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I just spent the last two days (1500 miles) driving. It got me wondering what folks here do for car audio. I used to have an iPod Classic, but some heroin addict bashed in my window and took it and an iPad mini a few years ago. I replaced the iPad mini but hesitated on the iPod classic, and then it got discontinued. So now I am only able to bring a small subset of music along for a drive.

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I play Tidal or Spotify over Bluetooth aptX to my car stereo. I can do basic playback control from the steering wheel and car's display. Additional bonus is access to phone's contacts and call functionality (handsfree). Has been working flawlessly.

 

The IVI system in the car has also internet radio support with list of thousand stations or so. Another alternative is to just plug in USB storage and play from there.

 

For internet radio, my favorites are soma.fm and di.fm

Signalyst - Developer of HQPlayer

Pulse & Fidelity - Software Defined Amplifiers

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Sirius not good enough for you?

 

 

He's fine, and he really likes going for car rides, but I left him an home with the puppy to keep her company. (She barfs in the car, so it would have been impractical to bring them both.)

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I just spent the last two days (1500 miles) driving. It got me wondering what folks here do for car audio. I used to have an iPod Classic, but some heroin addict bashed in my window and took it and an iPad mini a few years ago. I replaced the iPad mini but hesitated on the iPod classic, and then it got discontinued. So now I am only able to bring a small subset of music along for a drive.

 

The hard drive controller in my iPod Classic 160gb started acting buggy, so I sold it on ebay for parts. Somebody paid me $150 for it, which was enough to buy a new 16gb iPod Nano, which is the the size of a matchbox.

I transcoded what I wanted down to 320 kbps AAC, which is fine for the car or portable on-ear headphones. I had to pick and choose music, but was still able to fit a couple hundred albums on it, which is adequate since I don't make many long road trips.

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The hard drive controller in my iPod Classic 160gb started acting buggy, so I sold it on ebay for parts. Somebody paid me $150 for it, which was enough to buy a new 16gb iPod Nano, which is the the size of a matchbox.

I transcoded what I wanted down to 320 kbps AAC, which is fine for the car or portable on-ear headphones. I had to pick and choose music, but was still able to fit a couple hundred albums on it, which is adequate since I don't make many long road trips.

 

Thanks. I should probably do that.

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Your dog is called Sirius?

 

It is the "dog star."

One never knows, do one? - Fats Waller

The fairest thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art and true science. - Einstein

Computer, Audirvana -> optical Ethernet to Fitlet3 -> Fibbr Alpha Optical USB -> iFi NEO iDSD DAC -> Apollon Audio 1ET400A Mini (Purifi based) -> Vandersteen 3A Signature.

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I run my Pono into the auxiliary input if I want the best quality sound.

One never knows, do one? - Fats Waller

The fairest thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art and true science. - Einstein

Computer, Audirvana -> optical Ethernet to Fitlet3 -> Fibbr Alpha Optical USB -> iFi NEO iDSD DAC -> Apollon Audio 1ET400A Mini (Purifi based) -> Vandersteen 3A Signature.

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I use my iphone streaming Jriver all Flac files, Hi Res is converted to flac lossless. I could convert to a lower compression but I never came close to maxing my data, so I stay with the original Flac files. I could use Bluetooth in the car but using the usb connector gives me all the meta data and album art work on the display panel. Bluetooth doesn't show album art (kind of cool looking on the center display console). Then at work I continue to stream over WiFi there. Occasional I'll do tidal at work. Roon/tidal at home, I'm doing the trial versions through next week. Jriver is great for creating very precise playlists, which for now Roon lacks. They need to add 5 star ratings. This goes a long way in making playlists. So when I'm not at home, Jriver is my go to. Of course data rates will very but I never used more than 5 gigs a month, this includes time I spend biking, rollerblading or going for walks. Now I'm not a tech wiz, so maybe the iphone is converting this to a lower compression and I don't realize it. But is sounds pretty good in the car and on headphones. Jriver shows it playing at Flac rate. If you have the files converted it shows up as 320 or whatever you want to stream it to.

Computer setup - Roon/Qobuz - PS Audio P5 Regenerator - HIFI Rose 250A Streamer - Emotiva XPA-2 Harbeth P3ESR XD - Rel  R-528 Sub

Comfy Chair - Schitt Jotunheim - Meze Audio Empyrean w/Mitch Barnett's Accurate Sound FilterSet

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I work from home, so not an issue anymore.

