# No More CD's or Ipod's for me?? DRZ9255 optical input fooled



## less (Nov 30, 2006)

Hey all,

I just wanted to share that my test this morning conclusively proved that you can fool the DRZ9255's optical input by splicing the optical cable (from the changer) and inserting toslinks on each end - then dropping in an optical switch and an outside optical input source!  I'd read a lot about it being "possible" but had only seen one person post that they actually did it and were able to use an alternative input... and it was a old post without any detail.

Unfortunately, the CEnet still pauses the sound when the changer switches tracks/discs, but I'll be making an 80 minute Zero bit disc and setting it to repeat the track to minimize constant interuptions.

The best part is probably that the system uses the Clarion's D/A processors and amps to convert the sound - meaning you definitely get an extraordinary level of sound quality... it sounded great on my test of my cheapo home dvd player.

This makes me very happy! Now my plan can finally move forward and I've actually found what I suspect to be the perfect outside source to replace all my cd's and ipods: a 2.5" hard drive based media player with a digital coaxial output! I won't name it specifically yet until I've actually tested it and have something real to report. This particular product is the only one I have found yet that has all of the features needed to make it actually useful for a car system: 

- Supports M3U playlists, 

- Reasonably well laid out menu functions allowing semi-fast sorting of contents (which is particularly important if you plan to fill a 250gig drive with uncompressed music and you want to be able to find a song without sorting for a week),

- Attractive and professional appearance

- Small format designed to be portable using either an ac or dc power adapter

- Car kit featuring IR Remote extender, charger and other nicities

- Menu controls on the case itself so you don't have to hunt down the remote everytime you want to skip a track or whatever... but it does have a remote control with full functions

- The ability to shuffle within a playlist

- The ability to play many formats of movies - although I will probably stick with my ipod for that function

- HDTV and 5.1 surround support (pass through - so you will need the decoder inline for it to function) making it so you can carry top quality moves to your friends house or to work etc.

- and of course, its a fully functional hard disc drive using any sized SATA 2.5" hard drive (I want to say it doesn't like Western Digital drives for some reason - but I can't confirm it at the moment

Note that you will need a monitor of some type in addition to this unit as it does not have its own display.

Anyhow, I should have the whole thing put together and test in a week or so. Expect a full initial review not long after. I don't know about the rest of you, but being able to load a couple hundred of your favorite high quality songs into a playlist, hit shuffle and throw away all the cds you are constantly forced to dig through just makes my day! I love the ipod but for its quality of sound issues, and this is essentially a huge capacity ipod with digital output sound 

By the way, total cost for the: toslink snap ons for the splice (and fiber polish material), optical switch, hdd media player, 250gig hard drive, optical cable and coaxial to optical converter, and car kit but not including the clarion changer or the $100 proprietary clarion optical cable totals $424 but I may end up getting a deal on the hdd media player of $100 off. 

Oh, and a question (which I will list in another post too). Is there any reason at all that an EAC (exact audio copy) music track stored in .WAV uncompressed format should sound different or any worse than an actual CD itself? At the moment, I don't believe I am sacrificing one iota of sound quality in making this conversion. Anyone have a well qualified answer on that or a link to somewhere where I can learn more?

Less/Jim


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## effenay (Mar 2, 2006)

Nice! Looking forward to reading your results and impressions of the final set-up.

To answer your question, assuming that both sources are being fed the same way digitally into the processory section of the DRZ, the only factor that I can think of that might differentiate uncompressed audio coming from your media player, versus CD audio, is jitter.


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## dogstar (Jan 31, 2007)

Quite interested in the hard drive media player, what brand/model is it?


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## t3sn4f2 (Jan 3, 2007)

effenay said:


> Nice! Looking forward to reading your results and impressions of the final set-up.
> 
> To answer your question, assuming that both sources are being fed the same way digitally into the processory section of the DRZ, the only factor that I can think of that might differentiate uncompressed audio coming from your media player, versus CD audio, is jitter.


Yup, inferior "codec" quality.


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## less (Nov 30, 2006)

Hey all.

Understand that I am not trying to be mysterious about the brand and such, but I really don't want to get a bunch of people going until I really have concrete answers. Unfortunately, most of these items are manufactured in Pacific Rim countries which ends up causing anumber of issues, mostly related to communication and support. The other big issue is that the main distributor of this product in the us is a company that runs a number of web sites that are ALL rated spectacularly low in customer service... cool drives.com and some of its subsidiaries. They won't answer questions at all prepurchase and their return policy is ridiculous.

This coupled with the main source of info being in Korea and often they do not respond appropriately to questions as if they don't understand them. The following is the latest issue I ran into and may queer the whole deal. Fortunately, I have one other option that may work, but it will have some drawbacks as well - which is why it was second fiddle...

Today I downloaded the software that supports the unit and started experimenting with it. I got it right from the manufacturers web site and it is the most up to date version available. The problem is that this program, which apparently is used to manage the files on the hard drive player, will not recognize .WAV files even though the advertisements and the manual clearly state that .WAV (pcm) files are supported for playback. Naturally, as WAV format is the best format I am aware of for sound quality, most of my collection is files of this format. 

When looking at the software, you may tell it too display various options when broswing a folder, including: all video files, all music files, all photo, all subtitles, all files, avi, dat, ifo, vob, mpg-mpeg, mpa, m1v, m2v, mkv, asf, wmv, rm, rmvb, mp3, mp2, mp1, wma, asf, ac3, jpg, jpeg. The software will autoconvert video files, but not audio files and i don't think I would want this to be my converter program anyhow as it is not terribly sophisticated. It also has no documentation.

I have talked with people who have used this unit now and they say it is solid and dependable, but they were not the type who would worry to much about using wav files. I've written the company but I don't expect a reply... all I can think of is that perhaps if I just buy the unit I will be able to tinker with it to get the files loaded and playing properly. It doesn't make sense for them to post everywhere that it supports wav if it doesn't and so its probably something simple that I am missing or that is not clear in the software.

Naturally I will be doing some research over the next few days but i have a couple big job interviews coming as well that are really important to me. So, it may be a bit before I update this again unless I figure something out.

Oh well - perhaps another idea down the tube, but there was still one good acomplishment - fooling the digital loptical input and getting great sound as a result sure made my day! Now its just a matter of time until I can find the appropriate device to finish this job!

Feel free to let me know if I am missing something. Heck - if anyone else wants to fool with it, go to www.sarotech.com click support and select any media player there - on the left bottom you will see the option to download abigss manager. That is the software I am having issues with. If you do find a way to work with WAV files, please let me know asap!!! (probably all you need to be able to do is to select them to export them to the device...

Thanks
Less

Oh and to the guy who mentioned codecs... is there one WAV codec that is better than another - or a codec better than wav for sq? Going to research that too - but only so much time!


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## less (Nov 30, 2006)

Well - its ordered but the seller called me last night from China where he is travelling on business. He says I should receive it in 10days to 2 weeks - boo!

In the mean time, further research has found suppliers for some nice little couplers that - if they work as planned - will give this a nice clean profile in the car and possibly eliminate the need for a coaxial to optical converter which I ordered anyhow, just in case. No matter what, I will want to use this as quickly as possible so I still have time to do returns if it doesn't work out.

Plan b is based on the same system concept but it is a more well known product that already has a lot of reviews. Unfortunately it is built for home use and uses a 5.5inch drive. Naturally, plan b also involves some suspension issues and the need for a high quality voltage converter.

tick, tick, tick.


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## SQfreak (Feb 13, 2007)

less said:


> Well - its ordered but the seller called me last night from China where he is travelling on business. He says I should receive it in 10days to 2 weeks - boo!
> 
> In the mean time, further research has found suppliers for some nice little couplers that - if they work as planned - will give this a nice clean profile in the car and possibly eliminate the need for a coaxial to optical converter which I ordered anyhow, just in case. No matter what, I will want to use this as quickly as possible so I still have time to do returns if it doesn't work out.
> 
> ...




why not just use soemthing like this? http://cooldrives.stores.yahoo.net/mediagate-divx-audio-video-player.html 

I have seen guys use laptops in a similar way for a longtime.


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## t3sn4f2 (Jan 3, 2007)

SQfreak said:


> why not just use soemthing like this? http://cooldrives.stores.yahoo.net/mediagate-divx-audio-video-player.html
> 
> I have seen guys use laptops in a similar way for a longtime.


