jkramer

I'll let you CA guys fight it out, but I greatly appreciate the tip and give full credit to both ....

stevepow

Ha - Gary - funny observations.

I think storage media now is "ridiculous saturation" enough for good quality audio. A $250 ipod can hold probably 300 CDs at full quality (nearly double that using Apple lossless M4a format) - would take a few months to listen to it all

The record industry's fear of copying even better audio quality is what is putting formats like SACD and DVDA to death. They make it so inconvenient to own or play that no one is taking them up on it.

I agree that Autopilot is hopeless - it does nothing that I can detect. Linear is pretty bad as well - you'll have to boost the Bass a good bit to get it back (for when you are on the road)- of course, non-linear probably has some built-in bass boost, so either way you suffer with some extreme EQ and faux bass solution - a Bose hallmark.

My current settings are Linear (audiophile ) OFF and Bass and Treble boosted 2 or 3 - because it seems like even though the system is a bit bright, boosting the treble actually brings up some upper-mids and smooths it out. That's for iPod, CD, and XM playback. For the DVDA discs, most don't need any EQ and there is no "Audiophile" mode.

But as you say, its a sports car, so whatever - you can usually hear the words...and the snare for the beat - I guess that makes it music.

TooSixy

That's what I am using to connect my iPhone 3G and it works.

simsgw

I think I knew that. Sounds familiar so I probably read it in Sound and Vision or Home Theater. In any case, it isn't surprising. Progress in anything related to computer technology outstrips social customs. Intellectual property rights are a major case in point. A whole industry based around selling the physical media is in turmoil and I'm sure the big houses that were the distribution sources are resisting mightily. We have a similar problem in software of course. Not just the part the internet buzzes about constantly, but also in the area of patent rights. The most ridiculous things are being passed into patent status although they've been known art for decades, but I sympathize with the patent office. They don't pay enough to get top computer people and they would need way too many of them to handle the volume, so they found a pragmatic solution: pass damn near anything from a plausible source and then let competitors fight it out in court if they consider the patent should not have been granted. Foolish situation and more expensive in the long run for society as a whole, though I'm sure it has helped Porsche sell a lot of units to the legal trade.

Autopilot will react will a sharp volume spike if you are listening to soft music at a low level when you start up an on-ramp. I know because it was making Cindy jump, so I had to shut it off. Annoyed me too.

Thanks for the setup tips, Steve. I use a set-up disk with our home theater of course, but I'm not terribly particular with a car system unless it's in a very quiet sedan. In this car, I'll start with your suggestions and adjust them a notch or two for our ambient and personal preference.

Thanks to Adias and Mike as well.

Gary

simsgw

Yikes. I just realized. By that standard my only contribution to music is gone: humming off key has no words and damn little beat.

I don't suppose there's any salvation in the whole chanting monks arena?

Gary

stevepow

Salvation? Autotune and a drum machine and you are good to go.

Tom N

I had the opposite issue. When i picked up my 09 C4S, I brought my old Gen 3 iPod, and the dealer had only the "Y" cable, which would play but not charge the older iPod.

My iPod touch, however, works and charges with the Y cable. I prefered to use the older iPod in the car, as sort of a put it in and forget it until I add music to iTunes and need to sync the iPod.

My dealer sent me the "DIN to iPxx" cable, which works perfectly with the older iPod.

I use my iPhone 3G more for phone and data than music, and it works perfectly with the Bluetooth interface.

I have not tried to use a USB drive yet.