digital inputs for car audio

Printed From: the12volt.com
Forum Name: Car Audio
Forum Discription: Car Stereos, Amplifiers, Crossovers, Processors, Speakers, Subwoofers, etc.
URL: https://www.the12volt.com/installbay/forum_posts.asp?tid=136657
Printed Date: May 17, 2024 at 12:13 AM

Topic: digital inputs for car audio

Posted By: tb30570
Subject: digital inputs for car audio
Date Posted: May 17, 2014 at 7:14 AM

I hate analog RCA inputs. When will digital inputs become standard in car audio like it is in home audio? Why is it taking so long?

I've been installing stereos in my cars and friends cars for more than 20 years now. Over that time, it I've fought issues with analog RCA's multiple times. Usually the problems were with the cables themselves or with the connectors at the head unit or the amplifier. It didn't seem to matter if I purchased high quality RCA cables or not...in fact I've had more problems with high quality RCA cables than low quality. RCA cables are cheap though in comparison to the head units and amplifiers, so when the RCA connections fail, it sucks! For instance, I have two Rockford Fosgate 400.4 amplifiers sitting around that both have bad RCA inputs.
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Replies:

Posted By: oldspark
Date Posted: May 17, 2014 at 11:30 AM

There are heaps of "digital" interfaces - not that am familiar with them maybe mp3car.com is a better source.

Not that there is any such thing as "digital transmission" - it is all analog. But there are digitised interfaces like optical fibre etc.

Posted By: tb30570
Date Posted: May 17, 2014 at 12:05 PM

oldspark wrote:

There are heaps of "digital" interfaces - not that am familiar with them maybe mp3car.com is a better source.

when HDMI came out, I heard that I shouldn't bother wasting my money on a high quality cable because it sends a digital signal so noise pickup wasn't an issue. I assumed it would be the same if a digital audio in a car.

Posted By: oldspark
Date Posted: May 17, 2014 at 7:21 PM

Well, that digital statement is wrong. It is still analog transmission, hence the same old analog rules apply.

The only advantage to digital (encoding) is the higher tolerance to introduced noise.