MP3 Head Unit Skipping w/ Evo
MP3 Head Unit Skipping w/ Evo
I want to know if your experience with MP3 based head units in an Evo with respect to skipping.
I have a setup which seems to handle everything but the worst roads without skipping. Is this normal?
I have a setup which seems to handle everything but the worst roads without skipping. Is this normal?
My JVC KD-LH3150 has never skipped, though it's the only MP3 car player I've ever had. However, I went through like 3 or 4 low-cost Discman-like CD players with MP3 capability about a year ago and none of them could reliably play MP3s. Skipping was the least of the problems as many of the players would just stop working until removing the batteries for extended periods of time or whatnot.
Anyway, you didn't mention what stereo you've got and I'm sure that would make a difference in your case if you got a nicer one or the cheapest MP3-capable player. And also, you said that only the worst roads cause a problem, which certainly would be the hardest roads on which to maintain proper spin of the disc. With MP3s and the whole concept of digital processing of audio, there's essentially a built in ESP, but it's still possible to skip if the memory caches aren't too big or the mechanical technology is too bad.
-N
Anyway, you didn't mention what stereo you've got and I'm sure that would make a difference in your case if you got a nicer one or the cheapest MP3-capable player. And also, you said that only the worst roads cause a problem, which certainly would be the hardest roads on which to maintain proper spin of the disc. With MP3s and the whole concept of digital processing of audio, there's essentially a built in ESP, but it's still possible to skip if the memory caches aren't too big or the mechanical technology is too bad.
-N
Actually I installed a Blaupunkt San Francisco CD72 w/ MDP-01 minidisk MP3 player. This is a similar to a Kenwood setup w/ their music keg.
The head unit performance and build quality is first rate. What turned me on to Blaupunkt was a 13 channel parametric eq per quadrant w/ automatic parameter determination via a microphone. They also measure time of flight to create the time align w/o manual measuring. This seems to exceed the current Alpine units. There are other features including the FM tuner which also exceeds the current Alpine or Pioneer. They use a optimal combining FM receiver based upon two antennas and two receivers. It doesn't just pick the better signal, it shifts in time the second signal and adds it to the reference antenna, more or less eliminating multipath fades (I haven't heard a fade but I guess it is still possible.) Obviously this is not the Blau of the past.
On the other hand the MDP-01 uses an IBM minidisk. The minidisk doesn't seem to be robust against getting kicked off track by bumps in the Evo. Last night I remounted the MDP-01 such that the disk is vertical once the glove box is closed. On the way to work today it didn't skip once. Maybe it is better or I was lucky.
I was told today that ridgid mounting is better than letting the unit flop around (applies to CD head units and hard disk units per the manufacture). The MDP-01 is mounted to the side of the glove box with double sided foam tape. When the glove box is closed I dont' think that the box moves around, but maybe I'm wrong.
One thing that I think is going on between a CD based MP3 head unit and a hard disk unit is the following. The CD units, I believe, read in a song to RAM memory at the beginning of the song. This is why it takes so long between songs (0.5 to 2 seconds or worse). Thus if there are bumps during the song there is no way skipping can occur. Note that my old Kenwood was notable in that it clearly spun down the CD during a song! Thus song to song time was very poor.
On the other hand MP3 hard disk based systems seem to do on the fly MP3 decoding with less than a full song's worth of memory. Thus if a sufficient number of bumps (reseeking) occurs back to back the unit runs out of memory and one hears a break in music playback. It is notable that with this setup there is zero delay between songs. This can be heard with live albums.
The upside of the MP3 hard disk based solution seems to be zero delay between songs and storage for more songs. The down side is that it is possible with vibration to cause the disk to reseek and break up music playback. Also the hard disk solution does cost more than an integrated MP3 CD based head unit.
The head unit performance and build quality is first rate. What turned me on to Blaupunkt was a 13 channel parametric eq per quadrant w/ automatic parameter determination via a microphone. They also measure time of flight to create the time align w/o manual measuring. This seems to exceed the current Alpine units. There are other features including the FM tuner which also exceeds the current Alpine or Pioneer. They use a optimal combining FM receiver based upon two antennas and two receivers. It doesn't just pick the better signal, it shifts in time the second signal and adds it to the reference antenna, more or less eliminating multipath fades (I haven't heard a fade but I guess it is still possible.) Obviously this is not the Blau of the past.
On the other hand the MDP-01 uses an IBM minidisk. The minidisk doesn't seem to be robust against getting kicked off track by bumps in the Evo. Last night I remounted the MDP-01 such that the disk is vertical once the glove box is closed. On the way to work today it didn't skip once. Maybe it is better or I was lucky.
I was told today that ridgid mounting is better than letting the unit flop around (applies to CD head units and hard disk units per the manufacture). The MDP-01 is mounted to the side of the glove box with double sided foam tape. When the glove box is closed I dont' think that the box moves around, but maybe I'm wrong.
