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iPhone 4S - Popping noise through dock connector audio

P

PaulieORF

macrumors regular
Original poster
Mar 4, 2009
185
1
Connecticut
I have had an iPhone 4 and a car adapter for my car which has a dock connector on one end, and on the other a 3.5mm headphone plug, along with a cigarette lighter charger. I use it to charge my iPhone and play audio through my car's stereo with only having to connect one thing. It has worked fantastic. I pretty much only listen to Pandora in my car when I drive now instead of the radio.

I got my iPhone 4S on Friday, and have noticed that there is a rather frequent popping noise coming out of my car speakers when connected. I still have my iPhone 4 so I connected that, just in case something has happened to the adapter, and it was fine, played with no popping noise.

If I use the headphone jack on my iPhone 4S, there is also no popping. Just through the dock connector audio.

Has anyone else here experienced this? I thought I was safe assuming all iPhone 4 accessories would play nicely with the 4S, but perhaps there's some strange incompatibility here.

Thanks.
 
Horrible sound for me too.
I have tried several car chargers, several AUX cables and several iPhone 4S in several cars.
The 4S can't be used to listen to music. It has constant interferences.
I did use my 3GS with crystal clear music!

I just don't get it.
Just like you, if I use my headphones though there is no interferences.
 
Maybe a ground loop problem? Could it be that the charger doesn't have something connected that should be I wonder... Making a connection through the iPhone while plugging in to the AUX adapter and passing current through somehow?

Does the popping change frequency with engine speed or is it a relative constant frequency.
 
Looks like a lot of persons have this problem.

I'll buy a nose reduction AUX IN cable next time I'm in the US.
It's crazy.

The interference doesn't vary with acceleration, engine on or off, it's there all the time and not regular, totally random, changes all the time, just like a magnetic storm. I can't even use the GPS voice directions on my iPhone.
 
Is the device you are using something like this?

http://www.handhelditems.com/griffin-technology-ipod-iphone-tuneflex-with-smartclick-remote-p-19462.html

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sjordi said:
Looks like a lot of persons have this problem.

I'll buy a nose reduction AUX IN cable next time I'm in the US.
It's crazy.

The interference doesn't vary with acceleration, engine on or off, it's there all the time and not regular, totally random, changes all the time, just like a magnetic storm. I can't even use the GPS voice directions on my iPhone.
Click to expand...

Does the sound happen when the charger isn't plugged in to the 4S? Like use a standard hookup cable and not use the charger, does it pop...
 
Hmm...

Sounds like there is some thing different about the 4S dock connector, or about how the connections are being handled inside the 4S. I wonder if it would happen to something like a stereo dock connector like I see for Onkyo and others... Interesting...

It's not like Apple hasn't done something like that before. I remember plugging in a charger cable to my 4 and getting a message that it wasn't compatible... I guess that's part of proprietary that could/should make people a little nervous.

Does Apple list the dock pinouts for each device somewhere where mere mortals can see them? Well, and then would it be something worth, or able to be fixed easily...

EDIT: just had a thought, but it might not be a good one: I have a USB connector for my car. I wonder if a 4S would pop over that... Now if I only had a 4S to play with. I can't 'legally' upgrade until March.
 
I'm happy to find this thread because I'm having the same problems, but I didn't know how to articulate it. I run mine from the headphone jack into an aux port on the head unit of my stereo, and the popping noise if awful.

I was thinking about running it through the dock connector, so it seems like that might be a good idea. For $5 I'll give it a try and see what happens.
 
*SOLVED*

Bought a Monster iCarCharger AUX 1000 and I have a crystal clear sound now!
Finally.

The beauty of this tool is that it also adds control buttons over the iPhone while driving, if the cigarette lighter is handily available. It has play/pause/rew/ffw/prev/next.
No more need to touch the screen while driving! A real plus!
 
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