Listening to now in Surround, the car listening experience
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Help Support QuadraphonicQuad:
I know - it's a bit frustrating
I discovered surround sound for myself about a year and a half ago, and I am completely hooked - I am thankful for this site and everybody here for their input and passion, I have learned so much and my ears are definitely the better for it
I discovered surround sound for myself about a year and a half ago, and I am completely hooked - I am thankful for this site and everybody here for their input and passion, I have learned so much and my ears are definitely the better for it
holland123
1K Club - QQ Shooting Star
there is one that came out about a year ago but i can't remember who made it, it was a new player on the market i want to say sonos or something like that, i have been out of the 12v loop now for some time but i remember this was a double din unit that was more of an onboard computer than a simple head unit, the price was like $2000 and it also required a monthly internet fee. it purported to play everything. but i know of noone who plunged into that one and not sure if it is even still on the market. but 2 units that i have and are awesome is the kenwood xxv-05v and the pioneer avh-p 7600. both play dvd-a, dvd-v and dts. but you have to convert your iso and flac files into one of those formats, which is easy to do with free programs. both of those units have been long out of market so finding them will be difficult. panasonic also made a dvd-a unit with a tiny flip out center speaker which did dvd-a and dts quite well but did cd and radio poorly. it had no flip out screen like the kenwood and pioneer, but it retailed for around $500, while the other 2 retailed for about $1000. panasonic made another unit which was much better but it was used exclusively for the ELS system. and Harmon Kardon made one as well but it too was for exclusive use in BMW. it really would be nice if someone came back out with a dvd-a player but as far as i know there are no plans but i have been out of the loop for some time now.
Thanks for the info!! You gave me a couple of different directions to go in - ebay, here I come ...
I have a possible solution but it requires a few steps to get what you want. I have the JVC KD-AVX2. I bought it from here and had no issues at all with the transaction. http://compare.ebay.com/like/300829597195?var=lv<yp=AllFixedPriceItemTypes&var=sbar
http://support.jvc.com/consumer/product.jsp?modelId=MODL027687
I got it mainly for the DVD-Audio ability. Plays the files really well. Doesn't play watermarked safety copies though. I have a ton of high quality FLAC files that I wanted to play in the car. I have a Mac but I'm sure there are PC equivalents. I use a program called Burn to make DVD-Audios of FLAC files. It won't burn 5.1 FLAC but it will do stereo FLAC files at whatever their resolution is with most being 24/96. The Burn program creates an ISO file that is playable on the JVC. I've also used to it to burn DVD-Audio copies that aren't watermarked. When you load the DVD-Audio into the player, the files show up as MLP files if you have the surround setting on. I believe it tries to upmix the files from stereo to 5.1 (well 4.0 in my case as I have no sub or center speaker). If you turn off the surround feature, it plays the files as LPCM in stereo. I have done this with the new Daft Punk album that HDTracks.com put out and it sounds great. I also have used Roxio Toast to put in the cover art and playlist so it can serve as a quasi-DVD audio. The cover art stays in the background of my screen when the song plays. Just a slightly nerdy option that I like. The Roxio burns only play as LPMC files. I have heard on PCs that 5.1 FLAC file burning is possible with Foobar.
I don't know of any player on the market that has the ability to play a straight ISO file from a flash drive or external. This one will play ISOs you burn as long as there is a physical disc for it to read.
Check out the links I put up there. I love this unit. The only issues I have with it are no USB options, the iPod connection doesn't support iPhones, there is no pause button on the unit but there is on the remote and the watermark issue. The last is just really frustrating as my Onkyo universal player has no issues with watermarked copies. I get why they are in place but I really don't feel safe carting around an irreplacable copy of Fleetwood Mac's Rumours or Hotel California by the Eagles.
So, I'm really confused. Does it play the FLAC ISO files properly? Or does it upmix them? I love the Sony MEX deck because it plays SACD/DTS without (much) hassle and sounds great. I'd consider this one because it might play DTS discs without having to burn them special (IE with no titles and a three second gap so it doesn't skip every third track) but if it doesn't play DTS discs I'll not bother.
At the risk of veering way off topic, I don't have the Caetano Veloso SACD but I do have the "Muito Mais" DVD-A. Have not listened to it in a long time, but the material is interesting - some going back into the late '60s. The tracks probably vary in quality quite a bit, I just don't remember what the mix is like.
Now back to your regularly scheduled programming... spinning in the Sony MEX the last couple of days: Hot Tuna - America's Choice, Yes - Fragile, Focus - Moving Waves, Santana - Abraxas, and J. Geils Band - Nightmares. All via DTS, but what the heck.
