H120 Optical out

[KurtCocain]

Hey guys,
Just started using my H120 with my car stereo's aux in. I noticed that if i use the optical out, the sound is somewhat clearer and definitely louder than using the regular heahphone jack. is the optical out producing higher quality output. or in other words does using the regular headphone jack introduce loss of quality.

The optical out definitely sounds crispier, but I cannot tell, it seems weaker on bass. Either that or it is just so crisp and louder.

I am using a monster 3.5 on both ends cable to connect the h120 to the aux in. Also, I was wondering, if I buy optical cable with 3.5 on both ends (adapters) am I going to get even better sound in my car. Even though my pioneer DEH 1900MP has regular aux not optical in. Also they mention in the specs of the pioneer that it has pre-amp.

One more thing. The sound off the h120 seems very low when connected to the car stereo, so I have to turn up the H120 to -10 or even 0.0 so that I get decent enough volume coming out and I dont have to crank the car stereo. is that harmful for the H120, does it use more battery?

[crypt@]

If you are using the "optical/line out", but not "optically" which your post read to be the case, then you should really max-out your volume.

The line-out is digitally attenuated, bypassing headphone driver stage, so it is "supposed" to be better. But that does mean a somewhat shorter play time. I find the headphone out to have a small bass, mid hump which may explain your impression.

If the ouptut is really optical though, i.e. digital, then it doesn't matter what volume level you have from the H120.

[Chris Stares]

Originally Posted by KurtCocain

One more thing. The sound off the h120 seems very low when connected to the car stereo, so I have to turn up the H120 to -10 or even 0.0 so that I get decent enough volume coming out and I dont have to crank the car stereo. is that harmful for the H120, does it use more battery?

I use the line-out of both my H120 (not optical) and H340 into a portable headphone amp using Rockbox (and previously the original firmware). I then adjust the volume to the correct level on the amplifier.

The issue of the correct volume setting to get a true line-out signal is discussed extensively in this thread. I have been using both of my players at max volume (zero) to get the true line-out signal into my portable headphone amp for almost two years now. It doesn't seem to affect battery life at all (probably because it is bypassing the internal amplifier). I did a battery bench test fairly recently on the H120 and I got in excess of 17 hours with a stock battery using this configuration. It seems that you want to use a similar configuration, but plugging the H120 into the amp in your car rather than a portable headphone amp as in my case. I would say that it is not harmful to the H120 to run it a zero and does not seem to use more battery life in my experience. However, your mileage may vary...

[nelsonvandal]

Originally Posted by KurtCocain

Hey guys,
Just started using my H120 with my car stereo's aux in. I noticed that if i use the optical out, the sound is somewhat clearer and definitely louder than using the regular heahphone jack. is the optical out producing higher quality output. or in other words does using the regular headphone jack introduce loss of quality.

You're absolutely right, the headphones out is crap. Line out is much better. It's "cleaner" and has much better sound stage. The line/optical out is just line out, if you don't configure it optical out.

The optical out definitely sounds crispier, but I cannot tell, it seems weaker on bass. Either that or it is just so crisp and louder.

If you're plugging low impedance phones to line out, you get a weaker bass. There's a capacitor acting as a high pass filter. The cut off frequency is very low when connected to a line in like aux, and the frequency response is flat.

One more thing. The sound off the h120 seems very low when connected to the car stereo, so I have to turn up the H120 to -10 or even 0.0 so that I get decent enough volume coming out and I dont have to crank the car stereo. is that harmful for the H120, does it use more battery?

I don't think so. Line in (aux) should be high impedance, and the load on your line out is very small. I'm no electronic wiz, but I think Ohm's law can be applied here. I'd say crank it up to full volume and there will be less noise.

[KurtCocain]

Just bought a new car wchih has the aux in. Using my 120 with the optical out enabled. Sound is amazing, even better than the radio. I get much sharper sound, and good bass. FYI, I use the H120 volume on max.

[shadesbass]

Your new car has an optical input?

I think you may be getting confused between the line and optical connections on the iRiver, which happen to share the same socket.
Optical uses connectors like this:



However, car aux inputs (that are on the front panel) are normally analogue connections that use 3.5mm stereo jack connectors like this:



They happen to be the same physical dimensions (hence iRiver combined them into one socket on the H1xx DAPs), but that is where their compatibility ends.

