Car audio meets home computer audio. An idea I had, but maybe I'm not the first.
05-24-2010, 01:33 PM
#1
50 Watt CAFz'r
Thread Starter
Join Date: May 2010
Posts: 57
Car audio meets home computer audio. An idea I had, but maybe I'm not the first.
Thinking about car audio the other day. Every day at the moment, in fact. newbie fever or something.
How about this for a front end: get a head unit, doesn't really matter what as long as it has an aux input. Get a cheap netbook computer with a bit of hard drive space. Even the cheapest seem to have at least 160 gig hard drives. Get a power inverter or something so you can use it in the car. Dowload the media player of your choice (mine would be foobar2000--but you could use iTunes if you prefer [can't imagine why that would be]. Or MediaMonkey. There are lots of great free ones out there). Load up the hard drive with all your tunes in the file format of your choice (mine would be FLAC--but you could use WMA or Apple lossless or even MP3 if you must, again, lots to choose from). Run a USB cable from the netbook to a High Resolution Technologies musicstreamer USB DAC (powered from the USB bus so no problem with how to power it). Run a cable from the RCAs on the DAC to the aux input on the head unit. Listen to music and never have to take a CD out of the house again. Have your life changed.
Advantages: never having to frig with CDs in the car again. Don't need a changer or anything because you'll have about 3 solid weeks of music at your fingertip. Doesn't matter if the CD player in your head unit is crap coz you'll never use it again. Like I said--all that matters is that it has an aux input. Nobody will break into your car to steal CDs coz they ain't there. Just make sure to take the netbook into the house with you.
I think it would work just fine, and be kind of an elegant solution to a lot of problems, from the chance of glancing up from rummaging under the seat for a CD just in time to realize that the final sight of your life is going to be the grille of a Mack truck, to how do you cram about a hundred pounds of discs into the car for a road trip, to trying to scrounge up the cash for a deck with a decent-enough CD player in it. Like I said: just doesn't matter. Only needs an aux input. The home computer audio listening solution which has changed my life inside the house (haven't used my CD player for about 2 years now--the foobar/HRT setup is just soooo much better on every level) can, I think, work the same kind of magic in the car.
But what do I know? A little, actually, about this, anyway.
Viewpoints? Anyone else tried this? Too radical? Or am I right?
Just asking.
How about this for a front end: get a head unit, doesn't really matter what as long as it has an aux input. Get a cheap netbook computer with a bit of hard drive space. Even the cheapest seem to have at least 160 gig hard drives. Get a power inverter or something so you can use it in the car. Dowload the media player of your choice (mine would be foobar2000--but you could use iTunes if you prefer [can't imagine why that would be]. Or MediaMonkey. There are lots of great free ones out there). Load up the hard drive with all your tunes in the file format of your choice (mine would be FLAC--but you could use WMA or Apple lossless or even MP3 if you must, again, lots to choose from). Run a USB cable from the netbook to a High Resolution Technologies musicstreamer USB DAC (powered from the USB bus so no problem with how to power it). Run a cable from the RCAs on the DAC to the aux input on the head unit. Listen to music and never have to take a CD out of the house again. Have your life changed.
Advantages: never having to frig with CDs in the car again. Don't need a changer or anything because you'll have about 3 solid weeks of music at your fingertip. Doesn't matter if the CD player in your head unit is crap coz you'll never use it again. Like I said--all that matters is that it has an aux input. Nobody will break into your car to steal CDs coz they ain't there. Just make sure to take the netbook into the house with you.
I think it would work just fine, and be kind of an elegant solution to a lot of problems, from the chance of glancing up from rummaging under the seat for a CD just in time to realize that the final sight of your life is going to be the grille of a Mack truck, to how do you cram about a hundred pounds of discs into the car for a road trip, to trying to scrounge up the cash for a deck with a decent-enough CD player in it. Like I said: just doesn't matter. Only needs an aux input. The home computer audio listening solution which has changed my life inside the house (haven't used my CD player for about 2 years now--the foobar/HRT setup is just soooo much better on every level) can, I think, work the same kind of magic in the car.
But what do I know? A little, actually, about this, anyway.
Viewpoints? Anyone else tried this? Too radical? Or am I right?
Just asking.
Last edited by dc23; 05-24-2010 at 01:39 PM.
05-24-2010, 02:41 PM
#4
50 Watt CAFz'r
Thread Starter
Join Date: May 2010
Posts: 57
Yeah, but you're still listening to an iPod, with it's questionable internal DAC. This way you're getting a bit-perfect output to a much better DAC. The HRT musicstreamers (I have the musicstreamer+) are pretty amazing. They've just been replaced by newer models and are going for cheap--a streamer for well under a hundred and a streamer plus for as low as 200. Really, you could use any kind of USB DAC (or firewire, or S/PDIF or whatever, as long as you can power it), but the HRTs are small, easy to power, cheap, and sound amazing.
05-24-2010, 03:06 PM
#6
50 Watt CAFz'r
Join Date: Oct 2007
Posts: 146
Check out MP3Car.com If your interested in this stuff (as I am), you can read for weeks 
05-24-2010, 03:06 PM
#7
50 Watt CAFz'r
Join Date: Jan 2001
Posts: 229
hmmmmm. It would be interesting to listen to the same system using your method and mine. I'd like to hear the difference myself. I did a bunch of testing when I first got my iPod and compared different file formats and different CD's.
Later,
Brad
Later,
Brad
05-24-2010, 05:34 PM
#8
just build a carputer hide the darn thing. and use a portable hard drive for ur tunes. u can have indash touch screen. u can add wifi. gps. watch movies. and add a wack of stuff to it. better than to jimmy rig stuff together than buying the proper equipment for the job. AND u can add the program that u want in it also
i want a carputer but i have no room hahahah
i want a carputer but i have no room hahahah
05-25-2010, 04:14 AM
#10
My $20 Dual deck had an Ipod hookup. The only reason I'd use a carputer is for a better media player equalizer, given that the deck didn't have one already. MP3s are always louder. My CD player is starting to skip, it's pissing me off!
