[shrink]

Okay, quick iPod question. Is the signal through the headphone jack amplified? The reason I'm asking is because I use the headphone jack to connect to my car stereo aux input, and was wondering if I was sending the stereo preamp an already amplifed signal, and hence be-amping the music on the iPod (and thereby reducing sound quality).

Also, does anyone know if this Belkin car charger:

http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatProdu...duct_Id=149006

amplifies the iPod signal or if it sends and unamped signal.

Thanks in advance.

[MaxPower2k3]

of course the headphone jack is amplified, otherwise headphones wouldn't work. (there needs to be a power source). The output through the dock connector, however, is a line-level output and not amplified. neither the dock included with the iPod nor the Belkin charger amplify that signal.

[shrink]

Hmm...that makes sense, but I could have sworn that I read somewhere that the iPod Dock amped the signal.

[X-Ray]

Strange, I have a Belkin car charger and it amplifies the signal. Do they make two models or does someone not know what they're talking about? If you go to their site it clearly states that it amplifies the signal.

[MaxPower2k3]

you're right, it does say that it's amplified. that completely defeats the purpose of the line-out on the dock, then, because you might as well just use the headphone jack (since i doubt the belkin has a higher-quality amp than the iPod)

[shrink]

Okay, so just to clarify...both the headphone hack and that Belkin adapter amp the signal, right?

[Dave N]

Yes, these are both amplified.

I was searching for a true line-out adapter and found the imp cable (made by sik) in an iPod Lounge thread. Here is a link...

http://store.sik.com/merchant.mv?Scr...t_Code=03-1004

If your stereo doesn't support line-in, check out this thread about wired FM modulators. People say they sound a lot better than the iTrip kind. I just got an iPod, so I'm looking into all of this too.

http://www.ipodlounge.com/forums/sho...threadid=24026

[shrink]

Cool. Thanks for that link. I'll be bookmarking it. I have a front aux input on my car stereo headunit and find this option incredibly convenient, but I didn't realized I was feeding it an amped signal.

I think I'm just going to keep my current set-up and wait for that Alpine iPod interface to come out this summer.

[jlemons]

OK, so if I run my iPod through my aux. input on my car stereo will it hurt anything?

[shrink]

It won't hurt anything, it's just less than ideal in terms of sound quality to listen to a signal that is amplified twice.