Compressed sound on car stereo using auxiliary jack

[Schamess]

Curious what people think re this.

I bought a Sony car stereo with both Bluetooth and auxiliary input jack so I could play music from my Motorola Droid thru my car speakers. I was disappointed by the bluetooth audio, but what surprised me was that the music coming thru the auxiliary jack was only slightly better.

Music playing through the auxiliary cable sounds a bit compressed - not exactly fuzzy, but without the nice clarity, resonant bass, and high treble I'm used to. The speakers on the car are good. My old car stereo playing CD's sounded much better.

I went back to Best Buy and they tell me that the sound quality out the auxiliary jack will never be very good. The sales guy says a lot of quality is lost going through an auxiliary cable - unlike an iPhone (he tells me), where full multichannel sound comes thru the USB port.

That sounds a bit fishy to me. I get fine sound from the Droid thru my headphones and good sound if I hook it up to powered computer speakers and play thru them.

So: should I insist they allow me to trade in the Sony receiver for a Pioneer or Kenwood or something? Or are they right that no matter what receiver I buy, the sound through the auxiliary cable will be compressed and tinny?

 

[trevorparsons]

I'm not techie regarding audio equipment, but I have an aux jack on my car stereo and I hook my Droid up to it w/no major audio quality loss.

I've come across a few thread posts around here that mention using their car stereo's bluetooth capabilities along with their Droid, and don't recall any of them complaining about a drop in sound quality.

Sounds like your car deck might be a lemon IMO.

 

[Schamess]

Thx, recs for other systems?

Thanks, that's kind of what I was thinking. Anyone have a stereo system they're particularly pleased with? Best Buy has a couple of Pioneer and Kenwood units that got good Amazon reviews.

PS, for future reference - the one I have now, which doesn't sound very good, is the Sony MEXBT2700.

 

[lockman]

Def sounds like the head to me. I have a Sony head in my work van. Boston's seperates, Alpine amps and Type R subs. Head unit has front aux that I use alternately for Sirius sportster, iPod, and now, my beloved Droid. There is always going to be some drop off in sound quality, but not enough to start a thread over. So I'd exchange it for the Pioneer or another Sony . Kenwood tends to have lousy sound quality.

 

[xtremecanefan]

AUX has always been really good for me. I have a Alpine head unit and used that with stock speakers for a while and it sounded much better than with CDs in my stock head unit. Now I have Alpine speakers and a Kicker 4-channel amp and it sounds terrific...

But i would imagine the head unit is to blame since thats where the amp is, could be messed up somehow. If you don;t mind spending the money Alpines are great.

 

[Schamess]

Thanks to all! The Pioneer P5100UB seems to get the most consistent good reviews online, so I think that's what I'll change it in for. I'll report on how it sounds. Thanks again!