"Model No. DVP-370A
Multimedia Source Video AVI(DivX(3.x,4.x,5.x),Xvid), ISO, IFO, VOB, DAT, MPG
Audio MP3, Ogg Vorbis, WMA, AC3, PCM(WAV)
Picture JPEG
Subtitle smi, srt, sub
Main Chipset EM8511 (Sigma Designs)
Multilanguage
Supported English, Simplified/Traditional Chinese, Japanese, German, Spanish,
Italian,French, Russian, Korean

Video Output
Composite
S-Video
HD Component(Progressive-1080i/720p/480p/480i)
*Audio Output Digital 5.1 ch Optical & Coaxial(DTS pass though)
Analog 2 ch(Stereo)*
HDD Type 3.5" IDE HDD
File System FAT32, NTFS
Interface USB 2.0
Transfer Rate 480Mbps(Max.)
OS Supported Windows 98/98SE/ME/2000/XP/ Server 2003/Vista
Mac OS 9.0 or higher
Linux 2.4 or higher
Dimension 206(W) * 140(L) * 55(H)mm
Weight 770g(without HDD)
Material Aluminum with urethane coating"


No digital out for non-DTS?


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## less (Nov 30, 2006)

I sure wish I knew anyone using a product like this. Are they using it through the digital outputs or the standard outputs that use the crappy internal digital analog converter? Also, are they inputting through the digiral optical input on a Clarion DRZ9255? I've been researching this and writing on message boards about it for close to a year now i guess and have only read one post where someone even fooled the Clarions d/a converter... much less used a hard drive interface with it.

Actually, I posted quite some time ago about the unit I am about to purchase - but at the time it only supported FAT32 formatting and non-sata drives. The new upgrades allowing ntfs formatting and SATA drives, along with running into a decent seller are what got me spurred up again and hoping that it works. Cooldrives dot com (the company selling the product you linked) is yet another reason I did not buy this a while ago.

Google search and you will find some web site that discusses them and has about 20 terrible reports on their service. I asked a question of them - they responded with a worthless answer so I wrote back asking a different way... they actually replied and told me that they really didn't want to sell a product to me - because I asked a question???? wow - scary. 

The product I am using is similar to this and made by the same company - but made for portable use - using the 2.5 drives - where the 3.5s are very sensitive to vibration and voltage issues. If you read the manuals of the 3.5s most say specifically that they are not for in car use and doing that will void the warranty.

As I tried to mention in my initial post, I have shopped through dozens of units similar to that, but all have one specific downfall or another: no play lists - no shuffle - only one folder for music and no sorting feature - fat32 formatting support only (which means you got miniature hard drive space as these only work from the first partition of the hd) - the ratings for the item from users are all terrible - etc. 

I'm trying to avoid buying something that works for a week and then goes poof. There is a really nice product similar to the one you posted put out by Inoi. It has great ratings for in home use, but the manual makes a big point about it not being intended for car use due to the issues I mentioned above. They are checking the returns and looking for issues that could arise from a car installation - so it is probably wise not to do that route if you have an option.

Lastly, in regard to the digital digital out is selectable on or off - with another similar player their manual actually states that non-dts is downmixed to stereo digital output, so that is hopefully what they all do for non-dts signals through the digital out. 

The second generation units seem to be much more capable and have had more thought put into them. Sadly there are very few options for the portable market using the 2.5inch drives. One company told me they were releasing a product at Christmas and when I called back they told me that they had forgot that there were not including a digital output on that version... making it useless =(

Sure hope this works... nice to hear other folks using them (whether analog or digital) seem to be happy.

Less


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## txbonds (Mar 10, 2008)

As soon as you get it all finished and worked out, please think about writing a tutorial for all of us dummies like me that are not able to walk blindly through the forrest and figure this out. LOL The only way I would be able to recreate what you are doing is going to be with lots of easy to follow pictures, and lots of easy to follow links. LOL

Anyway, thanks for all the effort and work you are putting into this. Seems like it only makes sense to put those burr browns to work on media other than CD's if the user wants to do so.


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## Ianaconi (Nov 11, 2006)

That is awesome man! Can't wait for your updates.

I am still think if I keep my DRZ and do something like that.

Or just sell it and build a nice CARPC.


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## less (Nov 30, 2006)

> As soon as you get it all finished and worked out, please think about writing a tutorial for all of us dummies like me that are not able to walk blindly through the forrest and figure this out. LOL The only way I would be able to recreate what you are doing is going to be with lots of easy to follow pictures, and lots of easy to follow links. LOL


I'll be happy to do this. 

In fact, I may be able to get people a pretty good deal on the media player itself to boot. I played with the idea of selling a complete package with everything you'd need to do this yourself and the cables premade etc... a person would just need a DRZ/Changer/optical cable and their own 2.5 drive. I doubt I will do that though because I just have too much going in real life.

At some point, I'd love to build a car pc. My father just passed away and he had a wonderful 2003 Cadillac with that electric white paint. It was just the most beautiful Caddy I'd ever seen... but as an old fart, he never got into any of the electronics so his is clean and simple. 

I would love to buy it and build a complete PC system into it in the most stealth of ways. It has 4 spots to mount at least 8" door speakers and built in tweeters into the Apillars already... plus a perfect "pod" coming from the dash that is begging for a monitor and system. Just thinking about what I could do with that vehicle given my current experience gives me shivers!

Who knows, I may yet get the chance as it hasn't sold. It really wouldn't take a lot to turn this thing into a piece of real beauty since it is in spotless condition. And, even thought it only has 30,100 miles on it, the darned things lose value terribly and its blue book is under $20k. 

Anyway, for now I am just excited as heck to be able to use the Clarions processor to convert a decent hard drive... if only apple would be gracious or smart enough to make an ipod version with a digital out...

Tick, tick, tick... the waiting is killing me!

Less


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## less (Nov 30, 2006)

OMG - It finally arrived in the US today - so probably by Thursday or so I will finally get to test this thing out. If this works, it may be my best Birthday present I have ever bought for my self! More soo!!!

Less


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## txbonds (Mar 10, 2008)

less said:


> OMG - It finally arrived in the US today - so probably by Thursday or so I will finally get to test this thing out. If this works, it may be my best Birthday present I have ever bought for my self! More soo!!!
> 
> Less


Keep us posted.


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## Ianaconi (Nov 11, 2006)

Any news?


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## less (Nov 30, 2006)

Ok - great news - it arrived last night and I was able to actually test it through my DRZ9255 this morning... works like a champ. 

I am VERY briefly into the testing - so I can't give much detail except to say that I have gotten musical output through my Clarions d/a processor and it sounds phenominal! Keep in mind that I've only put music into subfolders and hit shuffle so far - and I don't know if it will handle playlists for music at all - in fact is says it won't, but I think it may have been upgraded. There are many things that have been upgraded on this that are not accounted for on their documentation or their support software (Abigs Manager). For example, the Abigs manager software won't transfer WAV files to the unit as it doesn't recognize that the unit will play them... but if you just drag and drop them in the music folers, they play fine. Trust me on this - I don't use mp3's unless I have no other option!

While playlists would be great, I'm happy enough to fill up several folders and treat them like playlists and using shuffle. It also displays fine on a 7" monitor - which I was a bit worried about. Its clear as a bell and totally legible, but will only show maybe 6 or 7 songs on a screen. There is some sort of search funtion, but I haven't tried it yet. It seems to store all files by alpha of the file name within the folder, but that may be something you can tweak too. So far, finding an individual song on this doesn't seem too easy to do, but again, I haven't had the chance to mess with it much. I am just VERY happy to have my Clarion processing a folders full of SQ music however I decide to group it - and to play them back randomly. 

What I am trying to say is that if you buy this - do your own research to make sure it will fit your needs... I don't want to mislead anyone and have them disappointed. The manual for the product is on the website linked below. Read it! For instance, the unit will play high def video up to 720i and plays many video formats, but I don't know details... So, I'm in no way responsible if you purchase things that don't work for you - I'll just share what works for me! 

*What you need to make this work are the following:*

*1 -Clarion DRZ9255 head unit*

*1- Clarion CD Changer* Cnet type iirc

*1 - Clarion Optical cable* (can't remember model # right now - but if you need it - search for it - i posted it once a while ago since the sucker was hard to find)

*1- 2.5 laptop hard drive* of your choice of Size (there are comments on the web site for the main product that show that western digital and toshiba(?) hard discs may require using a lower level of firmware so I bought a different brand} - SATA 1 or 2 and formatted to NTFS 

*1- Sarotech DVP260s media player*/hard disc drive enclosure - 









http://www.sarotech.com/english/product/dvp-260s.html
This is the only unit of its kind that I have found to meet all of my needs... so while there are a lot of this type of product out there, be VERY careful in making your selection... things like fat32 formatting and many other little details can turn what looks like a good idea into a real mess. Also, you wouldn't believe all the little extra's it comes with... all the cabling you need, a carry case, a little stand, an FM broadcast antenna if you want to use that (ugh), an extension for the infra red remote (might be in car kit only), and about anything you can think of is packaged with the thing! I bought this from this person who has sold a number of them on eBay - mostly to travellers looking to carry movies around the world... he won't know a thing about the digital outputs or most any questions about audio issues, but he is VERY friendly and worked very well with me. R (dot) Kassas (at) hotmail (dot) com - his name is Robert and he is always travelling but has a stock of these with his family somewhere in the us.

