CD players

[DaveHarries]

Hi all,

 

The 2017/67 Octy I got at the end of August 2018, which is one of the facelift ones, is going great. However having asked for - and got - a CD for Christmas I subsequently realised that the Octy does not have a CD player but has 2x SD instead. The SD, however, is an essential due to the satnav.

 

Are there any CD players I could buy which would connect to the car's audio system through the AUX plug? Preferably not through the USB as I have, and use, Android Auto.

 

Cheers for advise,

Dave

[SC03OTT]

I imagine any portable disc man type players will work.  If you can find one. 

 

Just transfer the CD contents to an SD card and use the second slot. 

[TheWanderer]

To copy a CD across to MP3 format using iTunes takes about 90-120s, sampled at 192kbps, using an SD card is much more convenient.

 

Also if you go down the CD player route, you'll need to find a CD player that doesn't jump whilst playing for when you hit a pothole. 

 

If you really (really?) want a CD player you can get them on Amazon for about £13-18.

 

if you want one that works with a PC/Laptop (Search: CD Drive)

Or proper CD player (Search: CD Player Portable), but a 64Gb SD Card is cheaper over all at around £18-25 because it holds so much more and if you watch for them on amazon's daily deals you really can get a 64Gb for just over a tenner at times.

 

I have a 32Gb SanDisk 90Mb/s card and when I bought it, it was £36, I could have bought it the other day for just £12.59! The card has 3540 tracks on which is just a tad under 19Gb (192kbps).

Edited 1 January, 2019 by TheWanderer

[stanian]

I agree an SD card is a much better option, and with the size of cards you can buy these days you can get a massive collection on just one tiny card.

 

[ahenners]

I'm sure I saw a branded 128GB SD for less than £20 this week. Crazy cheap!

 

I have Columbus with the built in storage but don't use it. A large capacity SD is the best option, followed by occasional Bluetooth streaming from Deezer.

[Stoofa]

I have the Columbus and was very disappointed at the pathetic 10GB of storage available for music - I'm pretty sure I had more available in my Mk2. Columbus.

Remember that 128GB SD-Cards are all great, but there is a 10k track limit, so you're better off sticking to 64GB as even if you're ripping at 320kbps, you'll hit your track limit before you do the 64GB.

[SashaGrace]

I use a 64GB SD card for FLAC media and Apple CarPlay for Amazon Music streaming. This is the best solution IMO, CD’s are a thing of the past.

[JKW]

I went from an Octy 3 with no CD player to a Karoq Edition WITH a CD slot ! Having changed to an SD card with the Octy, I'm now spoiled for choice - CD player, SD Card ( 32 GB), USB stick, Bluetooth music  from my phone, and of course, the radio !! My 1st car, a '54 Ford Prefect, had a transistor radio wedged on the floor, which occasionally worked - how times have changed !

[TheWanderer]

3 hours ago, SashaGrace said:

I use a 64GB SD card for FLAC media and Apple CarPlay for Amazon Music streaming. This is the best solution IMO, CD’s are a thing of the past.

 

Anyone know a good bit of software to convert MP3 to lossless please? 

[maffyou]

25 minutes ago, TheWanderer said:

 

Anyone know a good bit of software to convert MP3 to lossless please? 

There’s no point concerting mp3 to lossless, as the mp3 is already compressed so you’d just be making a lossy file take up more space. You need to go from the original source (presumably CD) and rip to something like FLAC. If the original is from iTunes or similar then there’s nothing you can do to improve the quality of the file. 

 

Exact Audio Copy is a good piece of freeware for ripping high quality lossless files. If you’re happy with Apple stuff then iTunes will rip to Apple lossless (similar to FLAC) but I don’t know if the Octavia systems play that format directly or not. 

Edited 1 January, 2019 by maffyou

[maffyou]

Actually just to add to the above, I personally think using a lossless format for car audio is pretty pointless. You’re listening in a noisy space (even a £1000 hifi won’t sound great if someone’s hoovering in the background) with pretty poor acoustics - even with upgraded stereos and speakers the positioning of the speakers and acoustics of the car mean you’re not getting the most from that equipment. 

 

I can sometimes hear the difference when I listen to the same track back to back between an mp3 and CD played through a good set of speakers in a quiet room but switch to a high quality VBR (variable bit rate) mp3 and most people - me included - can’t tell the difference. 

 

Just my thoughts 

Edited 2 January, 2019 by maffyou