Mark Z
I'm not sure it upmixes them. According to the player, it displays that the FLAC audio it is receiving is LPCM. When a legit DVD-Audio (say Beck's Sea Change) is in the player, the display shows the audio as MLP. It has a built in DAC that is 24bits/96kH0z. I can't tell you if it is a 1:1 ratio but when I run the disc through my Mac, the encoding reads as 2 channels at 24 bits and 96kHz. In a comparison of Depeche Mode's Delta Machine CD and the 24/96 vinyl FLAC that I got online, the latter sounds a lot better than the former. I would say the same for the Daft Punk recording that is from HDTracks versus the MP3 version I purchased online.
I haven't tried any DTS discs but it does have DTS decoding built in.
LizardKing
2K Club - QQ Super Nova
I've just ordered one of these...:steering:
Once I've got it I'll confirm DTS CD playback or not... I'm hoping it does, as it has DTS capability and supports CD-Text also..
holland123
1K Club - QQ Shooting Star
well that dvd-a player by jvc that mdmost found looks like a nice little head unit for the money, while jvc was never embraced by car audio enthusiasts, and the specs on this look a tad weak you shure can't beat it for the money, I would highly recommend pairing it with some good quality amps to get it away from the jvc power module and this could sound very good with the right speakers, I am curious now whose digital audio converters jvc uses because I have never known them to make hi-res converters in any 12 volt audio. I know they made a home player which I believe where the same as found in the Panasonic players, hmm. I would love to get a listen to this and for only $160 it is the deal of the decade. I just might buy one for the hell of it, nice find on that one md. btw if it plays hi-rez dvd-a there is no question that it will play redbook dts. I am not a fan of dts encoding for music, but what the sony mex owners have to do to get it to play dts is ridiculous. i never was a fan of sony. sony heads were never embraced by car audio enthusiasts , mostly due to very poor signal to noise ratios, and premature button failure. I can't remember anyone ever using one in competition, the high end sony amps on the other hand are another story, especially their class d mono blocks are very good and were used extensively in competition. thanks for that find md I think I may have to pull the trigger on that one just for the hell of it.
holland123
1K Club - QQ Shooting Star
hey md, you also mentioned that your onkyo universal home player will play watermarked copies? did you somehow firmware flash it or something? because that is what I have at home and it absolutely will not play a watermarked copy.
LizardKing
2K Club - QQ Super Nova
I found a reference to Playing a DTS CD in the VC KD-AVX2 manual - so it looks promising...
I have the Onkyo DV-SP506. I have never added any firmware to it. It has always played The Nightfly DVD-Audio copy I "found" online where the JVC only plays 15 seconds and then cuts off. Same with the Metallica DVD-Audio copy I have.
Sadly, I have no DTS CDs so I'm afraid I can't help there.
One thing I found today by doing some tinkering is when I load a burned DVD-Audio with FLAC files on it, I can toggle the surround mode on and then get an option of hearing Dolby Pro Logic II for both Music and Movies. It didn't really make a big impact on the Daft Punk album I was playing but it was interesting none the less. I'm not sure about the DACs because all the info on the JVC is pretty old. They've since made DVD-Audio support non-existant hence probably why these units are so cheap. There was a unit that was one step up from it that had 24bit/192kHz DACs but those are impossible to find except on Ebay. I actually fell backwards into this unit. I was bidding on an Alpine unit at the time and I am so lucky that someone swooped in and outbid me for it. Once I lost that auction, I went looking on here and the web in general for DVD-Audio car options. I saw this player referenced in an old thread from 2006, did some digging and found that Ebay site that had them super cheap. It's crazy because I have no center channel in my Accord and really have no realistic way of adding one. I'm using stock speakers which I plan to upgrade this summer. I don't know if I can justify new amps and all the mess that would go with getting that installed. I'm really not in my car that much to justify a full build out. The DAC and built in amp with the JVC may not be that great but I'll be damned if when I put in Sea Change by Beck in my player that it isn't a sonic experience. My wife who does not care for hi rez audio at all was floored with how clean it sounded and how discrete the channels appeared. I may add a sub under my seat because it wouldn't be too difficult to wire and I'd love to push the low end away from the 4 main speakers.
Lizard, I can confirm that it does do CD Text. It's hit or miss which I would assume is artist or label specific. Depeche Mode's new CD shows text. I will say it is not without flaws. It doesn't have a pause button. You pretty much just have to hit stop or switch the source. It also is very clunky with the iPod support. My old Alpine was much easier but honestly I've only used the iPod sparingly. I'm having too much fun with hi rez stuff right now. I wish it gave more info like sound quality and what resolution you were listening to. It does tell you what file format it's reading. DVD-Audios show MLP and will say Multi if there is multichannel audio to them which all have. CDs I believe say WAV on them. FLAC come up as LPCM. Movies come up as Dolby Digital or DTS. I would think you PC users will have much easier options for burning FLAC to different formats. Mac guys such as myself only have Burn, Roxio Toast and DVD-audiofile as options and none of those support multichannel WAV or FLAC files. I will say one fun thing I did with Roxio Toast is add jpegs and menus to a few of the DVD-Audios I burned which allowed me to have DVD-Audio type menus and cover art. It's nerdy but Roxio does offer LPCM as an option for audio. The disc is actually burned as a DVD-Video disc but with LPCM audio at 24/96, which in theory is what the JVC plays at.
