noise. So, I dont think cable quality is going to be a deal breaker.
I might be stretching this but if your amps and speakers sound good to your ears, you can probably sort out 95% of the obectionable peaks and dips etc. with decent software EQ.
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op-amps? i dont even know what that means.
how can i tell?
does aune usb dac has one?
thats a good point tho.
what i meant is trying to get all this stuff to play flac(or any other lossless file and then converting and reconverting and processing it over and over while picking up some noise here and there defies the whole purpose of having high quality recording in a car.
how can i tell?
does aune usb dac has one?
thats a good point tho.
what i meant is trying to get all this stuff to play flac(or any other lossless file and then converting and reconverting and processing it over and over while picking up some noise here and there defies the whole purpose of having high quality recording in a car.
I do get what you are saying about losses during conversions.
What I'm getting at, is that audio signals are more forgiving than some people give credit for. You can still get outstanding audio in a car even using the analog output from the PC. Even if you run analog audio over 200 meters you will still be able to tell if the source was a mp3 or a lossless file.
Big radio stations play AAC or Mp3 off computers, have massive cable runs and A to D and D to A conversions all over the place, compression and EQ, then transport the signal to the transmitter (various methods of doing this) and then the signal travels through the air and gets to your radio and still sounds pretty darn good, all things considered.
If you are playing a lossless file at the PC at the front of your car and running a shielded analog cable to your car amp 2.5 meters away. The sound is going to be very good. Don't worry about it.
What I'm getting at, is that audio signals are more forgiving than some people give credit for. You can still get outstanding audio in a car even using the analog output from the PC. Even if you run analog audio over 200 meters you will still be able to tell if the source was a mp3 or a lossless file.
Big radio stations play AAC or Mp3 off computers, have massive cable runs and A to D and D to A conversions all over the place, compression and EQ, then transport the signal to the transmitter (various methods of doing this) and then the signal travels through the air and gets to your radio and still sounds pretty darn good, all things considered.
If you are playing a lossless file at the PC at the front of your car and running a shielded analog cable to your car amp 2.5 meters away. The sound is going to be very good. Don't worry about it.
well its mostly for the peace of mind lol
i know the differences are minimal.
do you think it will benefit to have the DAC right next to the amp and use the shortest possible RCAs rather than having it upfront and running RCAs to the back.
the amp is gonna be behind the seats, and so is PC
im getting a usb powered LCD screen
i know the differences are minimal.
do you think it will benefit to have the DAC right next to the amp and use the shortest possible RCAs rather than having it upfront and running RCAs to the back.
the amp is gonna be behind the seats, and so is PC
im getting a usb powered LCD screen
If its a usb dac, the usb cable should be ideally as short as possible, preferably 1m and no more than 3m. I think it would be preferable to have your dac within easy reach, if it has a volume control on it. Otherwise I have no preference for the location of it.
I've been "planning" a car computer for a long time, but have settled for using MP3 CD players then flash players. Now I want FLAC; I should concentrate on using a PC-based thing, but something with hardware decoding is starting to seem like a better approach. USB keys at 8 gigs for $8 mean I could fit a crazy amount of music in the volume of a single cassette case, for less than I paid for that one extra magazine for my old Sony CD changer.
I'm investigating a cheap "mini 1080p media player" for possible car use, less than $35 shipped on eBay. The description says it has "resume" ability which is promising. It runs on 5V (so easy to regulate down from 12V and hopefully survive dip to around 8V during starting). Low power; the same chip is used in pocket players. Support for FLAC, among various audio formats. S/PDIF out, plus line and HDMI. Control is a cheap-looking remote control. I'm hoping it might recognize a USB keyboard; the WDTV does. One SD card slot, plus one USB which presumably can be used with a hub. The guts are a Boxchip F10, which is said to be an improved version of the Sochip SC9800. If it doesn't work so well as an audio player, it should still work fine for movies and music videos while parked. I have a couple of small LCD monitors a friend brought back from Japan which ought to be good enough to see the menu. In a perfect world, though, the media player would work with a Matrix Orbital compatible alphanumeric display to select files and display file name and information while playing. See the bit-tech.net forum for a DIY USB LCD controller. Unfortunately, there's not much info on the processor; all I could find was a preliminary data sheet on the SC9800.
