iLounge

1

I bought the Belkin Car adaptor last night. What a piece of absolute crap—why the heck did these guys choose to put a terrible little amplifier and volume control in the thing? Basically it pops, hisses, and totally distorts sound quality.

After having gone through all the trouble to wire my car (a 2000 Jetta) with a direct input to the stereo system, I now have to get an extra base to get a clean audio out! I’m no audiophile, but there is a marked sound quality difference between running from the Ipod base vs. the Belkin…

Terribly disappointing.

Posted by David on June 4, 2003 at 6:54 AM (PST)

2

everything iPod has a better one for the new iPods, i just ordered it.  I hope it works good.  Who needs the audio out on the car charger anyway, i plug the remote into the ipod, then plug the tape deck car adapter to the remote and bada bing….were wired and it sounds good too…..

Posted by Edwin on June 4, 2003 at 7:00 AM (PST)

3

Works fine in my Golf.  After adjusting the volume on the adaptor it sounds very good.  As good or better than the headphone jack.

Look in this page for a description of what I did.

http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=509131&page=11

Posted by Alric on June 4, 2003 at 7:37 AM (PST)

4

The statement in the main article is wrong. The car charger from Griffin Technology works for both the old and the new iPods. If you want to connect an FM Modulator, just use the Headphone Jack.

Posted by NO! there is another one that works! on June 4, 2003 at 8:55 AM (PST)

5

Actually the original article says “one of the only,” not “the only.”  So technically the article is not inaccurate.  The Griffin charger is the only other one that I have seen that works with the new one (and the only one, I believe, that works with both.)

Posted by Timmy on June 4, 2003 at 10:08 AM (PST)

6

I just went back to the Belkin page, and see that the jack is described as “3.5mm audio-out jack”, but does not say “line out” anywhere.  Makes you wonder why they even bothered; a line-out connection would have been WAY cooler.

Posted by thenightfly42 on June 4, 2003 at 10:11 AM (PST)

7

Won’t the iPod work with the Belkin charger plugged in for power and a mic to rca cable coming out from the headphone jack for the sound? 

Posted by Andre on June 4, 2003 at 2:23 PM (PST)

8

My Belkin charger works like a charm. Without the amp, the sound from the headphone jack is pretty low and lacks bass. With the charger hooked up, I get much better bass and treble through my tape adapter. I’ve got a ‘02 Golf.
By the way, what’s the diff between “audio out” and “line out”??? Isn’t it the same thing?

Posted by WIRED on June 4, 2003 at 3:35 PM (PST)

9

Yes they are, someone is just being wierd withough doing some reasearch :^|

Posted by Kewleo on June 4, 2003 at 4:54 PM (PST)

10

OK, need to defend my honor here.  I thought that “line out” signifies a straight throughput without any sound processing, whereas “audio out” is more of a headphone-jack type, where the unit volume control affects the output.  Am I wrong?

Posted by thenightfly42 on June 5, 2003 at 3:24 AM (PST)

11

I bought the monster power adapter for my 2nd gen IPOD then when I bought the 3rd gen I purchased a 6pin to 6pin female firewire adapter and used the data cable from the new IPod with the adapter to power the ipod off the old car charger.

Posted by AngryFish on June 5, 2003 at 3:39 AM (PST)

12

Nightfly, you are correct. Line out is much cleaner than an amplified headphone out and as such preferable for car hi fi with a line in jack.

R E S E A R C H

Posted by Mist on June 5, 2003 at 5:54 AM (PST)

13

Here is the only iPod car charger that works with ALL iPods + it’s half the cost of Belkin’s
http://griffintechnology.com/products/powerpodauto/index.html

Posted by david on June 5, 2003 at 11:21 AM (PST)

14

Doesn’t anybody get the point of AUDIO out on the same cable as power.

http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=509131&page=11

Posted by Alric on June 5, 2003 at 12:07 PM (PST)

15

Alric, in all due respect, the problem is that the Belkin does not have a clean line in—it has a crappy little amplifier that distorts sound. For those that go through the trouble to hardwire into the CD changer control (as you and I have done), why sacrifice the sound quality (and you really do, I mean, noticeably!) with the Belkin??

You need an extra base to get a clean line out.

Posted by David on June 5, 2003 at 1:34 PM (PST)

16

David,

I tinkered around a lot with the built-in “gain” of the adapter until I found a sweet spot with no distortion.

Is it possible Belkin made some defective units?

Sorry about the previous post but people keep comparing the Belkin with other units and they have different purposes.

Cheers.

Posted by Alric on June 5, 2003 at 1:50 PM (PST)

17

Alric,

Thanks for the advice—I’ll give it a try!

David

Posted by David on June 5, 2003 at 1:54 PM (PST)

18

griffin only works with ipods that have afirwwire port on them

it dosen’t work with ipod w/dock connector

Posted by Phill in Texas on June 6, 2003 at 3:26 AM (PST)

19

The Griffin charger I have is compatible with bothe types of iPod.  The part the goes into the power source has a firewire port (not a firewire cable) so that a firewire cable can be plugged into it.  And since the new docking iPods have a firewire on one end, it works.

Posted by Timmy on June 6, 2003 at 4:47 AM (PST)