One thing you have to do though is ground the parking brake wire if you want to play video DVDs while driving. Before anyone gets all high and mighty, I am not watching videos while driving. You can press the display button which will make the display go from showing the video to simply showing a blue JVC screen with the disc information displayed. I did this purely to not miss out on playing audio that happens to be in DVD formats. The parking brake wire option does not affect DVD-Audio playback. I was actually worried about this which is why I ran the experiment with grounding the wire. I was happy to see that the display could be switched to the information screen which normally pops up. It's actually strange the DVD-Audio discs allow for that same type of playback with no restrictions. Sea Change has a constant slideshow of pictures that alternates while the songs play. It can be very distracting.
If you guys have any other questions, don't hesitate to ask.
Sadly, I have no DTS CDs so I'm afraid I can't help there.
One thing I found today by doing some tinkering is when I load a burned DVD-Audio with FLAC files on it, I can toggle the surround mode on and then get an option of hearing Dolby Pro Logic II for both Music and Movies. It didn't really make a big impact on the Daft Punk album I was playing but it was interesting none the less. I'm not sure about the DACs because all the info on the JVC is pretty old. They've since made DVD-Audio support non-existant hence probably why these units are so cheap. There was a unit that was one step up from it that had 24bit/192kHz DACs but those are impossible to find except on Ebay. I actually fell backwards into this unit. I was bidding on an Alpine unit at the time and I am so lucky that someone swooped in and outbid me for it. Once I lost that auction, I went looking on here and the web in general for DVD-Audio car options. I saw this player referenced in an old thread from 2006, did some digging and found that Ebay site that had them super cheap. It's crazy because I have no center channel in my Accord and really have no realistic way of adding one. I'm using stock speakers which I plan to upgrade this summer. I don't know if I can justify new amps and all the mess that would go with getting that installed. I'm really not in my car that much to justify a full build out. The DAC and built in amp with the JVC may not be that great but I'll be damned if when I put in Sea Change by Beck in my player that it isn't a sonic experience. My wife who does not care for hi rez audio at all was floored with how clean it sounded and how discrete the channels appeared. I may add a sub under my seat because it wouldn't be too difficult to wire and I'd love to push the low end away from the 4 main speakers.
Lizard, I can confirm that it does do CD Text. It's hit or miss which I would assume is artist or label specific. Depeche Mode's new CD shows text. I will say it is not without flaws. It doesn't have a pause button. You pretty much just have to hit stop or switch the source. It also is very clunky with the iPod support. My old Alpine was much easier but honestly I've only used the iPod sparingly. I'm having too much fun with hi rez stuff right now. I wish it gave more info like sound quality and what resolution you were listening to. It does tell you what file format it's reading. DVD-Audios show MLP and will say Multi if there is multichannel audio to them which all have. CDs I believe say WAV on them. FLAC come up as LPCM. Movies come up as Dolby Digital or DTS. I would think you PC users will have much easier options for burning FLAC to different formats. Mac guys such as myself only have Burn, Roxio Toast and DVD-audiofile as options and none of those support multichannel WAV or FLAC files. I will say one fun thing I did with Roxio Toast is add jpegs and menus to a few of the DVD-Audios I burned which allowed me to have DVD-Audio type menus and cover art. It's nerdy but Roxio does offer LPCM as an option for audio. The disc is actually burned as a DVD-Video disc but with LPCM audio at 24/96, which in theory is what the JVC plays at.
One thing you have to do though is ground the parking brake wire if you want to play video DVDs while driving. Before anyone gets all high and mighty, I am not watching videos while driving. You can press the display button which will make the display go from showing the video to simply showing a blue JVC screen with the disc information displayed. I did this purely to not miss out on playing audio that happens to be in DVD formats. The parking brake wire option does not affect DVD-Audio playback. I was actually worried about this which is why I ran the experiment with grounding the wire. I was happy to see that the display could be switched to the information screen which normally pops up. It's actually strange the DVD-Audio discs allow for that same type of playback with no restrictions. Sea Change has a constant slideshow of pictures that alternates while the songs play. It can be very distracting.
If you guys have any other questions, don't hesitate to ask.
LizardKing
2K Club - QQ Super Nova
Now that my JVC head unit is installed I can confirm that it does play DTS CDs and the CD text works....:banana:
I wasn't sure that it would play PAL discs also, but it plays them fine....
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