Sony sold a "digital pre-amplifier" with 2 Toslink and 2 line level stereo inputs, DSP subwoofer crossover, the XDP-U50D. Unfortunately it can only be woken up and controlled from a compatible Sony head unit. Otherwise it would be ideal for use with a car PC or media player. (I found one recently at a thrift store.) I will keep my eyes open for one of those head units, ask around at some car audio dealers; one with a dead CD or tape mechanism should still be fine to operate the "digital pre-amplifier", and it might be possible to figure out the protocol. Such a head unit should support the wired "remote commander", so it would be very easy to control key functions without the head unit being visible. Most Sony wired remotes just use different resistors in series with each button, so multiple functions can be encoded on a simple wire loop. And a DIYer can easily adapt other switches to control a Sony deck, or control it from several locations (like in the back of a van or RV).
Other car sound makers did similar boxes; some may function standalone, or at least have dedicated control units. And, there's car Dolby Digital processors, like the Panasonic CY-AC300. Although that unit inexplicably has no remote, just a wired display/control module. Freaking expensive when new, but you may find something like that on the bargain table of a car audio dealer.
I'm investigating a cheap "mini 1080p media player" for possible car use, less than $35 shipped on eBay. The description says it has "resume" ability which is promising. It runs on 5V (so easy to regulate down from 12V and hopefully survive dip to around 8V during starting). Low power; the same chip is used in pocket players. Support for FLAC, among various audio formats. S/PDIF out, plus line and HDMI. Control is a cheap-looking remote control. I'm hoping it might recognize a USB keyboard; the WDTV does. One SD card slot, plus one USB which presumably can be used with a hub. The guts are a Boxchip F10, which is said to be an improved version of the Sochip SC9800. If it doesn't work so well as an audio player, it should still work fine for movies and music videos while parked. I have a couple of small LCD monitors a friend brought back from Japan which ought to be good enough to see the menu. In a perfect world, though, the media player would work with a Matrix Orbital compatible alphanumeric display to select files and display file name and information while playing. See the bit-tech.net forum for a DIY USB LCD controller. Unfortunately, there's not much info on the processor; all I could find was a preliminary data sheet on the SC9800.
Sony sold a "digital pre-amplifier" with 2 Toslink and 2 line level stereo inputs, DSP subwoofer crossover, the XDP-U50D. Unfortunately it can only be woken up and controlled from a compatible Sony head unit. Otherwise it would be ideal for use with a car PC or media player. (I found one recently at a thrift store.) I will keep my eyes open for one of those head units, ask around at some car audio dealers; one with a dead CD or tape mechanism should still be fine to operate the "digital pre-amplifier", and it might be possible to figure out the protocol. Such a head unit should support the wired "remote commander", so it would be very easy to control key functions without the head unit being visible. Most Sony wired remotes just use different resistors in series with each button, so multiple functions can be encoded on a simple wire loop. And a DIYer can easily adapt other switches to control a Sony deck, or control it from several locations (like in the back of a van or RV).
Other car sound makers did similar boxes; some may function standalone, or at least have dedicated control units. And, there's car Dolby Digital processors, like the Panasonic CY-AC300. Although that unit inexplicably has no remote, just a wired display/control module. Freaking expensive when new, but you may find something like that on the bargain table of a car audio dealer.
this sucks.
car audio manufacturers are so OFF on their timeline.
they either release a product so early that nobody knows aboutit like kenwood with their phatbox. or too late like MP3 cd players and ipod and etc. that people already moved on to the next format.
now we got a car PC that can play uber quality music and amps and stereos with some crazy features but no way to connect two together to utilize them to full potential.
after lots of research i still cant find any solutions.
all i want is to deliver a digital signal straight to the 4 channel amp
and have some kind of fast booting and easy control interface so i dont have to take my eyes off the road.
like if a head unit could read a virtual drive on a PC that acted as a thumb drive. or a PC decoded flac files and sent it to the car stereo as PCM wav that would be great.
car audio manufacturers are so OFF on their timeline.
they either release a product so early that nobody knows aboutit like kenwood with their phatbox. or too late like MP3 cd players and ipod and etc. that people already moved on to the next format.
now we got a car PC that can play uber quality music and amps and stereos with some crazy features but no way to connect two together to utilize them to full potential.
after lots of research i still cant find any solutions.
all i want is to deliver a digital signal straight to the 4 channel amp
and have some kind of fast booting and easy control interface so i dont have to take my eyes off the road.
like if a head unit could read a virtual drive on a PC that acted as a thumb drive. or a PC decoded flac files and sent it to the car stereo as PCM wav that would be great.
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