Car audio. Radio, CD, AUX?

stiboy_5

New member
What generally has better quality sound. CD's or Aux from an MP3 player?
At the moment I'm using an iTrip, which sounds just like the radio, however compared to CD it sounds like a $2 toy. I'll be buying a new head deck soon for my car. I know I can get one with both CD player and AUX input however I just want to know a bit about it before I reach into my wallet.

So any suggestions?
Should have proof read - I didn't really put much detail in my question =)
My car currently has it's stock system in aside from new speakers. That includes radio tape and CD. I noticed that when I switch from my iTrip playing through the radio frequency to my CD player, the sound is much better on CD.
So what I'm really asking would the sound improve if I used an AUX input (which i'd be buying equipped to a new head deck) or just sticking to a CD player. Either way I'm buying a new head deck so don't let that taint your answer.
 
you never mention what radio or iin what vehicle is this

aux will be the best sound quality, and they make them for factory radio

http://www.oemautosound.com/c-20-auxiliary-input.aspx
 

lance

Member
CD is going to have better sound quality because the encoding of a WAV file is of a higher quality that MP3..the best way to get top quality sound from you MP3 player is to buy a head unit that is designed to process the signal from that unit and has a dedicated connection... Some head units will compensate for the sound coming from MP3's and expand the sound back to CD quality..its still artificial so it will never be as high fidelity as an original CD but it helps to improve the sound and make it more enjoyable to listen too.
 

KaeZoo

Member
Generally speaking, an auxiliary input will give you much better sound quality than an FM transmitter, which is why auxiliary inputs are included on just about all new after-market CD players. However, it won't quite be CD quality, because the MP-3 format itself isn't quite CD-quality. It will come a lot closer than you're getting with your iTrip, though.
 
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