How to get music from iPad to stereo system

[pluto6]

Would we notice the difference unless we had a very good sound system? We have a very mid range Sony where I can use the 30 pin input but have a very good system where I use only an RCA cable but still the sound is better. I'm assuming because the system is better. For every day listening I just use whatever radio is in the room and use a cable.

Thanks for your sharing your knowledge.

Diane

Diane, figure that for many years, the most expensive systems in the world have been analog. It is only recently that digital has become a standard. That being said, there are many people that still prefer analog systems.

So, use the better system. I'm not sure what difference you are referring to? The music compression, or the cables? At the risk of creating a flame war - cables probably add or subtract very little to music, but if you have a great system, having good cables makes sense.

The compression is HUGE. If you have a CD in the system, just play a CD, and switch back and forth between the CD and your iDevice. If you can't tell the difference, then don't worry about it, and just enjoy.

If you can tell the difference, and you want to use your idevice for good quality music, you can go into the custom settings of the music and change the compression to a higher number. 320 for MP 3 is almost CD quality, or 256 for the Apple encoding, or even drop down to 190s. For casual listening, probably not important, but if you really like to hear the music, you need to either decrease the compression (which will increase your file size) or use the CD - which is what I do, and I don't worry about being able to select from thousands of songs.

 

[Diane B]

Pluto,

At the risk of sounding really obtuse, where on an Idevice would one be able to control the compression of the music. You say go into your music and change the compression but I can find no way to do that---tried on Ipad, Touch, Classic. Do you mean at the original ripping---that's my best guess?

Diane

 

[iVan]

Pluto,

At the risk of sounding really obtuse, where on an Idevice would one be able to control the compression of the music. You say go into your music and change the compression but I can find no way to do that---tried on Ipad, Touch, Classic. Do you mean at the original ripping---that's my best guess?

Diane

It all happens in iTunes on the computer. There are settings for the ripping and there are settings for music compression in each of your iDevices for file transfers.

Sent from my iPad using iPF

 

[pluto6]

Pluto,

At the risk of sounding really obtuse, where on an Idevice would one be able to control the compression of the music. You say go into your music and change the compression but I can find no way to do that---tried on Ipad, Touch, Classic. Do you mean at the original ripping---that's my best guess?

Diane

As iVan below notes - it is not on the iDevice -it is from the original rip - and so would be on the iTunes computer program - Highlight your music, then on the top menu Edit -> preferences. On the general tab about 2/3 way down there is an import settings button - that opens to being able to pick the type of compression you want ie AAC, MP3, Lossless, etc.. and below that is the bitrate that you can change to custom. Clicking on the custom will bring up another box with a number of options including bit rate, sterero settings, optimize for voice, use VBR...

Yeah , you have to rip everything again - what a pain... Some people figure - I can just let the computer take what is there and turn it into my custom settings - that will work OK going from a lower compression to a higher compression, but not the other way around - think what happens to a 640 x 480 photo that you enlarge to 1024x768 or higher - pixlellated like crazy...

For my iPod that I listen to with quality headphones - I use 160 or 192 bitrate, and have the VBR checked and the sound is pretty reasonable - but nothing like the CD...

 

[Diane B]

Thanks to both. Got that and copied to a file to save. I ripped hundreds of CDs so would only choose my favorite classical and jazz to rerip I suspect. So, now buying mp3s, how do we stand, what choices, if any, do we have?

Diane

 

[pluto6]

Thanks to both. Got that and copied to a file to save. I ripped hundreds of CDs so would only choose my favorite classical and jazz to rerip I suspect. So, now buying mp3s, how do we stand, what choices, if any, do we have?

Diane

It really depends on where you get your MP3s from. Because of prior problems (MP3's typcially only available at 128 Kpbs) I figured it was better just to buy the CD's even if I did not want all the songs. I don't know if there is a way to confirm, but probably not worth it at more than 256kpbs compression (320 would be better) unless you don't really care about fidelity - which most people don't because it sounds OK. I again refer to my jpeg analogy - most people are fine with a photo at 1024 x 768 or maybe a bit higher - but it is funny how people want to get a 12 Megapixel camera - which is like 3800 x 2400? or something like that... They don't use the extra information, or don't really care.