*1- Car kit for above* (also available for about $25.0 from Robert) this includes a three port lighter extension, a car power supply and a couple other very nice additions which make the unit totally portable as long as a 12v power source is nearby.

*1- standard toslink cable* whatever length you will want to reach the switch that comes in later

Now the oddball items:

*1- Toslink adapter* -








http://www.cablewholesale.com/specs/30f2-73300.htm
this item fits inside the Sarotech unit and converts a standard 3.5mm miniplug hole into a standard toslink female end - fits nicely in the unit and looks great... surprised it isn't included. I bought the right angle version so the cables don't stick out and can be kept in nice order. Picked them up cheap at CableWholesale.com - the right angle one was one of the two model #'s below and I suggest buying more than one just becuase eventually one will break or get lost.

*1 - Toslink switch *







- inexpensive on eBay - i was only able to find one that looked better but it cost about $85and this one was about $ 12 shipped. Sadly - its purple... so I painted mine with plastic paint. It works so I won't question it.... too much... sounds fine with no break up or distortion. http://cgi.ebay.com/Toslink-3-to-1-Optical-Audio-Switch-Bi-Directional_W0QQitemZ320259139227QQihZ011QQcategoryZ14965QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

*2+ Toslink plugs:* 







You use these at the point where you splice your expensive Clarion optical cable. The kit I bought from these folks included a couple (4?) of the toslink jacks, a patch of some type of cable smoothing material and instructions - and the price was right: http://www.lifatec.com/Lifusa_connectors.htm

Once you get all the goodies, the connection itself is pretty simple. You start by figuring out how long you want your clarion cable to be on each end so that you have enough sticking out of the dash and enough sticking out from whereever you ran the other end from. I'd plan where you want the switch to be, and start from there. Once you get that figured out, then follow the instructions - cut the optical cable with a razorblade and polish the ends. Install the two male toslink ends and insert the end going to the headunit to the single opening side of the switch. Put the other toslink connector as well as the connector from your Abigs media player output into the other end of the switch. 

Then continue the installation of the Abigs cabling for your monitor and its power. NEaten it all up as needed.

To test to be sure the unit is working, first set up the abigs to play through its standard audio cables. If that is working, remove the red and white connections but leave the video hooked up, then enter the menu screen on the abigs and go to set up... change the audio setup to digital 5.1. STart playing music as you did before. Now, with the optical switch set to the cd changers output, make your Clarion head unit do a system check (with power off, hit 1 - then 6 - then function and hold all) Hit function again to test. This will tell the system to look for a digital input signal. Play music through the CD changer setting, then flop the optical switch over to the Abigs... presto... its playing!

You'lle probably find that every time the changer goes to change a track, there will be a gap in the output of the media player. This can be cured by making one 0bit CD and putting it on repeat in the player. I just created a 79:55 song of complete silence and dropped it in my changer set to repeat. Naturally, you can still listen to the other discs in your changer if you have a reason to do it.

Thats all I can tell right now. Again, if you are interested in doing this, PLEASE READ THE MANUAL and read up on the unit before taking the plunge. I was pretty pleased to be able to evade Clarions proprietary connection garbage and make this happen and from my tests, it sounds amazing.... easily as good as CD performance but I suspect I'll see less skipping and I know I'll have a big portion of my musical library on the road with me. For now, I think I will stick with the ipod for videos just to make things easy... but I may eventually do away with the ipod connection all together.

Thanks for sticking with me through this ongoing saga - I hope you find the resultls worthwile. I'll update things - particularly on the playlists - as soon as I get the chance.

Less


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## less (Nov 30, 2006)

Nice.... playlists work fine for audio - so I assume for video too. Just throw all the music you want in one folder if you want to, then start up winamp and create the lists you want and off you go!

When you start the system up it is ready to go - no needing to mess with settings or anything, although it takes maybe a minute for the Abigs unit to start projection on the screen. Plus, apparently you can manage the whole thing without using a monitor if you want/need to. Not sure of the details and for me, I prefer seeing what is happening as well.

Don't count on using album art though - since the unit requires an image with the same name (less the file extenstion) in order to match the song playing. On the bright side though, you can create any 720x48 image you want for the background and it will still put text over it in white saying operational information: pause, playlist data, etc. The stock background is sort of gay, but I suppose it had to be and thats about the least important thing going as long as you can change it =)

Anyhow, this thing just gets better and better! You can stash it somewhere no one can see it and control it entirely by the remote - through the extended IR remote cable included, or if you are like me, you will mount it somewhere near your console and run the wires unobtrusively down the edge until you get something custom built for it. Its pretty attractive and also, you can control about 75% of everything you want with the buttons right on the unit itself. If you are leaving the car for a while, toss it in the carry bag or lock it in the glove compartment or something.

The person I bought mine from has had his for over a year and its working fine still - so this seems like it might be my personal dream come true! No more CD's! I'll get to hear all those songs that I missed because they just got off my mind from not listening to them lately and new music will stay newer feeling longer! Did I mention that I'll get rid of the hundred plus CD's I've been carrying around and still get digital perfection performance?

Weeeeee!

Less


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## Ianaconi (Nov 11, 2006)

Thank you SO MUCH for this!


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## Weightless (May 5, 2005)

Congrats on the find. I know you have been looking to do this for some time now. 

Is there a limit on the HD size?


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## snaimpally (Mar 5, 2008)

Very nicely done. Playing .wav files is sonically no different from playing CDs. I wish someone would make a player that plays FLAC files. Lossless audio saves space and the FLAC codec is free so I don't know why more manufacturers don't support it.


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## less (Nov 30, 2006)

No limit on hard drive space... aside from the max being manufactured at the moment ((320gb?) for the 2.5 drives. Its nice that this unit also does sata 1/2 and is compatible with ntfs instead of just fat formatting.

I've been listening more today and I honestly think the soundquality through this system is improved as compared to my CD collection! Its really very good sounding with a nice stage and image that seems to stand out even more. It also seems to have more of that digital transparency that is sort of ellusive to describe.

Yes, I've been considering this for a long time and actually had this same unit picked out at one point... but at the time it didn't allow sata drives or ntfs formatting iirc. Its awfully good feeling to complete this and have it work so well. Plus, its not very difficult to stash somewhere in easy reach in the car... and the remote doesn't have to be pointed right at the thing to work. 

I will have to modify a couple 12v cigarette lighter plugs to be "always on" instead of controlled by the accessory switch on the ignition though. The unit shuts off everytime you shut the car down and - while it doesn't take too long to start up - it loses its place when playing music files. If I go with an always on format, I can hit pause and leave it on... not drawing much... when I am just getting out of the car for a moment or something. You can bookmark movies and it will also remember where you stopped if watching a movie and you shut it down manually instead of a power off... so thats nice.

By the way - some one asked if you needed the changer - and the answer is yes. The media player plays through the optical input for the changer, and the headunit won't select a changer unless one is plugged into the Cnet cable connection on its back. Honestly, I think mine is going to be set and forget since I don't see any need to use the changer again... so its on repeat with the 80minute 0bit disc.

Anyhow, good luck to anyone who decides to go this route. With this, you should have everything you need. There may be some reason to read the thread on the DRZ9255 thats hosted in the technical pages on Elite Car Audio.com. I got some of my ideas from that and although there are 15+ pages of information now, there is some good info there.

Less


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## Ianaconi (Nov 11, 2006)

Awesome mate! Thanks for all this amazing information.

So in the changer, basically you just use for the 0bit disc. You can still play CDs normally through the DRZ right?

Do you think it would be too hard to use it without a screen? 

Also which cable are you using? The DCA001 or DCA005 will work fine with DCZ625 right? I saw on the other post that you bought the DCA006 from PACPARTS.

Thanks mate!


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## Ianaconi (Nov 11, 2006)

The following e-mail is not working btw:

[email protected]

That TOSLINK cable sounds good? http://www.cablewholesale.com/specs/10tt-mg25.htm

Do you recommend another one?


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## t3sn4f2 (Jan 3, 2007)

CarPC FTW!


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## less (Nov 30, 2006)

Ianaconi said:


> The following e-mail is not working btw:
> 
> [email protected]
> 
> ...


My bad- [email protected]

Cable looks fine to me...

