Hercules

Because from what I'm reading... the Euro Mazda6 has it.

So why shouldn't the RX-8 ? :D

Hercules

Addendum: It's a dealer-installed option, as far as I can tell.. it's an MP3 CHANGER that sits in the trunk and can be controlled from the dash.

Donny Boy

It is hoped that it has an MP3 player, at least we wont have to be changing discs every 40 minutes. But does an MP3 produce the same quality of sound as a CD? I've heard that it does not, but am far from an expert myself.

Perhaps some input?

Thanks.

Immi

I think - once converted CDs produce 128 kbps. Mp3s on the other hand can go higher than 192 kbps.

More kb/s is a good thing = better sound quality.

Correct me if I'm wrong!!!

Sputnik

If you are saying that the normal CD format only has 128 kbps, then you are wrong.

MP3s do not produce the same quality sound as a CD. Even MDs generally produce better quality sound than MP3s. Heck, I've had cassette players that outperform MP3s. The thing is, few people notice it. Some don't notice it due to the music they listen to. Some don't notice due to the quality of the particular stereo. Some people have the music on "in the background", where they won't notice the quality difference. It all depends on you and how you listen to music in different situations during the day.

---jps

DonG35Miata

MP3s are compressed audio. CDs are not. The quality of the MP3 will depend on the quality of the compression and the original source, etc. A CD will always have better quality than a compressed MP3. However, in an automotive listening environment where you have road noise, wind noise, engine noise, other sounds, etc. the difference may be hard to tell.

I would NEVER use an MP3 in the high-end audio system I use at home. However, I would consider it for a car, if compressed at a high bitrate. The ability to put 100 songs on a single CD is very appealing.

wakeech

hey Sputnik, don't forget that the ol' 8-track has better sound quality (much higher fidelity) than casette tapes, 'cause of the wider width of the media... assuming of course that the 8track hadn't been chewed up... but new, they're better...

who's up for the ol' school technology?? can you dig??

Mazda man

I saw a european Mazda 6 yesterday and had a quick peek inside. It has a very similar stereo setup to the interior pics of the Rx-8 so you may well be correct about the Mp3 player.

Grimace

If anyone puts an 8-track in their RX-8, then they'll be asked to leave this forum and never return. :D

Toadman

How about a turntable, like those cars in the 40's-50's?
You can scratch and steer!

BlueAdept

With a good encoder, MP3's encoded at 192K for example are VIRTUALLY indistinguishable from CD quality.

The compression is lossy... IE it throws away some of the data... and hence some of the sound... but it uses what is called psychoacoustic modeling to do this... Basically it works out what sounds will mask others so that those other sounds can be removed without it being apparent to the human ear.

Below 128K, the difference becomes noticeable, because it doesn't have enough bandwidth to properly encode the data it has, and the masking becomes obvious. By 192K, there is almost no noticeable difference even on a good home Hifi. I would take a 192K MP3 over MiniDisk any day!....

Remember, that at that rate, you can get about 6-7 full albums on a CD, so with a 6 disk changer you could put nearly 40 albums in.... I wouldn't go any lower than 128K to squeeze things on... below 112K is concidered not to be even FM quality... And get a good encoder, it SHOULD take a long time to rip/encode and if you're doing it in real time on a P200MMX then you're doing it wrong!

Sputnik

What are you talking about? Do you know why they call it "8-track"?

---jps

BlueAdept

LOL... I do! But get serious... I know you guys had a dubious flirtation with in car vinyl... but 8 track? That's like somthing an alien would use in a bad B movie!

Alienate

Hailz!

I put a Kenwood MP3 enabled Car Stereo in my Kia Ragtop, and matched it up with a Bazooka Sub. I ONLY use MP3 disks in it now. 10 hours per disk is just too great a deal to ignore. Any file encoded at 128 k/b or better sounds AS GOOD AS a regular Music CD _in_a_car_.

N8

irresistibo

mp3, cd, minidisk, dont matter, i got all the bases covered, cd's do have better quality, but its annoying to change all the time, my minidisc player holds 320 min at very low quality, but i hardly notice it unless i listen to it right after listening to my home system. In a car it really doesnt matter, too much road noise to notice especially if your going fast or have a window down.

CelticFan

Actually, I think most people can't hear the difference between an MP3 an a CD because they are incompetent. It's kind of like the deal with DVD's now.
I can't believe that most people look at them and go "WOW that looks soooo good." Can they not see the decompression or the fact that it looks like a big Mpeg on their tv?

Give me a CD player for my music and a Laser Disk player for my movies any day.

fuz

I would just prefer MD since I have everything already. :D

fuz

You have got to be joking... LD is stuck in analog and can only go so high as it's already running at max, whereas DVD has much better audio, higher rez video in digital output, better brightness and contrast, with picture quality that is just as good and can get better with less compression.

If you want to see the decompression artifacts, you have to have a really crappy decoder, and/or a very large screen, or you can just blur the picture down to LD resolution and have them dissapear.