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Topic: Any FM Transmitters with good quality (Read 5022 times) previous topic - next topic
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Any FM Transmitters with good quality

I listened to my friend's iPod in the car with an FM Transmitter.  It sounded terrible.

Is there any way to make it sound better (obviously I do not have an Auxillary in).  Are some FM Transmitters better than others for sound quality.

I was fairly confused by the fact that the sound quality was worse than FM radio stations.

Any ideas?

Any FM Transmitters with good quality

Reply #1 –
Generally, a cassette adaptor sounds better than a cheap FM transmitter.
FM stereo is a non-trivial task, professional FM transmitters cost several 1000€

Any FM Transmitters with good quality

Reply #2 –
In the United States, FM Transmitters suck due to heavy FCC restrictions.  They can be altered to get a higher output but it involves soldering and other radio parts just to get it to transmit at a decent level so that a gust of wind doesn't overpower your transmission to your radio.
Zune 80, Tak -p4 audio library, Lossless=Choice

Any FM Transmitters with good quality

Reply #3 –
I have a Dynex one that I bought at Best Buy for around $35. It sounds pretty good (although sometimes I get some interference when driving under stop lights) and you can select any station to broadcast on. I think it's worth checking out.

Any FM Transmitters with good quality

Reply #4 –
Both FM transmitters and cassette adapters sound awful. Get a new radio with an auxiliary input.
EAC>1)fb2k>LAME3.99 -V 0 --vbr-new>WMP12 2)MAC-Extra High

Any FM Transmitters with good quality

Reply #5 –
Quote from: LANjackal on
Both FM transmitters and cassette adapters sound awful. Get a new radio with an auxiliary input.


1.  If I do that I'll just get a stereo that can play mp3 CDs (would be nice if it could play mp3 DVDs).

2.  Car companies design dashes to look like crap if you install 3rd party stereos unfortunately.  Kind of hard to bring myself to make the change.

Somebody told me that the reason that CD-changers that are FM based don't sound bad is that there is a direct connection to the antenna.

My question is, could you use the cigarette lighter as a connection to an antenna as I would assume the cigarette lighter is grounded to the frame and should be a decent antenna.

Any FM Transmitters with good quality

Reply #6 –
Quote from: postul8or on
Quote from: LANjackal on

Both FM transmitters and cassette adapters sound awful. Get a new radio with an auxiliary input.


1.  If I do that I'll just get a stereo that can play mp3 CDs (would be nice if it could play mp3 DVDs).

2.  Car companies design dashes to look like crap if you install 3rd party stereos unfortunately.  Kind of hard to bring myself to make the change.

Somebody told me that the reason that CD-changers that are FM based don't sound bad is that there is a direct connection to the antenna.

My question is, could you use the cigarette lighter as a connection to an antenna as I would assume the cigarette lighter is grounded to the frame and should be a decent antenna.


When it comes the time for you to replace your car stereo you should think about it. I got one that plays mp3 CD's and also have an analog input. It didn't cost more than other CD/mp3 players. The advantage of this system is that if your player (mechanical part) breaks down you can still connect any other device through the audio input.

Any FM Transmitters with good quality

Reply #7 –
I've tried a couple of FM transmitters here in the UK (I found the best one to be a Belkin TuneCast II) but neither sounded that good.

Firstly it is important to get the levels right. If you have the mp3 players output too high it will distort (either it's own output, or the FM transmitters input) but too low and hiss becomes too audible. To get undistorted sound I've ended up with a very low signal to noise ratio (hiss clearly audible when the car is stationary).

The other issue is that all the units I've seen appear to be mono, which can sound flat compared to stereo.

Any FM Transmitters with good quality

Reply #8 –
Quote from: LANjackal on
Both FM transmitters and cassette adapters sound awful. Get a new radio with an auxiliary input.


Of course line in is best, but cassette adapters don't have to sound awful. It depends on the mp3 player's output, the adaptor, and the cassette mechanism itself, but I've had excellent results (indistinguishable from line in) with some combinations. Horrible results with others. It's worth a try.

Mind you, driving by myself, I forget about road safety, make myself feel better by reminding myself that they wouldn't stop me driving even if I was stone deaf, and use in-ear headphones. This sounds far better than the car stereo, and it reduces road noise too!

Cheers,
David.