Less


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## Ianaconi (Nov 11, 2006)

Awesome! Thx a lot! Do you mind telling me how much the Sarotech unit costs?


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## sonicnirvana (Jan 6, 2008)

Super work Less. I am getting close to getting the DRZ and one thing that put me off a little was getting gobs of HQ source for it. You seem to have found the solution! And optical no Less (sorry for the pun).

Since I do not have my DRZ yet, could you kindly provide a brief summary of all the components AND estimated costs to perform this mode. I know much of the info is in previous posts, but it would be helpful to have a summary.

Again...well done!


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## Ianaconi (Nov 11, 2006)

I hope it helps... I put the prices I found so far:

Clarion DCZ625 - $119
Clarion DCA006 Optical Cable (5m) - $90

2.5 Laptop Hard Drive
Sarotech DVP260s Media Player / Hard Disc Enclosure - $160 (http://www.sarotech.com/english/product/dvp-260s.html)
Car Kit - $25

High Quality Tosklink Cable 5mm 25ft - $22.12
Digital Optical Toslink Female / 3.5mm Mini Male Adaptor (2) - $2.60 (http://www.cablewholesale.com/specs/30f2-73300.htm)
Toslink 3 to 1 Optical Audio Switch - $8 (http://cgi.ebay.com/Toslink-3-to-1-...ryZ14965QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem)
Toslink Connectors (4) - $6 (http://www.lifatec.com/Lifusa_connectors.htm)


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## less (Nov 30, 2006)

It looks like someone has done their home work. The prices listed look pretty good overall to me. I go ahead and add that most of my system was purchased using the best price I could get method... meaning eBay'd McIntosh amps that were not in the prettiest condition, and both my headunit and changer coming refurbed from hooked on tronics.com I've recently read horror stories from some, but everything I've gotten from hooked worked wonderfully and looked like brand new... never a problem!

If you go that way, you can get the DRZ9255 for $600 delivered and the changer forabout $80ish. I used newegg to buy thehard disc drive paid about $125 for a 250gb brand name hdd. The other prices seem to have comefrom thesame people I bought from. Make sureto get the little optical right angle adapter (or a straight version),or you won't be able to hook the toslink cable you bought up to the Sarotech Abigs unit.

I will note that yesterday the thing seemed to cut out a little bit and I think it might have been heat related - but I am not sure. Of course, I didn't get the cables all officially put in place and the Abigs unit "mounted" until after I had the troubles...so I can't say if it will be ongoing or not... but more time will tell how it works out and if it requires something special in the mounting to avoid light and heat. It was very hot in Texas yesterday and the unit was sitting in the sun...so who knows. 

The addition of the remote IR cable and use of the remote controlpower button allows you to totallymount this thing out of sight. OVerall, despite having a lot of buttons, the ones you want to use a lot seem to bepositioned pretty easy so using the remote isn't very difficult at all while driving. You can actualy shut your monitor off at any time once you get it started and playing in a play list or folder you like...then just turn it back on if you want to change something too.

Ultimately,the moreI play with this, the more I think I may set aside some space for movies on this too -and maybe just do away with my ipod... except for usewhen walking the dog or othertimes when I won't have power handy. I have almost a terrabyte of music in mostly wav format now-but honestly,I don't listen to all of it regularly...I go in stages so a couple hundred gigabytes isplenty of space... its amazing how much you can store in that space if you eliminate the songs on each album/disc that you won't ever listen too!

Anyhow, for right about $1000 you can buy a top qualityhead unit, changer and 250gb mediaplayer- all brandnew. I bought my Sarotech uniton an eBay auction for $132 plus an extra 20ish for the car kit. The price on cool drives. com ismorethanthat - and I STRONGLY RECOMMEND NOT USING THEM - or if you do,please read their conditions in depth... and look forreviews on their service! This Robert guy I bought mine from was very good to work with and I trust much more in a pinch than I trust cooldrives or their counterparts... i mean anyplace that won't answer your questions and then tells you - "nevermind, we don't want to sell to you." doesn't deserve any business in my book. WhileRobert isjust a guy andnot a business... I think he will do whatever to make things right if thereis a problem...and he has sold alot of them withno troubles so far!

Good luck and enjoy if you go this way... but please do your own research first!
Less


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## Ianaconi (Nov 11, 2006)

Awesome less!

Can't thank you enough!


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## Ianaconi (Nov 11, 2006)

I talked to Robert and he wants $160 for the unit + $25 for the car kit. 

I will see if I can get it for $150 (unit+car kit) hehe.


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## sonicnirvana (Jan 6, 2008)

Many thanks Diogo!!!!



Ianaconi said:


> I hope it helps... I put the prices I found so far:
> 
> Clarion DCZ625 - $119
> Clarion DCA006 Optical Cable (5m) - $90
> ...


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## Ianaconi (Nov 11, 2006)

My pleasure sir!


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## Ianaconi (Nov 11, 2006)

Any news? Is everything working well?


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## less (Nov 30, 2006)

I've not been able to do much more in the last little while as I am reorganizing my music in the unit and having to set up play lists. It takes a while =)

i initially didn't think playlists would work with music files - since that is what it said in the manual... so with that in mind, I put my files into groups that I would normally group into similar playlists.... blues, chill music, strict sq, rock, move music, jazz and such. 
Now that I know playlists work and that larger groups of music in single folders might slow the unit down, I've decided to reorganize everything! Now, I am putting it in by artists - with a folder for each artists much like how I keep my files on my computer - but you can only go one level down and still have music play... so you can go mymusicfolder level1/ then myartistfolder level 2... and no lower. So, anything you like from each artist gets clumped together... so you can't keep each disc by an artist seperate from the other discs without making a folder that starts with the artists name and end with the disc name - which to me is too much hassle. 

However, you can always toss a playlist into each folder for each disc by the artist if you made them when you ripped the music... if listening to complete discs is "your thing." Storing by artist name also makes it a LOT easier to find specific songs if you are in the mood to listen to something specific.

So, lol, with 250gb that needs to be stripped out of a terrabyte library and split into folders... then each seperate song I want has to be pulled from its original subfolder in my library (as in my computer I go artists/disc name/disc number), then a playlists needs to be made to incorporate each of the various styles and types I might be in the mood for on any occassion... this is going to be a looooong process. Last night I was able to get through the B's in the sorting of artists... and will continue for the rest of the week probably before I get the whole thing split.

In the long run, its going to be terrific though... and I am looking forward to it. I did notice my first a/b comparison where I suspect that the CD would have won the sound quality test last night too - it was a very hard rock oriented disc by one of my odd favorites - the guitarist Buckethead. If you know me - you'd never think of me as a buckethead kind of guy - but I love the electric guitar and this guy is really a master... even if its a lot harder than my norm. I've many many of his discs and enjoy his entire range from softer stuff with Travis Dickerson to his harder tour recordings. Anyhow, a cong called Scapula from his Monsters and Robots disc sounded a bit less tight and focused from my impressions the last time I listened to the disc. 

I worry a lot about overstating this things abilty... please keep in mind that I've been working on putting something together like this for over a year now and its been a very up and down road. The feeling that I might have found a solution may have me so excited that I'm not ableto be unbiased in judging the merits of the thing as far as true SQ compared to a cd - at least initially. I wish everyone interested could literally hear one hooked to their system before they took another step - so it wasn't just my word here at first. Like I said... I'll try getting with someone on the boards to do a listening test before too long... and get an outsiders input.

Anyhow, don't expect to hear much more from me on this for a little while during reorganization time.

To those boldly going where no audiophile has gone before.. or not too many anyhow, good luck.

Less


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## javiertoti (Jan 16, 2007)

Hi guys. First of all i want to congratulate Less for his work. Please, can you explain this part more? I'm not sure how to cut correctly the DCA006 cable and... polish the ends with...how??? 

Can you put any pics of this technique or teach me a little?




less said:


> *2+ Toslink plugs:*
> 
> 
> 
> ...




A second question. I think the connection is like that. Right?


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## less (Nov 30, 2006)

javiertoti said:


> Hi guys. First of all i want to congratulate Less for his work. Please, can you explain this part more? I'm not sure how to cut correctly the DCA006 cable and... polish the ends with...how???
> 
> Can you put any pics of this technique or teach me a little?
> 
> ...



Hmm,

Well I'd love to expand on this more, but its really quite easy and the instructions for the cutting and polishing and installation of the new toslink adapters is included with the toslink jacks when you buy them - as long as you buy them from the same place I did. I'd suggest if you are still concerned once you get that part, you could call their tech line and speak to someone with real experience, since I have only made one cut one time. 

