Line out jack and the Monster
Just finished a direct cable install in my Landrover Freedlander. I used the blitzsafe adapter for the direct connection (very easy it took 10 minutes with tools supplied). And just added the Monster I Charger and the sound is great - I think better than my CD.
Interestingly, the sound is significantly better using the Monster Line out jack than through the Ipod headphone jack. Which started me thinking whether I'm getting the best sound going from my headphone jack on my laptop (ok, i'm using an evil Sony Vaio vs Powerbook) to my stereo.
Is the sound quality boost due to an amplifier in the Monster or the 30 pin connector on the ipod (versus using the headphone jack)?? If it is the firewire connector, than is their a solution to go from firewire to stereo?
Randall
btw- someone should clue in the marketing department at Monster. They somehow failed to communicate the feature which differentiates them from the rest of the charger "pack". No mention of the lineout jack on the package...
[1048 byte] By [
rgla] at [2007-11-9 17:34:58]
# 1 Re: Line out jack and the Monster
The sound is better through Monster's line-out because it is an unamplified source into your stereo. In other words, it let's your stereo control the volume of the music and simply provides the music source.
A headphone jack provides music through it's own amp. So when you connect to your stereo through a headphone jack, there is double amplification. Your stereo ends up magnifying artifacts coming from the headphone amp, delivering less than ideal sound.
RoMoFo at 2007-11-15 15:58:15 >
# 2 Re: Line out jack and the Monster
I am glad to see that Monster "cult" is growing :)
You are 100% right about the Monster product description of their iCharger (for 3rd generation iPods). It seems like they did a copy-paste from the description of their chargers for 2G iPods. Unamplified line out IS their selling point, although they dont seem to realize that...
I actually had to find pictures of the charger on other web sites to see where the audio out jack was located, its thickness, etc etc...
As RoMoFo said the line out provides a very clean sound to your head unit, which can fully take advantage of this to "play" with the output (e.g., EQ settings, AUX levels, etc). Headphone jack output is very compressed.
By the way, we'd love to see pictures of your install when you have a chance....
volki at 2007-11-15 15:59:15 >
# 3 Re: Line out jack and the Monster
The LED "M" is also a selling point. ;)
Once my replacement (it's been over 4 weeks with Wild West Electronics... argh), I'll post a pic with my iCharger hook-up.
The sound from the clean unadulterated line-out is so much better than the amplified sound from the headphone jack. But until I get my new iCharger I'll have to tolerate the 'noise'.
I posted a pic... well actually a link to a pic (due to size) with my install on a 2004 WRX (another thread).
:cool:
