Weman

I had a book of like 200 CDs I ripped them all to iTunes and I have A 32 gig iPod my buddy uses an external harddrive he has like 1 terrabite or something my iPod works fine tho

Njord

An Ipod actually is a 1 bit DAC device, where as a computer sound card can be 24bit or higher. For those who think #bit DAC = sound quality.

I say ditch the head unit all together, and just run a car PC [Read: Atom PC]. You can run a 3.5mm (headphone jack) to RCA and use the computer for T/A, Cross overs, 1tb HDD of music,huge EQ, ect. The features are limit less with software on a computer. Not to mention you could actually get 90 degree cross over filters. Although it would sound weird.
I've been wanted to do this for a while, but what ends up holding me back (besides money, as I'm a student) is trying to find a 5-9in LCD. Doesn't need to be touch screen, as I think a keyboard would be way more useful (being able to search through winamp or w/e you use), but then I usually have a 2nd person in the car with me most of the time.

What I've been doing for the last little while is: I found a headunit that uses the ipod connector to read/surf through the ipod. Then I replaced my 30gb ipod video HDD with a 100GB hdd. This way its not using the 1bit ipod DACs then using the AUX ADC, -> headunit DACs ect.. Only problem is you're still locked into what apple deems as 'lossless' if you're really picky.

Good luck.

Feezy

Only time the Ipod uses it's DAC is when you use the headphone jack as it's output source.

Dukk

The biggest iPod you can find directly into a BitOne. The BitOne has inputs for your factory deck too if you still want a radio.

Lord Huggington

iTrader: (1)

What about that Ipad thing? That's like a computer. You could probably put an EQ on it too.

veeman

iTrader: (3)

There a lot of decks now that use the 24 bit burr brown or similar DACs to process the signal and bypass the ipod's DAC. On top of that the 160 gb Ipod can hold more than enough music in a very user friendly format.. mine has about 3000 wav files, and another 2500 or so lossy tracks. They all play through my Alpine cda 117 with 24 bit DACs via the usb ipod input, and I have full control over all my music on the ipod from the deck. I don't have to lug a notebook or any other equipment back and forth to my car as the ipod is safely in my center armrest, and I have a top notch cd player for those immediate mixes that a friend may bring with them to play. In a separate thread the discussions as to whether or not DAC performance is perceivable or not is another issue, particularly in a noisy environment like a car. Your idea is a nice one but has been more or less perfected already.