So - rip a CD at several different compressions, or even just a favorite song or 2 - do the A/B thing comparing your rip to your CD, and at some point you are going to notice a difference - but its just not that big a deal - right in that range is probably where you want to do your ripping.

For hard rock - which has a lot of distortion anyways - I rip at 160, for jazz, classical, vocals- I rip at 192, sometimes even at 256.

I don't know if Apple has information available what there compression is, or Amazon - although I think that Amazon is generally 320 kpbs - just to make things confusing some algorithms are better at compression (AAC) so even though the kpbs is lower, because the compression is better, you get better sound quality at a higher compression rate - like comparing jpeg and Gif with photo compression - jpeg is a better algorithm. Mostly depends on how universal you want your files - MP3 is easy - everything plays it - AAC is Apple - so not everything supports it.

Edit - pulled this info from the Apple site...

What is iTunes Plus?

iTunes Plus is the new standard on iTunes. iTunes Plus downloads are songs and music videos available in our highest quality 256 kbps AAC audio encoding (twice the audio quality of protected music purchases), and without digital rights management (DRM). iTunes Plus music can be burned to CD as many times as you need, synced to any AAC-enabled device (such as iPod, iPhone, or Apple TV), and played on any Mac or Windows computers you own.
How much does iTunes Plus music cost?

iTunes Plus songs are available at one of three price points. In the U.S. the pricing is 0.69 USD, 0.99 USD, or 1.29 USD each. Other countries have similar song price points. Check your country's iTunes Store for pricing.
Can I upgrade previously purchased music to iTunes Plus?

Yes. Any available upgrades will be shown on the Upgrade to iTunes Plus page. You can upgrade all of your items at once by using the Buy All button. This replaces all eligible previous purchases with iTunes Plus versions of the same items. You can also choose to make individual upgrades by clicking the Buy button to the right of each item. Song upgrades are available for 0.30 USD, video upgrades for 0.60 USD, and albums for 30 percent of the album price. The counter to the right of the "Upgrade to iTunes Plus" link in the Quick Links box will indicate when additional eligible content become available.

They indicate that Apple no longer encodes at 128 kBps, so the quality of the current stuff is actually pretty good. You should be pretty happy with the quality they provide.

 

[AlvinDrew]

Any MP3 player can be connected to a home audio system by using a line level input on the amplifier/receiver. This is usually labelled the AUX input, usually on the back as a separate pair of round phono inputs, one for the left channel and on for the right.
A standard 3.5mm stereo jack to separate left and right phono cable is all that is needed – plug the 3.5mm jack into the headphone socket, adjust the ipod volume to about halfway up and plug the other end into the socket on the amplifier.

​

 

[iain1970]

Just buy a cheap iPad dock/deskstand thingy (or go mental and buy a proper Apple one) with either RCA or 3.5mm stereo out. Then connect that to your HiFi. That way, you bypas the iPads 'amplifier' and the sound is better.

 

[Diane B]

Any MP3 player can be connected to a home audio system by using a line level input on the amplifier/receiver. This is usually labelled the AUX input, usually on the back as a separate pair of round phono inputs, one for the left channel and on for the right.
A standard 3.5mm stereo jack to separate left and right phono cable is all that is needed – plug the 3.5mm jack into the headphone socket, adjust the ipod volume to about halfway up and plug the other end into the socket on the amplifier.

​

This is basically what I do on all sound systems and radios if they have the aux. option which most do. The cables are pretty inexpensive. Our relatively inexpensive Sony system for TV, etc uses the USB/power port cable. Even my older Ipod dock from Altec Lansing has an aux. so I can connect Touch and Ipad which is nice to carry traveling as mine is folding.

I bought a number of cables and just leave a cable attached to each system I use in various parts of the house and just move my device as needed.


Diane

 

[jtrosky]

You guys really should look into the Belkin Bluetooth Music Receiver. It "remembers" up to 8 devices, so you can wirelessly play music from any of those 8 devices to your home stereo very easily! I use it daily and it works great. I think you can pick them up for about $45 new on Ebay...