One thing that I think is going on between a CD based MP3 head unit and a hard disk unit is the following. The CD units, I believe, read in a song to RAM memory at the beginning of the song. This is why it takes so long between songs (0.5 to 2 seconds or worse). Thus if there are bumps during the song there is no way skipping can occur. Note that my old Kenwood was notable in that it clearly spun down the CD during a song! Thus song to song time was very poor.
On the other hand MP3 hard disk based systems seem to do on the fly MP3 decoding with less than a full song's worth of memory. Thus if a sufficient number of bumps (reseeking) occurs back to back the unit runs out of memory and one hears a break in music playback. It is notable that with this setup there is zero delay between songs. This can be heard with live albums.
The upside of the MP3 hard disk based solution seems to be zero delay between songs and storage for more songs. The down side is that it is possible with vibration to cause the disk to reseek and break up music playback. Also the hard disk solution does cost more than an integrated MP3 CD based head unit.
Evolving Member
Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 404
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From: North Central MA
The double stick tape and the fact that it's in the glovebox make me think it's movement issues. Personally, I'd try a hard mount someplace out of the way. No mount in the glove box is going to be as solid as a mount to say a floor, rear deck, etc. because you're only relying on a tiny latch with a large lever pulling on it all the time. It's bound to have a little sloppiness to it. The double sided tape also has a little give... put the 2 together and it sounds like a recipie for issues.
Though you brought up mounting, and the fact that it now sits vertically when the box is closed. If it wasn't before, that was probably also causing some problems. Since the IBM disk is actually a small hard drive. (HDDs dont really care for crazy angles and jarring...)
Anyhoo... hope you figure it out.. this is just some rambling. But if it was me, I'd find a good solid mount. Under the passenger, rear deck, etc.
Though you brought up mounting, and the fact that it now sits vertically when the box is closed. If it wasn't before, that was probably also causing some problems. Since the IBM disk is actually a small hard drive. (HDDs dont really care for crazy angles and jarring...)
Anyhoo... hope you figure it out.. this is just some rambling. But if it was me, I'd find a good solid mount. Under the passenger, rear deck, etc.
Newbie
Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 46
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From: California
Have you tried switching the CDR media that you are burning on? Some cheapo -r media does not burn very well easpecially with today's faster speed 52x burners....
Your haed unit might be fine and it may just be the media you are using.
Your haed unit might be fine and it may just be the media you are using.
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Originally posted by Higgity Hank
The double stick tape and the fact that it's in the glovebox make me think it's movement issues. Personally, I'd try a hard mount someplace out of the way. No mount in the glove box is going to be as solid as a mount to say a floor, rear deck, etc. because you're only relying on a tiny latch with a large lever pulling on it all the time. It's bound to have a little sloppiness to it. The double sided tape also has a little give... put the 2 together and it sounds like a recipie for issues.
Though you brought up mounting, and the fact that it now sits vertically when the box is closed. If it wasn't before, that was probably also causing some problems. Since the IBM disk is actually a small hard drive. (HDDs dont really care for crazy angles and jarring...)
Anyhoo... hope you figure it out.. this is just some rambling. But if it was me, I'd find a good solid mount. Under the passenger, rear deck, etc.
The double stick tape and the fact that it's in the glovebox make me think it's movement issues. Personally, I'd try a hard mount someplace out of the way. No mount in the glove box is going to be as solid as a mount to say a floor, rear deck, etc. because you're only relying on a tiny latch with a large lever pulling on it all the time. It's bound to have a little sloppiness to it. The double sided tape also has a little give... put the 2 together and it sounds like a recipie for issues.
Though you brought up mounting, and the fact that it now sits vertically when the box is closed. If it wasn't before, that was probably also causing some problems. Since the IBM disk is actually a small hard drive. (HDDs dont really care for crazy angles and jarring...)
Anyhoo... hope you figure it out.. this is just some rambling. But if it was me, I'd find a good solid mount. Under the passenger, rear deck, etc.
The cable is only three feet long thus there are few option w/o an extension cable. I was considering mounting the unit vertical behind the glove box in the area to the right of the engine ECU. I guess an alternative might also be within the floor console if I can find a flat surface.
Finally if I can get my hands on an extension cable, I agree that under the front seat is a great location.
Just to follow up on this topic with the results.
A dealer stated that fixing the unit to the car will only help prevent skipping. Turns out that the bracket to player (player slips into bracket) permits vibration of the unit relative to the mounting surface.
I had a friend ride with me and it was noticed that the player was moving in relationship to the glove box. In fact large bumps did not cause problems. Only rapid low frequency bumps causes a resonance. By placing tape on the bracket to prevent motion of the player relative to the bracket and mounting surface the problem is solved for all but the largest bumps (e.g. rail road tracks, etc).
A dealer stated that fixing the unit to the car will only help prevent skipping. Turns out that the bracket to player (player slips into bracket) permits vibration of the unit relative to the mounting surface.
I had a friend ride with me and it was noticed that the player was moving in relationship to the glove box. In fact large bumps did not cause problems. Only rapid low frequency bumps causes a resonance. By placing tape on the bracket to prevent motion of the player relative to the bracket and mounting surface the problem is solved for all but the largest bumps (e.g. rail road tracks, etc).
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