It was quite easy though, you just take a fresh razor blade and strip back the black insulation by gently cutting it and pulling it off - I believe they recommend 3/8ths of an inch. From there, there is a little patch of something included that you can use to smooth off the ends of your splice with the razorblade... sorry but I don't know what it is. Its hard to tell that it is a polishing piece though, since there is very little roughness to it... be careful when you open the package and you'll see it easily enough though.

From there, you just slip the toslink adapter over the spliced end and snap it together - Viola!

As far as the cable ends go, you will want to hook up the unit and make sure it is playing prior to doing anything else. That'd be crucial! Get the changer going well and you know the ends are connected right. It'll be easy to tell which one goes on which end since the jacks are quite different and won't fit in the wrong end. I'm sorry but I just can't remember what color was what anymore... the end at my headunit was never even exposed when I did this as it was fully connected.

Other than that - your diagram has it right. Here is something that will help you out though. In order to get the headunit to sense that there is a digital input signal to look for, it has to do a system check to notice it. If your changer is connected and is definintely playing through the optical cable, you may not need to mess with it... but I know I had to fool around a bit to get it to pick mine up the first time. There is a simply way to have the unit do a system check: with the unit off, hit the one button on the right keypad, then hit the six button, then hit function and turn the unit on... there is some trick to the order and i think that is it... but expirement a bit and you will get it right. 

DO NOT DO A SYSYEM RESET or you will lose all your stored settings and it returns to default setup!!!

To tell the truth, if I remember correctly, the little digital unit had a better output signal than the changer did, so instead of having the switch set to monitor the changer, i set the switch to monitor the media player - then hit the system check combination of buttons... and it picked it right up and started playing it. I actually tested it using my home CD player well before spending the money on the media player - i didn't have the $$$ to throw away if it didn't work lol.

So, what I am saying is that you do have to have your unit turned to the changer selection as its function and have discs in the changer ready to go - that will activate the head unit monitoring by communication through the CENet cable. It just doesn't matter which digital signal it is monitoring when you do your test.... if there is a signal present (the media player must be playing something), the head unit will see that you now have a digital input and will set the system to monitor the digital input when in the cd changer mode. 

The first time I tested it, I noticed that whenever the changer changed discs/tracks, the sound would cut out from the other input while it found the next song. That is why I made a 79:50 second bit (silent) track, inserted that disc in the disc one slot of the changer and have the headunit set to repeat that song indefinitely. I'm not 100% sure this is necessary, but it was easy and it works. If you don't have the software to make a disc like the one above, let me know and I can make/ship you one. I'd suggest making a copy or two though once you get it just in case. Its and 826,024 kb file so if there is some other way to get it to you... just let me know. Maybe I could FTP it or something?

Ok, hope that helps! 

The system is working good so far. One little thing I noticed is that if you go looking around on the menu to find another folder of music or playlist or something, it sometimes cuts out on the sound for a second or two... but nothing too dramatic. 

I honestly wish I could get some confirmation from a real golden ear professional on how this thing sounds so people were not going just on my word... but if you do so, do it at your own risk and make sure you can return anything just in case it doesn't work for you like it does for me =)

Enjoy!
Less


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## javiertoti (Jan 16, 2007)

I haven't words. I am very very grateful to you, it's a long and detailed answer done with a lot of dedication, a thousand thanks. Sorry about my poor english.

Now i know a little bit about the Tlink cutting process  

Lucky i have a megaupload premium account, if you pass me this 0 bit file (ftp, Mirc, Soulseek, msn...) i can upload the iso for all who wants it. I think it's a good idea 

I won't do the experiment until august because all the components of my system are still in the closet (new car). But i am very happy thinking that now i can (for example) connect my XBOX1 with their 250gb drive to the Drz9255.


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## Zakerid (Apr 30, 2007)

i think this bad boy has an optical output...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16882994006
http://www.mvixusa.com/product.php?product=mv2500u&page=photos


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## javiertoti (Jan 16, 2007)

Zakerid said:


> i think this bad boy has an optical output...
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16882994006
> http://www.mvixusa.com/product.php?product=mv2500u&page=photos


Yes it has. Reads OGG,AC3,MP2,MP3, MPGA, MPA,WMA but... WAV isn't confirmated lol.

Supports m3u playlists... only?

Fat32 or NTFS... nice.


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## less (Nov 30, 2006)

Hahaha!

New Egg was one of my favorite search sites while I was searchingfor the perfect media player system - and that one must be quite new. I'd really caution that until the reviews come out on it - let someone else be the guinea pig. Some of the reviews I have read on other products made it clear to me that there are a lot of very bad products out there that do not have the bugs out of them upon initial release... and others never seem to update their firmware once released etc.

(edit note: I just looked at the remote on this thing and the Random button is spelled RANDOAM - rofl. Why can't these Asian companies that produce such neat little products take a money and invest in a native English speaker to review their print for the US/AUS/GB markets? It's just not that hard! The unit is set up nicely though and honestly, I think it is very possible that this is made by Sarotech and sold to this company to market in the US. If so, it might be a more updated version since it does seem to support the H264/Ipod style compression movies that I don't believe the model I have will play. All of these are based off a single line of chipsets and almost all of the ones out now use an older chipset while a newer one is available... although perhaps it is more untested) 

That is a very nice looking outfit though and at a good price. It is logical that others would see the benefit of creating a nice version of this product and that new offerings from other companies would be available as more time passes. I'm going to take a good look at this bugger and see how it looks though - just for giggles.

As I learn more about the sarotech model I picked up, I am more and more fond of it. It is just soooo easy to access anything in my collection. I honestly see myself burying the entire system somewhere in the car when I get it filled and playlists made - then using the remote extension so that all you see if a little triangle infra red pick up. Its just really easy to use that way and I've found that I'm less likely to use the buttons on the case than I thought I'd be. 

OH, I do want to point out something that is a bit of a drawback - the file names are limited to a certain number of characters and the unit splits longer names using the first 8ish characters - followed by a "~" - followed by the last 8ish chars... including the file extension. I've so much music and no specific format for each file name... so I'm literally going to go through all my files and eliminate track numbers and situations where the artist name comes before the track name to make finding song names easier. Its going to take a good bit. Sure wish there was a software program that could figure out what i was looking for and change each file name for me automatically!

I took my son on a 6 hour drive the other day (he is 28 and into music/movies as well) and I can tell he was genuinely impressed as well - and he is not the kind to show that he is impressed with anything his father does very often lol. We tried movies for the first time and the sound and image were both very impressive - and it had some handy controls as well like a skip button that skiped back a fixed period of time allowing you to easily catch anything you might have missed when some dork had the nerve to change into your lane causing you to HAVE to look up from the screen for a few moments =)

Anyhow, interesting find.... expect to see a lot more, but buy any of these at yor own risk. I've had a fair bit of feedback on the sarotech - albiet from the guy who sold it to me. On the other hand, this guy is coming into my town soon and we are going to get together and do lunch. Obviously, he is prettty comfortable with what he is selling... he's been using his own for a year now and its still working well - plus he has been selling them for some time as well and has sold over 50... Now that I've already paid him - I'll pry him for a bit more info on their durability!

By the way, you are welcome for the information here. I'm happy to be able to have shared it and am pretty glad that its worked out so well.


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## javiertoti (Jan 16, 2007)

less said:


> Sure wish there was a software program that could figure out what i was looking for and change each file name for me automatically!



Flexible renamer
http://hp.vector.co.jp/authors/VA014830/english/FlexRena/

Rename master 
http://www.joejoesoft.com/cms/showpage.php?cid=108


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## Ianaconi (Nov 11, 2006)

Any more news?


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## Asentaja (Jul 20, 2008)

less, I´ve recently aquired this hdd player for an upcoming install, and I´m curious to know, since you don´t mention it, if you´ve somehow solved that annoying pause&click between tracks issue when listening to wavs? 

Secondly, where the heck am I suppose to put the background image? Seems that anywhere I put it, the only way I can view it is by viewing it in a folder.


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## less (Nov 30, 2006)

Hello again,

I don't always have that click and hadn't isolated it to simply a change between two wave files. Wish I had some enlightenment to shine on this but I don't sorry. To me, its a SMALL price to pay for the convenience!

AS far as the image file, you simply name it background.jpg and add it to the folder entitiled MY MUSIC that you must make to store your music files at... you might also try putting it in the root folder, but I am pretty sure placing it in the my music one will solve your issues. 

Have you noticed that if you have the screen in the MENU mode and hit the track up or down, instead of scrolling from one folder to the next, it moves you one full page down? Took me a while to discover that and it is SHEER BLISS. Also took a while to figure out that when a video is playing, hitting the arrow keys to the left and right is the way to get it to simply fast forward or rewind... doh! Hitting it more than once changes the speed.

