[Compos Mentis]

Originally Posted by 1DayIllOwn1

... One single thing that would really change quality is monster cables (as mentioned above). Gold tipped cables are really good, high quality products but cost a fair amount (versus ~$3 for standard male-male 1/8"/3.5mm cable).

Sounds like a true Monster Cable "believer". No one could tell the difference between cables, except maybe a REALLY poorly made cable. Especially in a car. I do think Monster makes good cables that should take a lot of abuse and still work. That alone can make it worth the extra cost.

[NFS]

Originally Posted by Compos Mentis

Sounds like a true Monster Cable "believer". No one could tell the difference between cables, except maybe a REALLY poorly made cable. Especially in a car. I do think Monster makes good cables that should take a lot of abuse and still work. That alone can make it worth the extra cost.

Except that, for the ipod with dock connector there are only 2 companies that mass produce cables with line out and charger - monster and belkin.

Belkins has a crappy pre-amp and is v.bad

Monster's effort has no amp and provides proper line out.

So in this instance the choice of cable is important.

However, for the 3.5mm stereo cable to link this to the aux - it doesn't make much difference where you get it .

[ex-poster]

I'm really having to bite my tongue when I'm reading these posts...

VERY briefly, the headphone jack expects a load on it, and is amplified to take that load. However, even though this is the case, it's perfectly fine to take the headphone output and directly connect it to the AUX port with a cheap cable. You will have to mind your iPod volume out and AUX "volume" setting but it works just fine if you do that. That is, it's not plug-and-play like line out but it does work.

I use headphone out to AUX in daily and have for over a year, the quality matches the source material. I will not see an improvement in sound quality when I (eventually) upgrade to the iPod integration package, but I am looking forward to the integrated control and viewing capabilitites.

[NFS]

Originally Posted by smithrh

I'm really having to bite my tongue when I'm reading these posts...

VERY briefly, the headphone jack expects a load on it, and is amplified to take that load. However, even though this is the case, it's perfectly fine to take the headphone output and directly connect it to the AUX port with a cheap cable. You will have to mind your iPod volume out and AUX "volume" setting but it works just fine if you do that. That is, it's not plug-and-play like line out but it does work.

I use headphone out to AUX in daily and have for over a year, the quality matches the source material. I will not see an improvement in sound quality when I (eventually) upgrade to the iPod integration package, but I am looking forward to the integrated control and viewing capabilitites.

Don't bite your tongue - it'll hurt

Using the headphone jack works ... but the ipods amp is really not ideal ... I can get away with this on my home stereo, but in my e60 the line out sounds much (much) better.

With the monster cable you also get the added benefit of a non-amped line out and integral charger - ideal for use in the car.

The ipod integration is totally different - it's also about 2 years overdue for cars with idrive. I also think the interface is lacking in comparison to the apple clickwheel, so personally would rather navigate the ipod via the ipod and just control volume via the car.

I use line out and have all my mp3's normalised to 89dba. I also modified the aux in on my e60 to remove the caps and resistors - which was very easy.