kosmo

I'm having a problem w/my ipod nano gen 2.

Mike in CA

Interesting. My iPhone 3G (not the very latest 3GS) works perfectly with the UAI in my 2009 C2S for audio and with the Bluetooth interface as well. Also, to respond to the initial poster on this subject, my USB flash drive with MP3 files works without problems as well.

simsgw

This is odd. I finally went back out to the car with a DVD of Harry Potter and a CD with Dolby 5.1 of Mozart. (I guess Mozart hasn't objected.) The CD was just brought up in standard stereo with the surround option active, as is my preference on CD's. Checking the cover, it's a multi-mode SACD with standard CD encoding on the disk as well, so the Dolby 5.1 was only available in SACD mode and the player either doesn't support SACD (which is likely) or it defaults to CD if it sees those tracks present. Fair enough, since very few devices support SACD unfortunately and a couple of players I've tried won't play anything at all from a multi-mode disk.

Then the Harry Potter DVD. "Prisoner of Azkabhan" turns out to be a grand test of the low frequency capability and the upgraded Bose system definitely provides good woofers and a strong subwoofer as well. I know some audio fans want more, but I don't. My intestines couldn't take more bass than started when the opening scene was played. More important to most of us, the system played with no distortion at all that I could detect with the naked ear. (And intestine.) This was with the engine off. Seems like a very satisfactory system for our purposes. When we went to replace our NSX, one of my secondary goals was to choose a car with a sound system good enough to permit my continuing to study classical music with CD's from The Teaching Company. This will do fine.

Now, the Dolby 5.1. It certainly was active according to my gut, but the field that says 'surround' on the other sources had changed to "5.1 Surround" and was greyed out. Just as you describe. When I looked closer, the checkbox had a check in it. In other words, I had no choice with this disk. The system was going to play in 5.1 no matter what I did.

So I can't contribute any help for your 5.1 CD except to say the system certainly is able to play 5.1. I can't see any reason it would play 5.1 from a DVD and fail to play it from another type of disk, unless the encoding format of the disk was not recognized.

Is that truly a simple CD with Dolby 5.1 encoding? I've never bought one so I don't know. The only 5.1 on an audio disk that I've tried personally is that SACD format. I don't why that would cause an error message though. When I inserted a disk it couldn't read, my system just prompted me to "insert a disk".

Sorry I can't be more help, because I appreciate the excuse to visit our new darlin' in the garage three times in one afternoon.

Gary

FI Flyer

Back to the charging issue. There is another vendor of a power adapter for the newer iPhones and iPods. The vendor is cablejive.com and the device is called a charge converter. It costs about $28 plus shipping.

Here is the description:

Get your iPhone 3G S, 3G, and latest generation iPods charging with all iPod and iPhone devices. This adapter fixes the charging issue by converting Firewire power to USB, and passes through all other connections.

The body of this sleek adapter is 17mm tall, 39mm wide, and 10mm thick. Plug the male end of the adapter into the bottom of your iPod or iPhone, attach the female end to the dock or cable on your compatible accessory, and get charging underway.

The adapter doesn't prevent the "accessory not made to work" if this is popping up on your iPhone or iPod when connected directly. Since the charge converter passes through all pins, a device that isn't made to work with the iPhone or iPod will still trigger that message.

TooSixy

Or you can just buy the new Porsche iPod cable from Suncoast for $28 and it charges iPhone 3G, 3GS, and lastest iPod touch models.

http://www.e-partssales.com/miva/mer...9972electronic

ADias

2010 models come w/ the Y-cable. Both iPod and USB plugs must be connected to charge the iPhone.

jkramer

Has anyone actually tried this cable? It looks identical to the Y cable that came in my 997.2 C4S and it does not charge an iPhone 3Gs. As for the original post, I have problems with mine too. If I unplug and replug the iPhone 3Gs several times, it seems to recognize the device - very flaky.

Mike in CA

It also came with my 2009.

I have it and it does charge my 3G, but as mentioned in previous posts, the phone must be plugged in simultaneously to both the iPod and USB connections at the UAI. If yours still doesn't work when hooked up this way, then there may be some issue specific to the 3Gs. Or, as suggested by your on-again off-again connection problems, you might have a faulty connector. bad pin, cable, etc.

jkramer

Wow, Mike, you ROCK !!! I never even thought to plug the USB portion of the cable in - I just tried it and it's happily charging away. Thank you very much.

Mike in CA

My pleasure.

THE HULK

I have an iPhone 3GS and it plays greast and charges but I had to get a new connector from suncoast.

ADias

Mike rocks? His reply came 2 replies after I reported that.

Mike in CA

Must have been the presentation

stevepow

1st, let me say Happy New Year - I think the OP has either solved his problem by now or given up.

As for formats our cars will play, they are as you listed previously. SACD is not the same as Dolby Digital 5.1 (AKA AC3), nor the same as DVD Audio. Our cars will play DVDs with DD 5.1 (AC3) Audio and DVDA/MLP. DVDA Disks I have authored, without MLP, will play on my Denon DVDA/SACD player, but not in the 997. MLP encoding software is expensive ($$$) so creating one of these yourself is a serious investment.

The only decent surround formats our cars will play are DVDA/MLP and DTS. DD5.1 (AC3) is pretty bad and normally used for movies/TV - not for high quality audio. Even when watching DVD movies, if a DTS track is available, that's the one to select if your system can play it.