Overall, I am more impressed than I had expected to me and my only real trouble is that it gets soooo hot! I've finally locked in a place for it and will ultimately try building a slide in fiberglass mold with all of the input connections actually glued into place so you can just turn off the power and then slip the unit out... put it in your pocket and go!

For the past while and the coming while, I will be moving and finishing the Kick panels (including a pair of Scan 12ms I just bought) that I started before I knew I had a new job lol. Its my first glass job and it intimidated me something fierce - until I started. Thankfully, I'm getting some email advice from an expert who has really thrown me some valuable information on how to make these things right - a nice way to suspend and aim the drivers perfectly, the simple way to get superior sound from a cone driver even in a small kick - etc.

*How about some reviews from someone besides me? Several of you have done this now! Care to tell others how much you like/hate it?*

Less


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## less (Nov 30, 2006)

javiertoti said:


> Flexible renamer
> http://hp.vector.co.jp/authors/VA014830/english/FlexRena/
> 
> Rename master
> http://www.joejoesoft.com/cms/showpage.php?cid=108


No chance to try these yet, but you may be my hero Javertoti! TYVM!


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## Asentaja (Jul 20, 2008)

Less, thanks for the advice. It seems you actually have to name the music folder my music. Did that and the background picture works. Also, a nice find that menu thing, wouldn´t have thought of it myself. Boy, that manual is really in the need of rewriting.

I also noted that the unit gets very hot. I´m even thinking of attaching it to a piece of reasonably thick aluminium or something.

Overall I have mixed feelings about this device, it does what it´s asked and has some clever functions, but on the other hand it has silly omissions like for example no support for album art. One other thing I also really miss is support for cue sheets, especially on live albums that pause between tracks annoys me. Oh well, one can only hope that these things get attended to in future firmware upgrades.


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## less (Nov 30, 2006)

Ok, well here is a quick update on some things I've done recently to make this product a little more useful and user-friendly. I'm sure interested in knowing how many other people are using them now and what kind of a rating they would give them in various areas of interest. It seems I find new features all the time - like did you know that when searching through the my music folder - you can hit the >> key and it will move you down one full page of names instead of a single folder name? 

There are still a lot of buttons - mostly movie related, but some are vaguely named and could be helpful in audio modes too - that I have no clue about! I know some of you out there have some input on these! I honestly am quite surprised that more people aren't talking about digital media players here - but maybe it is because this appears like a DRZ9255 thread only...

Here are a couple things that I have done to make my unit more user friendly in the last few months:

1. I had to pull the whole section of my dash that holds my head unit etc. out the other day, and after I put it back together, my system no longer worked for playing through the media player. It turns out that I had inadvertently curled the cable much too tightly behind the head unit and it wasn't getting enough signal to work well. Anyhow, being the bold and adventurous dork that I am, I actually decided to replace the (crappy) clarion cable with a monster-cable fiber-optic cable that I had laying around. This involved breaking apart the clarion proprietary end very carefully and then some creative work "wallowing" it out enough to get a new cable correctly installed. I really wouldn't have done this if I could have avoided it - but the end result is a FAR superior cable that has a much better jacket and strain relief system. Do this at your own risk - but be warned that it wouldn't be too hard to break the proprietary section and thereby cost yourself some good bucks buying a new cable!

2. I got installed a constant hot line to the three way power splitter that came with the unit and installed a lighted switch in my console just behind the switch. This allows me to leave the unit on if I just need to jump out of the car for a minute to go into a store or something... no more losing your place or having to boot the thing from scratch. The lighted switch reminds me to shut the unit off when I am done for the day. I rate this enhancement as very helpful and quite easy to do!

3. Lastly, this one costs you the use of your changer, but save you the cost of the switch. The system works fine (probably better) by just going straight out of the Sarotech unit into the back end of the DRZ9255 and totally skipping the switch part, You still have to have the CE net cable hooked up and all, but this way you suffer less signal loss and have less extraneous equipment laying around on the side.

As for the persons comment above about some of the features not being there, it needs to be noted that the real purpose this was manufactured for was not car audio - or even just digital audio... its made for movie buffs who want to tote around a bundle of movies with digital sound in a small container. At least, judging by the menu layouts and some of the other limitations it has, thats what it appears that the manufacturer had in mind.

I still dealy love mine and would consider it one of the high points of my entire system. I believe I have about 20 movies on it now and several thousand lossless recordings being output in a digital format and then converted by one of the better d/a converters in car audio... its all available at the touch of a button and allows for unlimited playlists allowing you a lot of flexibility. It is also high def 720 - but the new DVP260X is actually a 1080i machine with a high def signal cable port!

Thanks for the quick response on the power converter... and remember to label it while you have it out so this never happens to you!

Less


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## Asentaja (Jul 20, 2008)

less said:


> 2. I got installed a constant hot line to the three way power splitter that came with the unit and installed a lighted switch in my console just behind the switch. This allows me to leave the unit on if I just need to jump out of the car for a minute to go into a store or something... no more losing your place or having to boot the thing from scratch. The lighted switch reminds me to shut the unit off when I am done for the day. I rate this enhancement as very helpful and quite easy to do!


That´s a thing that I also dislike about this unit, it really should have a position memory. I´m using a timer relay in the install I´m doing.



less said:


> As for the persons comment above about some of the features not being there, it needs to be noted that the real purpose this was manufactured for was not car audio - or even just digital audio... its made for movie buffs who want to tote around a bundle of movies with digital sound in a small container. At least, judging by the menu layouts and some of the other limitations it has, thats what it appears that the manufacturer had in mind.


Maybe, but that doesn´t stop them from mentioning the word car four times on the main page of the dvp-260s


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## Tone (Aug 16, 2008)

less said:


> 3. Lastly, this one costs you the use of your changer, but save you the cost of the switch. The system works fine (probably better) by just going straight out of the Sarotech unit into the back end of the DRZ9255 and totally skipping the switch part, You still have to have the CE net cable hooked up and all, but this way you suffer less signal loss and have less extraneous equipment laying around on the side.


How do you connect it? I see the CeNet and Optical out on my DCZ625 but nowhere else to plug in the Sarotech.


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## less (Nov 30, 2006)

Surely I am not the only one who is using one of these and has done something interesting to yield better results! Come on folks... post up!

Asentja, could you share your circuit for the relay you are using? It might be something great for me as well! Thanks in advance... you can also pm me at [email protected]



Asentaja said:


> Maybe, but that doesn´t stop them from mentioning the word car four times on the main page of the dvp-260s


Sorry - I didn't mean that this wasn't made for the car - it really ws and that is why they sell a car kit. I meant it wasn't specifically for audio - but more for video. If you try the video and shut it off mid movie - I believe it has a position memory.

I agree that it should have position memory, but I found a work around and so did you... given all the positives, I think that is hardly a deal stopper and I'd buy the unit again and again given what it does. Nothing is perfect though and you will always be able to find things to ***** about.

TONE: Please refer to the very first posts on this thread where I describe the installation process completely! This is a somewhat innovative way of fooling the head unit into thinking that it is playing the optical output from the changer, while instead, it is really playing the output of the media player. This is not something explained in the manual and would probably not be recommended by the manufacturer, although I've had no trouble whatsoever with my installation and aside from a crimped optical cable, it has worked and sounds wonderful!

The media player unit does not plug into the changer. You have to splice an optical cable that is designed to connect between a clarion changer and head unit and is quite expensive. In my case, I now connect an optical cable directly from the media player to the input on my drz9255 - but if you want to be able to use your changer still, you can also instal a splitter/switch for a few more bucks... in doing so, I think you potentially run the risk of signal degradation that MAY be troublesome to you. 

As I mentioned here, I exchanged the cheapo Clarion cable with a better insulated cable BUT in doing so, I had to also tear apart the head unit side connection from the Clarion cable. I'd call this a somewhat risky proposition since busting it could cost you another $100 or so for another cable... do so at your own risk.


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## less (Nov 30, 2006)

Recieved an email from someone today who had some questions others might have - so I am copying it here for convenience:

Less,

I read your posts and really appreciate all your comments - could you please take a look at a couple of questions I have?

My post includes:

Just purchased a DRZ and DCZ625 changer. The question is if I run the CeNet cable and the optical cable from the DRZ to the changer which cable will the DRZ take the music signal from?