When plugging an analogue 3.5mm connector into the line/optical output of the iRiver you are using the analogue line output, regardless of whether the optical output is enabled or not.
The two types of signal are not compatible, i.e. you cannot send optical digital data down an analogue cable, nor can you send line level analogue signals down an optical cable. Buying an optical cable, as you mention in your first post, would therefore not work at all with a car aux input.

[Mike]

Shadebass, thanks. I've been connecting my iHP-140 to my car via the player's headphone line and into the car's head unit's AUX IN line, and I started to think that I've been missing high quality all these years by not using the optical out!

[shadesbass]

Hehe, you're welcome.

I hope my explanation makes sense to everyone reading it - it does in my head, but that's no guarantee...

[KurtCocain]

Originally Posted by shadesbass

Hehe, you're welcome.

I hope my explanation makes sense to everyone reading it - it does in my head, but that's no guarantee...

OK< I dont have optical IN in my car. What I meant was I am using the optical out jack, with an analogue cable to connect to my aux in. It does sound better than plugging into the regular headphones out.

[adam917]

Originally Posted by KurtCocain

OK< I dont have optical IN in my car. What I meant was I am using the optical out jack, with an analogue cable to connect to my aux in. It does sound better than plugging into the regular headphones out.

It should actually sound worse when plugged in the headphone jack due to that jack usually being amped (introducing noise).

[Wolfen]

Originally Posted by KurtCocain

OK< I dont have optical IN in my car. What I meant was I am using the optical out jack, with an analogue cable to connect to my aux in. It does sound better than plugging into the regular headphones out.

.....and make sure the optical out is disabled when using the analog lineout to your car or your battery life will plummet.

It never occurred to me that the analog lineout would work while the optical out is enabled inthe firmware. I always figured that it was one or the other.

[KurtCocain]

Originally Posted by Wolfen

.....and make sure the optical out is disabled when using the analog lineout to your car or your battery life will plummet.

It never occurred to me that the analog lineout would work while the optical out is enabled inthe firmware. I always figured that it was one or the other.

No, my optical out is enabled from the software. I want it to be. battery life is not that bad -- i think I do get over 10 hours. meaning I dont have to recharge my player for like a week. So thats fine.

[Judge]

Originally Posted by KurtCocain

No, my optical out is enabled from the software. I want it to be.

Why? You just said you're not using it...

I don't think you get the point: the 'optical out' you say you're using is actually the jack that provides both analog and optical out. You're using a regular mini to mini (or mini to RCA) analog cable. It makes no sense to enable optical, since you're not using it any way. To use it, you would need a special optical cable and a device having an optical input. Which you are not doing. Just turn it off to boost battery life.

[KurtCocain]

Originally Posted by Judge

Why? You just said you're not using it...

I don't think you get the point: the 'optical out' you say you're using is actually the jack that provides both analog and optical out. You're using a regular mini to mini (or mini to RCA) analog cable. It makes no sense to enable optical, since you're not using it any way. To use it, you would need a special optical cable and a device having an optical input. Which you are not doing. Just turn it off to boost battery life.

Hey Judge, I see your point. I just tested it, having opt out enabled/disabled in software provides no difference just as you said. I am turning it off and just plug my mini-to-mini in the opt out jack, which still provides better quality than the regular headphones jack. Thanks for the explanation!!

I think we all agree tho, to use the optical out jack, not headphones' one , right ?

[Judge]

Originally Posted by KurtCocain

Hey Judge, I see your point. I just tested it, having opt out enabled/disabled in software provides no difference just as you said. I am turning it off and just plug my mini-to-mini in the opt out jack, which still provides better quality than the regular headphones jack. Thanks for the explanation!!

I think we all agree tho, to use the optical out jack, not headphones' one , right ?

Good, no problem. And yes, we all agree .

[Wolfen]

Originally Posted by Judge

Why? You just said you're not using it...

I don't think you get the point: the 'optical out' you say you're using is actually the jack that provides both analog and optical out. You're using a regular mini to mini (or mini to RCA) analog cable. It makes no sense to enable optical, since you're not using it any way. To use it, you would need a special optical cable and a device having an optical input. Which you are not doing. Just turn it off to boost battery life.

Thanks for doing the heavy lifting on the follow-up Judge