If you can find the rare DVDA disk from an artist you like, they sound fantastic in the 997. Unfortunately, not many of these discs are released and the confusion in formats makes them difficult to shop for even on-line. But they are worth it if you can find them. Even more rare, the older DTS format sounds good as well.

I am not aware of CDs with AC3 on them, although I am fairly sure there is a way to create one. But maybe they won't play for other reasons. The OP had some odd audio anyway (24/88.1 WAV), so it would not surprise me that he had some funky 5.1 CDs as well - not commercially released, most likely, and not such a big surprise that they didn't play.

The artificial surround for stereo sources that our cars do is from Bose. As for how bad that sounds, it really depends on the source material - some tracks sound OK and others don't work so well - although, not everyone will care or notice. I find the stereo field a bit narrow without it, and smeared all over the place with it. I suspect it gets worse with low bit-rate MP3, but am not curious enough to go there.

Best quality Stereo in the 997 is from CD by a good margin. An iPod with uncompressed WAV audio from CD (16/44.1) is probably second best - and is really convenient. If MP3 below 256k is acceptable, then you are either driving on a concrete road and cannot hear it or are not really that into the sound anyway.

As for the bass - yes, it sounds fine with the engine off sitting in the garage - and I don't fault the engine so much for taking it out as I do the rest of everything going on when you get one of these cars moving. There's just not much to be done about the bass (I think a Lexus was suggested - good idea). For critical listening, take it inside or at least the garage.

simsgw

Omigod. Somehow we jumped a year between post #12 and #13, didn't we!

I won't blush too brightly since I didn't come in until #14. Besides, from where the thread went after that, it sounds like some people still need help with their UAI. Where were you and Adias and Mike and I last year at this time? When the OP really needed us?

I agree with all that except to note that I don't think anyone can tell the difference between DD5.1 and DTS while riding in a sports car.

I love great music and you can't appreciate it without a proper audio system, but I'm afraid for awhile the rise of iPods and flat panel televisions is stunting the awareness of fidelity. Odd really. In the centuries when live music was the entertainment of the masses and everyone had music at hand, just as they do today, the awareness of good sound was also widespread. Witness the rise of classical music (taking over from baroque) to make music accessible to the large middle class and even their workers. I would say as many people had musical instruments in their family and at work as have portable recorded music today. But they sure knew how much better the same music sounded at the opera house or concert hall. And halls were built with superb acoustics when the math of acoustics was completely unknown, even though they had nothing but cut-and-try methods assisted by art handed down from one generation to the next.

Now we have music everywhere once more, but damn few people can even hear the difference between excellent and mediocre, let alone good and better. I suppose good audio reproduction will come back as the storage technology goes past ubiquitous and reaches "ridiculous saturation". I mean when every recording of audio or video can be allowed to consume a few hundred gigabytes. When gigabytes are as easily spared as megabytes are now, then strong compression may not be used. At least not in portable media. (Broadcast communications have different problems to solve of course.) Then hopefully, devices able to render those high-quality recordings will become popular as well.

But a good sports car still won't be a studio. Best reserve an electric Lexus 960 for 2025. Wondering if they're taking deposits?

I agree, though I couldn't be sure. Commercial audio is just a sidebar to my specialty and not a hobby I've had enough time to relish. Since I didn't know personally, I didn't want to be skeptical. A year ago, huh? Now we'll be left wondering if the OP ever got the whole good of his UAI.

I'm sure that's why they allow separate settings for each source and that was a gratifying feature to notice. It's so easy with computer-managed amplifiers but usually only the best home units provide source by source control. I think they recognize that the algorithms used -- especially in the difficult environs of a sports car -- work dismally on some sources. I can see already that I'm going to want to leave some things on their original CD, burn others in groups onto a CD-R, and for some just move the files to a flash drive. That way I can store settings for USB and disk appropriate to the material I personally plan to put on each type of media. Having owned the car only a month now... (no, six weeks!) I'm still leaving my options open on a couple of features: the 'autopilot' that adjusts volume according to the background noise; and the 'linear' setting that shuts off bass boost. As for other features... Hell, it took me a couple of weeks just to find out what TP was since the manuals are... obscure on the subject.

I've had the 'autopilot' off and then on again several times. Basically, it's hopeless to pretend you're really listening to any source while running a Carrera S up through the gears, so it's really seems like a question of which setting is least annoying. Neither is going to be rewarding in a musical sense. So far, I've had the linear setting on, because boosting the bass, even on sources known for needing that, would only make it tougher to assess all the other settings. Later, I'll see.

As I remember, both of those are universal settings as well, which makes it even tougher to decide which way I'll leave them when I grow weary of fiddling and just want to leave everything the way it is.

That's good that CD stereo quality is best. Getting those music courses from the Teaching Company transfered to any other medium would be a pain.

Yep. I agree with all that. I'm quickly developing a habit of muting the system when I'm seriously driving. Or even just getting from home to the freeway five minutes away. Then I turn it back on when I reach cruise on the freeway. For a sports car, this Carrera sounds more like a touring car in cruise. I suppose we have Switzerland and the Netherlands to thank for that more than Zuffenhausen, but the dual personality certainly works for me.

Thanks for the tips, Steve. I may be back with some questions for you and Mike and Adias as I try to get this system and my habits working well together.

Gary, who never even deigned to discuss
low bit-rate MP-3 and somewhere in
the big accounting system upstairs
that will count in his favor