 

If I had to go back to driving daily, I'd certainly look at something like streaming from the home NAS on the smartphone and certainly a Chromecast Audio tethered to an Android device with a power bank.

 

Back when I drove daily it was a USB with MP3 rips plugged into the head unit. Probably could do that too.

 

Tidal, Spotify, and radio would be good too.

Next to the Word of God, the noble art of music is the greatest treasure in the world - Martin Luther

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I use an Auralic Aries Mini with an internal SSD connected via toslink to a good old Sony Mobile ES DSP and full active amps/speakers.

 

The small Auralic Hardware is very fine in a car but the LightningDS software is horrible - very hard to use on an iPad mini as a display. Functionality and handling of the app is very bad, too.

 

The overall sound is very beautiful, however.

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As someone who drives nearly 3 hours a day, I appreciate car audio quite a bit. I would say some of the best use of dsp is done in car's. Today's dsps are really great tools to help achieve great sound. I stream BT to my Alpine deck but the processing of Helix DSP is what makes thing sound great.

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I'm not starting another dang monthly media bill for Sirius or whatever. I got a $40 Sansa Clip+ with a 32g card. Transcode my flac files to ogg's and can load a ton of good sounding music to it.

"The gullibility of audiophiles is what astonishes me the most, even after all these years. How is it possible, how did it ever happen, that they trust fairy-tale purveyors and mystic gurus more than reliable sources of scientific information?"

Peter Aczel - The Audio Critic

nomqa.webp.aa713f2bb9e304522011cdb2d2ca907d.webp  R.I.P. MQA 2014-2023: Hyped product thanks to uneducated, uncritical advocates & captured press.

 

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I run my Pono into the auxiliary input if I want the best quality sound.

 

iPhone in AUX. All radio stations desired through TuneIn radio app. Podcasts. Gigs of CD rips.

 

Iphone via USB into Harmon Kardon. 64 gb of lossless rips. I did compare the Aux vs USB in and thought the Aux sounded a bit better, but really don't want to be looking at the phone trying to select music while driving, so USB it is. Also haven't gotten my Pono yet. :)

 

Sound treatments were probably the biggest part of the sound - have a mostly complete Sound Deadener Showdown car treatment. Did it mostly to make the driving noise tolerable, but it also ended up making the sound system pretty listenable as an added benefit. Trunk pic below:

 

PB306536.jpg

Main System: Mac mini (Audirvana+, MMK, JS-2) -> ISO Regen (LPS-1) -> Icron 2201 (Rex LPS-1.2) -> ISO Regen (LPS-1.2) -> Ayre QB-9 Twenty -> Headamp GS-X Mk2 -> Classe CT-M600 -> KEF Reference 201/2

 

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I actually prefer listening to the flat 6 engine in the rear of my car, sounds awesome above 4K :D

Analog: Koetsu Rosewood > VPI Aries 3 w/SDS > EAR 834P > EAR 834L: Audiodesk cleaner

Digital Fun: DAS > CAPS v3 w/LPS (JRMC) SOtM USB > Lynx Hilo > EAR 834L

Digital Serious: DAS > CAPS v3 w/LPS (HQPlayer) Ethernet > SMS-100 NAA > Lampi DSD L4 G5 > EAR 834L

Digital Disc: Oppo BDP 95 > EAR 834L

Output: EAR 834L > Xilica XP4080 DSP > Odessey Stratos Mono Extreme > Legacy Aeris

Phones: EAR 834L > Little Dot Mk ii > Senheiser HD 800

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Sirius is usually sufficient for me (ESPN, Music stations, & Comedy) but if that gets boring I bluetooth stream or Aux jack in my NWZX2. Mostly flying to jobsites now so less Truck/Radio time for me.

QNAP TS453Pro w/QLMS->Netgear Switch->Netgear RAX43 Router->Ethernet (50 ft)->Netgear switch->SBTouch ->SABAJ A10d->Linn Majik-IL (preamp)->Linn 2250->Linn Keilidh; Control Points: iPeng (iPad Air & iPhone); Also: Rega P3-24 w/ DV 10x5; OPPO 103; PC Playback: Foobar2000 & JRiver; Portable: iPhone 12 ProMax & Radio Paradise or NAS streaming; Sony NWZ ZX2 w/ PHA-3; SMSL IQ, Fiio Q5, iFi Nano iDSD BL; Garage: Edifier S1000DB Active Speakers  

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