iPod Shuffle adapter for Alpine car stereo

grafikat · Sep 27, 2007

Howdy,
I just put in a new alpine stereo with an ipod adapter. Thinking that a shuffle would fit nicely behind the dash, I picked up a refurb unit. Unfortunately, the stereo adapter is meant for a classic style, (30 pin?).

I've been searching for an adapter from shuffle to standard connection, and haven't found one yet...any ideas?

Cheers

pna · Sep 27, 2007

I've got an alpine deck with the same ipod dock connector for use with my ipod video. There's no connection that I've seen that will mimic the shuffle dock, so you're reduced to using dropping a connection to the aux in port on the deck and plugging the headphone port of the shuffle in to that. As long as you turn the shuffle up to 80%, the sound is fine. I did this until I lost my shuffle, and it worked great.

You won't be able to charge your shuffle, or control it through the alpine deck with this method, but I doubt there's any equipment out there that will allow you to do this.

grafikat said:
Howdy,
I just put in a new alpine stereo with an ipod adapter. Thinking that a shuffle would fit nicely behind the dash, I picked up a refurb unit. Unfortunately, the stereo adapter is meant for a classic style, (30 pin?).

I've been searching for an adapter from shuffle to standard connection, and haven't found one yet...any ideas?

Cheers

grafikat · Sep 27, 2007

Pooh,
I've always wanted a shuffle, but never really bothered, as I have a video, so I thought it was redunant.

I hope someone makes a shuffle to 30 pin adapter!

pna · Sep 28, 2007

honestly, doing what I described and using the aux in works better in many ways than having a proper connection. I just ran the audio cable so that it sits between the front two seats near the emergency brake. That puts the shuffle actually nearer to my hand to control if need be than are the controls on the alpine deck. It may not seem as clean a setup as having it in the glove box out of sight, but really, it's extremely functional. I'd give it a shot.

grafikat said:
Pooh,
I've always wanted a shuffle, but never really bothered, as I have a video, so I thought it was redunant.

I hope someone makes a shuffle to 30 pin adapter!

Squonk · Sep 28, 2007

Which Alpine decks did y'all put in? I'm looking to replace my falling apart Blaupunkt. I really like the looks of the IDA-X001, but that price is steep!

pna · Sep 28, 2007

Squonk said:
Which Alpine decks did y'all put in? I'm looking to replace my falling apart Blaupunkt. I really like the looks of the IDA-X001, but that price is steep!

I'm pretty sure I've got the CDA-9883. It's great, has the ipod interface, as well as 3 sets of pre-amp outputs. For 200 bucks, it's pretty hard to beat. The ipod interface works, obviously, though it's far from perfect. From what I understand and have seen, though, it's still a better interface than pretty much any other brand.

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-w2Famzqzop4/App/Product/Item/Main.aspx?o=m&g=300&i=500CDA9883&tp=5684

grafikat · Sep 30, 2007

pna said:
I'm pretty sure I've got the CDA-9883. It's great, has the ipod interface, as well as 3 sets of pre-amp outputs. For 200 bucks, it's pretty hard to beat.

That's the model I have. Picked it up at Best Buy. Works great. Guess I'll get back under the dash with the new plug.

Cheers!

Phil A. · Oct 1, 2007

What you need is one of these: http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/dockshuffle/

Plug this into the bottom of your shuffle and you should be able to plug the cable from your stereo into it. Job done

MattG · Oct 1, 2007

Squonk said:
Which Alpine decks did y'all put in? I'm looking to replace my falling apart Blaupunkt. I really like the looks of the IDA-X001, but that price is steep!

I just ordered the X001 -- I'll let you know how it goes once I get it!

Squonk · Oct 1, 2007

MattG said:
I just ordered the X001 -- I'll let you know how it goes once I get it!

Cool! I look forward to hearing about it. Are you going with internal or external amps?

MattG · Oct 1, 2007

Squonk said:
Cool! I look forward to hearing about it. Are you going with internal or external amps?

I've got an amp that's going to run my front speakers and a subwoofer. The front speakers are going into kickpanels. I'm going to keep the rear speakers running off of the head unit, but that's all!

MattG · Oct 7, 2007

Squonk said:
Cool! I look forward to hearing about it. Are you going with internal or external amps?

So I got it installed...it's great, sound quality is awesome and as far as iPod interface, nothing else out there can beat it. However, my album art is not showing up on the screen. Not sure why.

Squonk · Oct 8, 2007

MattG said:
So I got it installed...it's great, sound quality is awesome and as far as iPod interface, nothing else out there can beat it. However, my album art is not showing up on the screen. Not sure why.

I think I read somewhere that you have to connect it differently somehow to get the album art. I thought it was something like using the USB connection but I'm not sure what other way you would connect it. Are there two different connections on the Alpine - one USB and one dedicated for the iPod?

MattG · Oct 8, 2007

Squonk said:
I think I read somewhere that you have to connect it differently somehow to get the album art. I thought it was something like using the USB connection but I'm not sure what other way you would connect it. Are there two different connections on the Alpine - one USB and one dedicated for the iPod?

Yup -- two different connectors available.

1. There's the USB that comes with it, and there's an additional "Full Speed" cable you can buy for it (the KCE-422i). This additional cable is for older iPods (pre-iPod Video), and doesn't support album art, isn't as fast, and the sound quality isn't as good (because it uses the iPod's D/A converter instead of the one in the head unit).

2. The cable the unit comes with only works with iPod Video and newer, but it's the best way to go if possible because it offers the best sound (uses the Alpine D/A converter), speed, and album art. This is what I'm using, and the space for the album art does show up, but it's not being filled with my album art -- it's using this generic "Alpine" album cover for every song.

Squonk · Oct 8, 2007

MattG said:
Yup -- two different connectors available.

1. There's the USB that comes with it, and there's an additional "Full Speed" cable you can buy for it (the KCE-422i). This additional cable is for older iPods (pre-iPod Video), and doesn't support album art, isn't as fast, and the sound quality isn't as good (because it uses the iPod's D/A converter instead of the one in the head unit).

2. The cable the unit comes with only works with iPod Video and newer, but it's the best way to go if possible because it offers the best sound (uses the Alpine D/A converter), speed, and album art. This is what I'm using, and the space for the album art does show up, but it's not being filled with my album art -- it's using this generic "Alpine" album cover for every song.

I didn't know that the Alpine had it's own D/A for better sounds over the iPods - that's awesome and make me want one even more. That's a bummer that you are not getting your album art though. Did you buy the stereo locally or mail order? Hopefully your dealer can be of assistance.

MattG · Oct 8, 2007

Squonk said:
I didn't know that the Alpine had it's own D/A for better sounds over the iPods - that's awesome and make me want one even more. That's a bummer that you are not getting your album art though. Did you buy the stereo locally or mail order? Hopefully your dealer can be of assistance.

Yeah, I was looking at some information on iLounge yesterday. The way I understand it is that if you're using that Full Speed cable, the iPod is doing all the sound processing. If you use the regular USB connection cable, it's using the Burr Brown D/A converter that comes in the stereo, which is very good.

I did mail order. I have a feeling that I'm going to be out of luck for now, because it doesn't say anything about compatibility with the new models. I'm hoping eventually a software update will fix it. We'll see!

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