ANYTIME YOU HOOK UP A NEW ITEM TO THE CENET, THE HEAD UNIT DOES WHAT THEY CALL A SYSTEM CHECK, AT THAT POINT THE HEAD UNIT WILL MONITOR THE OPTICAL DIGITAL INPUT FOR A SIGNAL, IF IT SENSES A SIGNAL FROM THE OPTICAL INPUT AT THAT TIME, THE HEAD UNIT WILL CONTINUE TO MONITOR THE DIGITAL INPUT INSTEAD OF THE CENET INPUT FOR SOUND ONLY. REMEMBER TO HAVE YOUR MEDIA PLAYER PLAYING A TRACK SO A SIGNAL WILL BE PRESENT FOR THE UNIT TO DETECT

ALL CONTROLS WILL STILL BE HANDLED BY THE CENET CABLE, BUT IF YOU HAVE A MEDIA PLAYER INPUT INSTEAD, YOU WILL ONLY HEAR THE MEDIA PLAYER. I USE A 79:55 SINGLE SILENT CD TRACK IN SLOT ONE OF MY CHANGER WITH THE CONTROLS SET TO REPEAT TRACK SO THE CHANGER NEVER CHANGES TRACKS OR ANYTHING WHILE THE MEDIA PLAYER IS PLAYIN, BUT I HONESTLY DON'T KNOW IF IT IS NEEDED.

Also, if I don't set the DRZ to optical output, does it act as an optical input by default? The owners manual says little about this.

IF YOU NEED THE HEAD UNIT TO RESET FOR SOME REASON AND RE-SENSE THE OPTICAL INPUT, YOU SIMPLY DO THIS: SHUT THE UNIT OFF - DEPRESS THE 1 AND 6 KEYS ON THE RIGHT SIDE CONTROLS, THEN HIT THE POWER ON (FUNCTION) KEY, IT WILL AUTOMATICALLY DO A SYSTEM CHECK AND DETECT THE SIGNAL COMING IN FROM THE MEDIA PLAYER AS LONGAS YOU HAVE IT ON AN PLAYING SOMETHING.

And, can anyone direct me to or sell me a 5M optical cable for this unit?

I BOUGHT MINE FROM SOME PLACE CALLED PARTS.COM OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT - IT HAD PARTS IN THE NAME AND WAS FAIRLY SHORT - I JUST SEARCHED THE NET FOR IT, BUT IF YOU SEARCH ON DIYMA FOR THE CABLE NAME YOU WILL FIND WHERE I ORIGINALLY POSTED ALL OF THAT INFORMATION. YOU MIGHT TRY SEARCHING ELITE CAR AUDIO.COM TOO SINCE I POSTED IN THE TECH SECTION THERE TOO.

BTW - Does anyone know where I can find an online a copy of the DRZ installation manual?

I'VE ATTACHED THE MANUAL FOR YOUR CONVENIENCE.​
I hope that helps someone =) But I seem to like to type on this subject a lot anyhow... especially when my health is back! Looking forward to getting my new scanspeak 12m midranges - NIB - tomorrow from UPS! Yay! Now I can finish my first custom fiberglass job and see if all those little tips my award winning audio buddy gave me really work! Man am I excited! 

Too bad I probably won't get it completed by the weekend since I am so anal haha. It will take a good bit of time laset aiming the drivers perfectly and cutting the kick panels so they match as closely as possible. Plus Honda was kind enough to put about 30 electrical wires and 3 large connection clips right where my kick panel mounts, so I get the joy of cutting and installing 30+ 1.5' extension wires to move them out of the way lol. 

Still though, the more trouble it is in the doing, the more pleasing the reward when you can finally sit back and enjoy a perfectly designed and laid out project. All my life I've wanted a top quality sound system, and with the addition of the scan mids and the option between the Hiquphon or Scan Air Circs, I think I may finally have hit the spot. Knowing me though, I will probably want to try something new not long after I get this all complete... isn't that part of the fun of it too?

Thanks for reading this blah blah blah... and add some of your own!

Less


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## less (Nov 30, 2006)

Why so little interest in this? I mean this was a serious dream come true for me and gives the best combination of great sound, convenience and reasonable cost. I honestly thought that everyone and their brother would be on this by now lol.

Oh well... still loving it here =) Actually decided to mount it well out of the way and just use the extension for the remote control in a visible location.

Less


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## CobraVin (Jul 31, 2007)

im interested and i apreciate your efforts and your posts

this is one of those things that guys are probably gonna mess around with once everything else is done in their systems, kinda like the L-R delayed rear fill

im sure others are waiting to try this out as well


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## WolfSong (Aug 16, 2008)

Good informative post!!!

I had just started thinking about some sort of mass storage device for when I upgrade my source. Not sure I'd be able to go this route but really good research dude.


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## dogstar (Jan 31, 2007)

If I could afford a DRZ, I'd be plenty interested  Alas, I can't justify dropping $1000-1800 on one, so I must stick with my W200/H701 which is already bought and paid for.


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## unpredictableacts (Aug 16, 2006)

I am sheeding alot of audio gear and revamping my set up...the DRZ will be in my fututre after a few other things are taken care of.


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## JayinMI (Oct 18, 2008)

It sounds to me that what you really need is one of the electrical engineer types on here to make a unit that:

a) tricks the DRZ into *thinking* there is a changer hooked to it
b) decodes the functions sent from the radio for changer navigation 
like FF, RW, Play, Pause, etc...
c) outputs an IR signal compatible with the HDD unit.

That would be kick ass. 
I find this stuff interesting, but I'm not a fan of Clarion head units (and haven't been since I had my 9170/9270's and CDC605 changers -- I went through 5 radios and 6 changers before I finally got a set that worked consistently. I am also not a big fan of their styling.)

Jay


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## mvw2 (Oct 2, 2005)

dogstar said:


> If I could afford a DRZ, I'd be plenty interested  Alas, I can't justify dropping $1000-1800 on one, so I must stick with my W200/H701 which is already bought and paid for.


lol, $650, Ebay all day, every day, for years.


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## less (Nov 30, 2006)

Ok, the point of this is only to let you know that you can tinker with your system and for about $400 bucks, toss all your CDs in the closet, as long as you are using some kind of system with a digital input. I'm quite certain you could fool the Alpine system the same way, add a changer on their AInet and play your media player through it instead! 

BTW, you can get the Clarion DRZ9255 from hooked on tronics for just over $600 and buy a really quite nice motorized monitor/TV tuner on eBay for $150 (which is what I did when I sold my W200 and H701). I lost some of the fancy DTS and DVD abilities that I never used, and some processing power, but I genuinely prefer NOT to have to touch my screen to make adjustments as now my screen stays spotless all the time =) This is just a personal opinion, but I prefer the sound from my system now over then by a good margin too. Oh, I do have to say that the Alpine unit played a lot of disc the Clarion didn't tolerate though, and it was a hassle to go through and do the reinstall though...

With so many owners of h/u's like Nakamichi, Clarion, Alpine and Denon/Rockford (all having digital inputs iirc) I just thought more people would enjoy the convenience of this. One thing that used to drive me nuts was having one really good track on a cd full of stuff I didn't want to listen to much... now I hit random, and eventually I hear everything I like.. or I build a playlist to suit my mood, and never have to think twice about what songs are on what disc, and did the disc get scratched etc.

I sometimes forget though, that I am single, have this as pretty much my only hobby (now that I am too old and beat up to do the national paintball circuit), am fortunate enough to have a little disposable income at times and am absolutely compulsive when it comes to quality... I wish all the "normal" people out there would teach me to mellow out haha!

Anyway, this system works - its really great sounding and convenient, and it seems durable enough as well. Anyone willing to invest the time won't be disappointed! Don't forget you don't have to have a Clarion h/u to do it either! Try it on your own system..

Less


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## jrob325 (Nov 20, 2008)

Sounds interesting. I'm not sure how it would fare with the rigors of daily driving.


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## Asentaja (Jul 20, 2008)

less said:


> I'm quite certain you could fool the Alpine system the same way, add a changer on their AInet and play your media player through it instead!
> 
> Less


Well, I had a pleasant surprise when I hooked the system together for testing. I was worried that I´d have to use kill switches etc and to have to control volume with the h701´s controller, but alas no! I don´t know if it´s a bug or if Alpine did it on purpose, but when I was tinkering and testing I selected radio on the h/u by accident, and had the 260s playing, I started to hear what the 260s was playing! And I could control the volume with the h/u. Boy was I surprised and happy, because this really saved me from a lot of hassle. And it suits well also, because the radio isn´t otherwise used in this system. So, for clarification, the system is connected like this:

h/u cda-7969 (optical&ainet)->processor 
changer cha-s624 (optical&ainet)->processor
260s (optical)->processor

PS. Less, sorry for late reply (missed that one) I´m using a GE Pulsar T relay. It has way more functions than I need, but it was the only one I could find that worked on 12Vdc. It´s actually very versatile, 8-230Vuc.