 

[Diane B]

You guys really should look into the Belkin Bluetooth Music Receiver. It "remembers" up to 8 devices, so you can wirelessly play music from any of those 8 devices to your home stereo very easily! I use it daily and it works great. I think you can pick them up for about $45 new on Ebay...

I just looked at the Belkin but its not portable. With using a number of cables I can connect to anything including the speaker system at our pool in the summer. Our house is a big old house where you can't hear easily room to room. This way I can have my Pandora or Rhapsody in any room or even outside. I like the idea of the bluetooth (and it appears to pair easily) but I'd have to choose where I would listen to music or even other net radio like NPR. The Belkin would be great if you listen most of the time using one sund system though.

Diane

 

[jtrosky]

I just looked at the Belkin but its not portable. With using a number of cables I can connect to anything including the speaker system at our pool in the summer. Our house is a big old house where you can't hear easily room to room. This way I can have my Pandora or Rhapsody in any room or even outside. I like the idea of the bluetooth (and it appears to pair easily) but I'd have to choose where I would listen to music or even other net radio like NPR. The Belkin would be great if you listen most of the time using one sund system though.

Diane

Yep, in that case, you would need to get a Music Receiver for each "audio system" that you would want access to. I think that for most, one would suffice, but in your case, you would need more than one. But then the cost starts getting a little high I suppose.

It is nice to be able to control everything from the couch though!!

 

[iVan]

I just looked at the Belkin but its not portable. With using a number of cables I can connect to anything including the speaker system at our pool in the summer. Our house is a big old house where you can't hear easily room to room. This way I can have my Pandora or Rhapsody in any room or even outside. I like the idea of the bluetooth (and it appears to pair easily) but I'd have to choose where I would listen to music or even other net radio like NPR. The Belkin would be great if you listen most of the time using one sund system though.

Diane

Yep, in that case, you would need to get a Music Receiver for each "audio system" that you would want access to. I think that for most, one would suffice, but in your case, you would need more than one. But then the cost starts getting a little high I suppose.

It is nice to be able to control everything from the couch though!!

That's what I was about to say and at that price it beats the hassle of wiring the house and it keeps the iPad wireless and in your hands to do other stuff while listening to music. Pretty well worth it, I think!

 

[Diane B]

That's what I was about to say and at that price it beats the hassle of wiring the house and it keeps the iPad wireless and in your hands to do other stuff while listening to music. Pretty well worth it, I think!

Yes, I think if you are using the Ipad for this it makes sense so you can use the Ipad for other things. I use the Touch almost always to stream music but realize others don't have that option. BUT if I hadn't bought the Touch I wonder if I would have easily been persuaded last Spring that the brandy new Ipad would work for me (and far better than I could assume from using the Touch). I don't have the house wired, just inexpensive RCA cables to the aux. connections so I just carry my Touch (or sometimes Ipad if I'm just using for music only), plug the already aux. connected cable into the Ipad/Touch and I'm ready to go.

I thought someone suggested a portable bluetooth player also but I haven't been able to find that post or link.

 

[jtrosky]

Yes, I think if you are using the Ipad for this it makes sense so you can use the Ipad for other things. I use the Touch almost always to stream music but realize others don't have that option. BUT if I hadn't bought the Touch I wonder if I would have easily been persuaded last Spring that the brandy new Ipad would work for me (and far better than I could assume from using the Touch). I don't have the house wired, just inexpensive RCA cables to the aux. connections so I just carry my Touch (or sometimes Ipad if I'm just using for music only), plug the already aux. connected cable into the Ipad/Touch and I'm ready to go.

I thought someone suggested a portable bluetooth player also but I haven't been able to find that post or link.

You also need to keep in mind that while bluetooth is wireless, you're only going to get 10-15 ft. before you start losing the bluetooth signal... Just thought I'd throw that out there - these Belkin devices are NOT going to let you transmit music from your iPod when it's 50 ft. away from the receiver.