Simple Q: playing files through 3.5mm cable

[Almot]

Have some music in .Flac and .Aac on my Android. Good quality, ripped from CD at 128 kbps.

Tried playing it on trailer Jehnsen radio through 3.5mm stereo cable - from headphones output to Aux input of Jehnsen. Flat sound, no lows and highs, - about same poor quality as playing it via smartphone loudspeaker. Adjusting the smartphone volume makes it louder, but not better.

But don't blame Jehnsen amplifying circuits and cheap trailer ceiling speakers yet - a built-in CD tray in this radio sounds pretty decent. I'm just trying to avoid carrying a pack of CD's.

Can't blame my Android either. When playing same Flac/Aac files via same 3.5mm cable to half-decent receiver at home (though good KEF speakers) - sound almost as good as my home CD player via analog input of this home receiver. Very slight difference btw Flac and Aac, which is expected.

So - is there something wrong with Jehnsen Aux input? Mismatched input/output impedance? Anything else?

[SCVJeff]

You said, it's the cable and replacing it with a thicker one could, or would make a difference. We were not, and still aren't talking about cable construction quality, this is a discussion of cable response only.

I get touchy when people say stuff that simply ain't true, and if you are the audiophile you claim to be you know exactly what I'm talking about.

[QFamCA]

SCVJeff wrote:
Hogwash... (to "mismatch")

We're not talking about 1000w sound systems here needing to drive 4 ohm speakers at 30' It's wire with mini's on both ends running at line level, period.

There is ZERO difference in the $.99 cable vs. the pure copper oxygen free BS hype that the audiophiles try and sell you.

Look anywhere else but the poor little cable. That Jensen is by far the weakest link in the chain.

Yes exactly my point. I didn't say for OP to go out and purchase a $50 cable. I said even if he did, likely very little sound quality increase. The unit is likely the case same in my situation thus i'm replacing mine as well.

Oh but there is a difference in the .99 cent cable vs the other. The .99 cent cable usually falls apart quicker where the wire meets the connection edge as they are usually cheaply made.

People get so touchy on these forums.

[Clay_L]

SCVJeff wrote:
Hogwash... (to "mismatch")

We're not talking about 1000w sound systems here needing to drive 4 ohm speakers at 30' It's wire with mini's on both ends running at line level, period.

There is ZERO difference in the $.99 cable vs. the pure copper oxygen free BS hype that the audiophiles try and sell you.

Look anywhere else but the poor little cable. That Jensen is by far the weakest link in the chain.

Exactly!!
(Wish there was a like button)

[APT]

Just get a portable Bluetooth speaker. It will likely have 3.5mmm aux input and BT capability. It will sound significantly better than the RV stuff. Pick your price point. I picked up this Sharkk, a year ago. We use it far more than I expected. My wife uses it daily in the kitchen. We take it outside for yard work. While camping, we take it to the beach, campfire, parks, etc. I'd recommend the Creative Roar for a bit better sound if your budget allows.

[SCVJeff]

wa8yxm wrote:
Impedance Mismatch will flatten your audio.. Audio out on the Driod is around 8 to 32 ohms, Input on the Jensen six hundred or so.

though normally low to High works well.. It is the other way that goes flat.

You would NEVER hear any errors in the playback driving a Jensen with car standard (barely) speakers. This is not a Macintosh driving Langerton reference monitors.

The ONLY thing that cable could cause is loss of common return (ground) resulting in a strange summing/ phase cancellation loss.

[wa8yxm]

Impedance Mismatch will flatten your audio.. Audio out on the Driod is around 8 to 32 ohms, Input on the Jensen six hundred or so.

though normally low to High works well.. It is the other way that goes flat.

[GordonThree]

wcjeep wrote:
A hard line is usually better than Bluetooth for music quality. For convenience I only use Bluetooth.

I agree, the cable sounds better than bluetooth in my truck, but bluetooth is a lot easier, so my lazyness wins over higher quality audio.

According to the bluetooth sig specs I found, the A2DP protocol (bluetooth's method of sending audio) is based on mpeg1 compression, same as an old fashioned MP3, and is limited to a maximum of 256kbps per channel for 512kbps for the entire stream (stereo). Interestingly, implementation of this maximum bitrate is not mandatory, and lower bitrates are also available to save energy. 96kbps and 128kbps were mentioned.

[wcjeep]

A hard line is usually better than Bluetooth for music quality. For convenience I only use Bluetooth.

For the OP, it appears to be the Jenson is the weak link.

[Almot]

Gordonthree - headphones on smartphone sound well. But I doubt that 3.5mm cable is misaligned in the smartphone jack, because same cable plays fine when smartphone is connected to home receiver. Though at home I run 3.5mm cable to 3.5mm-RCA adapter, and then RCA to the receiver.

Something is wrong in Jehnsen, from Aux plug and before the Jehnsen amplifying circuit. Could be a misalignment in the Aux plug. Like I said, CD tray in this Jehnsen sounds well. The quality with 3.5mm cable into Aux is horrible - worse than radio stations.

No, the input level of Aux on this Jehnsen can't be adjusted.

Looks like I'll have to make dupes of my CD's for permanent keeping in trailer until I replace this Jehnsen with something.

[SCVJeff]

rexlion wrote:
My audiophile son told me that the mini-stereo-jack type of cord is nowhere near as good at transmitting the digital files as a USB connection (better) or a bluetooth connection (better still). I was asking him why the sound from my MP3 player to my car's stereo sounded so lousy... I was using the mini stereo cord. He said the newer vehicles are using the newer technology and it's more refined. Something to do with compression, I think.

We are talking about an analog cable playing audio, not a digital file transfer. Two completely different and unrelated subjects

[rexlion]

My audiophile son told me that the mini-stereo-jack type of cord is nowhere near as good at transmitting the digital files as a USB connection (better) or a bluetooth connection (better still). I was asking him why the sound from my MP3 player to my car's stereo sounded so lousy... I was using the mini stereo cord. He said the newer vehicles are using the newer technology and it's more refined. Something to do with compression, I think.

[Big_Katuna]

You might want to try a 3.5 mm to RCA jack cable and use the VCR input.

[GordonThree]

How does it sound if you plug headphones into the headphone jack? Could be your phone's jack is faulty. Typically a smartphone has a TRRS type jack (extra ring for microphone), sometimes it doesn't line up correctly with a TRS (stereo) plug and you get poor sound quality.

OR

On your Jensen, can you adjust the input level for the aux in jack? Could be the smartphone isn't putting out enough voltage. I have that issue on an old smart phone connected to an amplifier on some outdoor speakers, output on the smartphone is in the millivolt range (for headphones), amplifier expects 1-5v input.

[SCVJeff]

Hogwash... (to "mismatch")

We're not talking about 1000w sound systems here needing to drive 4 ohm speakers at 30' It's wire with mini's on both ends running at line level, period.

There is ZERO difference in the $.99 cable vs. the pure copper oxygen free BS hype that the audiophiles try and sell you.

Look anywhere else but the poor little cable. That Jensen is by far the weakest link in the chain.