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Thread: Convienience Vs. Sound Quality

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    Noob Stycker's Avatar
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    Convienience Vs. Sound Quality

    The title could also be "Radio Vs. DAP" or "Can I Have My Cake and Eat It Too". Heres my dilema: The DAP (IBasso DX150 with optical ouput) goes directly to my Helix V8 and sounds great doing so. The radio sounds good but not as good as the DAP. The radio on the other hand is way more convienient to use while driving. My radio is a large vertical screen that offers CarPlay and USB and BT. I like the radio for its convienience, easy to use and easy to see. The radio has less sound quality than the DAP. The DAP only has one advantage that I can think of and that is a pure unmolested signal. It has lots of cons: hard to navigate, slow and somtimes buggy UI, hard to see smallish screen, long boot up time and plenty more cons. Is there a way to use the DAP on a daily basis that is more convienient? I wish there was a way to implement or control the DAP and see whats playing on the radio screen. I need reading glasses to see up close or to see small objects so I can't even pick up the DAP while driving to see whats playing. Is there a way I can have my cake and eat it too?

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    Re: Convienience Vs. Sound Quality

    i aborted this model, differences i could tune away. https://www.caraudiojunkies.com/show...ll=1#post47837

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    Noob Stycker's Avatar
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    Re: Convienience Vs. Sound Quality

    Wow Nick, Incredible build. I love your car and audio system. Top notch stuff. What did you hate about the Helix Director? I personally love the Director. Like I said I can't see the small print witout reading glasses but I know where all the buttons are by memory and can navigate through the screens very easily.

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    Re: Convienience Vs. Sound Quality

    There is an app from Fiio that lets your cell phone or other android product control the Fiio DAP. I guess the phone could be mirrored to the radio to control the DAP? This would also create a lot of extra hooking things up before driving, again very inconvienient. I actually used this app a few years ago and it was very buggy. I don't know if the bugs have been worked out since then. For now I am just dealing with slightly less sound quality through the factory radio Vs. using a DAP. When I go to a competition or long drive I'll use the DAP. I have a preset on the Director for the radio and another preset for the DAP. When using the DAP I'll give priority to the analog radio signal for when the phone rings.

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    Re: Convienience Vs. Sound Quality

    yeah sometimes ergonomics, ease of use and safety is extremely important as we're moving around/past other cars in heavy traffic or going faster than we really should. If we're sitting in a parking lot, then a small screen with smaller buttons is ok. Anyways for the next car in a few months/years... can always pick a car with a factory headunit that has a small storage/SSD or USB port (just upload the FLAC/MP3 files into it or play via a small form-factor USB drive and call it done).

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    Re: Convienience Vs. Sound Quality

    Quote Originally Posted by Stycker View Post
    What did you hate about the Helix Director?
    my main interaction with it all day every day: the encoder/volume knob. it's garbage, it spent most of its life in the glovebox.

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    Re: Convienience Vs. Sound Quality

    never figured out why nadams5755 hates the director so much. I use mine as my primary volume/sub control in 2 vehicles and am perfectly happy with it. One instance has had a few off and on issues with the touch screen but never had a problem with the volume knob.

    OP I don't have any good advice for you but I feel your pain. I recently installed a Joying android H/U that feeds digital to the Helix and I put a sim card in it and stream hi-fi quality Tidal and Sirius/XM directly from the cell network and its been everything you dream of - HiFi SQ, big screen, easy to navigate. H/U boots up quickly and brings Tidal back up right away. Only downside is I do have to touch the play button to start music, it stays paused on restart. I'm also not as impressed with Tidal's alogrithms for feeding up music I like but rarely can I not find something I"m looking for.

    Okay there is one thing I don't like about the director, it takes longer to boot up and connect than my head unit !

    Like I said, this doesn't help you out, I just wanted to point out that there is a world where what you want exists. In fact one reason I bought the car I did was because I knew I could replace the H/U without affecting the vehicle which is pretty rare these days. Probably because its a 2006. The newer generation of my car I wouldbn't be able to do that without a $250 kit that many people say doesn't work that well and doesn't look that great.

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    Re: Convienience Vs. Sound Quality

    the encoder knob is soft metal and split center pin, so the whole thing is pretty malleable. the knob itself isn't keyed and only held in place by a set screw into said malleable metal. the knob's bore is large relative to the encoder shaft so there's a bunch of play and your only hope for it staying in place is the set screw.

    since the encoder knob is like a home dimmer knob, i suppose i could have tried a plastic one from the home supply stores. i suppose i could have tried other encoder knobs as well.

    i tried a few ways to get the encoder+knob to work better for me:
    - centering the set screw across the split center pin so the knob presses outward toward the knob. still came loose
    - tried some thin material inside the bore hole to reduce play, just made it more difficult to center/level the thing

    different strokes i guess. glad you like yours. glad i got rid of mine.

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    Noob Stycker's Avatar
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    Re: Convienience Vs. Sound Quality

    Thanks for the info. Preston. That Joying unit looks pretty slick. I wish I could just kick back and enjoy the music without analyzing every detail because the radio actually sounds pretty good. I think my OCD gets in the way of enjoying music. I'd much rather drive safely though. Sometime this hobby sucks. As far as the Helix Director, I may have just got lucky there.

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    Noob Stycker's Avatar
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    Re: Convienience Vs. Sound Quality

    Over on the other forum someone is using iphone>cck3>Topping d10s>optical>DSP. They also have the same iphone connected to BT on the Head unit. They are able to have iphone playing digtally through Topping d10s and BT to radio to be able to see whats playing on the radio. Supposedly they can control the phone with steering wheel controls (change tracks and volume) and still have it output digitally to Topping. Can anyone confirm this. I just ordered a Topping D10s and Apple camera connection kit. I'll report back once installed. If this works then it will do what I need, Sound Quality and being safe.

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