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## Ianaconi (Nov 11, 2006)

This is great Less.

I have a DRZ9255.

I really want to try this, the problem is splicing the optical cables/etc. If I could get a place to send me everything ready to work that would be perfect.

Are you interested on maybe making some bucks? hehe


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## ErinH (Feb 14, 2007)

less said:


> *2+ Toslink plugs:*
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Less, my man!

I’m about to order a dca006 cable, and cut the black end to fit it for standard toslink to go into my bit one. Could you give me a bit more info on how you did this yourself?

Looks to be pretty simple… just order one of those connectors, polish, and clamp.


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## Aaron'z 2.5RS/WRX (Oct 24, 2007)

Less/Jim.... Man, we got to get together and talk, I mean i'm in Midland every day... it's about dam time... lol... 

I don't have time ATM to read the whole thread, but I am doing much the same as you with a 12v modded xBox and a 500g external, optical out to my alpine 701..


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## less (Nov 30, 2006)

A new model media player is out - the DVP260X. I picked it up recently and will post an update in the reviews section before long, but thought I'd share a little information now.

The new model does several new things that make it even better than the last:

1. it plays mp4s and other ipod h.254 format files
2. it does full hi-def 1080i output through an hdmi output
3. it reads you anything you have stored in a .txt file - life ebooks
4. it has more memory and therefor does not pause the music when you are playing wav files and access the menu to change play folders - it also changes songs faster - but it was plenty fast before.
5. it has a full screen menu and allows you to see full file names - which is pretty handy when a track name has a lot of info - sadly I've shortened most of my file names to accommodate the old set up haha.

Anyhow, there is more and a few things I may not like, but I think I just haven't learned to do what I want to do yet. Generally, its a very nice looking unit and at only $150ish, you can add another $150 for a 500gb hd and a optical output cable - for a complete system then toss your CDs in a bag and forget them (as long as you have a monitor). Seems like the deal of the decade to me!

Less


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## juba (Aug 4, 2007)

Hey Jim, I like you have my dreams answered in this - I think. I was considering the Cowon q5, but i like how this has hdmi and a capacity for a larger/bigger hard drive and a tidier single digital cable. My system has an external dac so i just need a digital source feed into it.

Questions are for me when not integrating into a clarion system
1. does it have a screen? I presume the readout you mentioned is coming out on your h/u? Presumably I would need to obtain some kind of standalone monitor with hdmi for access to tracks.
2. Does anyone have a pic of screen interface?

just read more and seems it does have a 2.5" screen, no photos anywhere show it going however. this thing seems frickin brilliant


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## less (Nov 30, 2006)

Hiya,

You definitely need a monitor for this as it has no screen of its own. Its possible to play music without one, but not possible to actually navigate to specific songs or playlists and the like. They are very easy to use and you can see screen shots and download the manual from their website at ??? chose your language and go to support. I STRONGLY recommend doing this. 

I'm a very savvy computer person so things that come easy to me, are sometimes more challenging than I expect for others. I'm not bragging here, its jsut that I've been working with PCs since the old TRS80s - and 286 models with old school dos - so computer and audio things come naturally to me - and a few times I've been surprised that others had a harder time than I would have thought... so I don't want to mislead anyone - you know?

They have two models out and each has its own benefits and drawbacks. Personally, I prefer the newest model, but the firmware needs an upgrade to allow playlists to work at the moment. I am pretty sure they are going to correct this and have actually been sending information to them through emails so they know the bugs. OVerall though, Sarotech has been the most reliable of those making products like this. I think their DVP260s (older version but still good) model is solid as a rock - although it is more limited in its abilities since it uses an older model sigma chipset.. so it won't do full 1080i HD.

The new model has some really nice advantages though and I'll be sticking with it in hopes that they'll debug it all so its runs as solid as their other offerings. The only issue that troubles me is the playlist issue and they are working on it now. It does full High Definition and uses the hdmi output. It reads TXT files to you! It automatially sets a bookmark if you turn the power off - so you can resume whatever you were doing with no issue when you get back to using it! It also saves i think 12 different bookmarks. They both allow you to specify a time in a movie file and will take you to the time in mere seconds - so you can watch scenes you want with out messing with fast forward... the new one allows you to replay a segment of any movie or sound file by simply starting and stoping a button to set the segments start and end. The menu on the new one is full screen and shows a LOT more file information - which is very cool if you use long file names for songs and such.

I'd take shots but my time is pretty limited. Plus, my old version model is bricked atm since I did the stupidest thing I've done in recent memory and crossed the hot and ground inputs on it... thankfully they are repairing it under warranty! Just have to wait for it to get back from Korea =) Robert has sold hundreds of them now and mine is the only one that went bad... and it was my fault (shhh though - I'm hoping they will cut me some slack with the warranty and give me a replacement =)

I love mine, but I did my research and knew what i was getting into - the good the bad and the ugly. For my money, there isn't a comparable unit on the market that is nearly as solid as the Sarotech versions - most seem to have long lists of complaints by owners in reviews in places like newegg.com or other review sites.  The service is a little rough and you don't get responses often since they are korean and don't do English well - but the person I bought mine from ([email protected]) buys direct and heads up contact with them for me and I get good response that way. 

I'd buy from Robert again and again as he is a great guy to work with - but he is too busy now and is not going to be selling more once he has sold his current stock. His prices are also by far the best... drop him an email if you are interested, but do it soon as he may already be out of them!

Jim/Less

newest model, dvp260X, is very


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## javiertoti (Jan 16, 2007)

Hi master less! Great to read you. Does it this DVP260X read .flac and .ape files? A lot of thanks!!


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## mxl16 (Oct 2, 2008)

I have to bring this thread back up. I just just hooked up my sarotech to my DRZ via optical cable with absolutely fantastic results.

Over the past few weeks I've been converting all of my CDs to wave format in preparation for this. I also made an 80 minute zero bit (digital silence) disc and put it on repeat in the changer. I moded a clarion dca-006 optical cable and put a nice toslink connector on it. For the video monitor I got a cheap pyle brand sunvisor 7" monitor. This actually works very nicely. When I want to change songs I just flip it down, when Im done I just flip it up and out of the way. The 7" screen is large enough to see the text in the sarotech menus and has decent resolution. I looks kind of cheap but I think I am going to get it upholstered to match he interior better. 

I more or less followed what less said to do. I did have to do a system check for the DRZ to pick up the optical signal. After the first time it automatically picks it up so you dont have to do it every time.

To be honest, the menus are a little clumsy (I haven't mastered it yet) and it does take a few seconds to turn everything on in the correct order and shut everything down in the correct order. But for the convenience of having 500gigs of quality music at you finger tips, its worth it.

Like I said, all of my songs are now converted to wave format. The quality is on par with or perhaps even a little better than CD. I am extremely happy with the result. This is one of the best things I have done to my systems to date. 

175 for sarotech and car kit
75 for sunvisor monitor
70 for clarion optical cable
100 for 500g hard drive
30 for various connectors and adapters

450 total

Not bad considering what you are getting. Just thought I would share my experience. And thank you Less for your help over the past few months.


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## javiertoti (Jan 16, 2007)

Congratulations mxl16. Any pics of your system?


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## less (Nov 30, 2006)

mxl16 said:


> The quality is on par with or perhaps even a little better than CD. I am extremely happy with the result. This is one of the best things I have done to my systems to date.


Great MXL - happy to hear it. What you wrote above is exactly what I felt and why I felt compelled to start this (and other similar) threads. I just felt like a lot of people would really enjoy the convenience, capacity and quality of the end result. Plus, there is a little uniqueness to it that has a some small value in a sense. Most of all, its being able to toss the cds and access any song in my collection in seconds at cd or cd+ quality... 

Glad to know that others trying it can confirm what seemed like a great deal to me.

The new unit runs a bit hot too, so anyone looking at one of these should either think about mounting it in an exposed area with air circulation or installing some sort of circulation system in wherever you stash it.

Keep us posted... I'm still filling up my new drive and have a lot of other things going on right now, so it'll be a while before I get on a posting jag again.

Less


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## less (Nov 30, 2006)

Something that is rapidly becoming clear to me is that the new model units do not respond well to being put in an enclosed glove box or console without a source of circulating air. This is particularly true when running video.

For the purposes of better integrating the the media player into my car, and to assure that heat doesn't become an issue, I built a slide mount in my console and included a fan in the mount. 

I'll post pics soon, but the first two fans I used both had major problems, so I'm waiting on two new fans with high end bearing technology said to make them nearly silent as well as giving them long life and low vibration. Now that I have it, I can't imagine being without it and it was a fun project. I also drilled an extra set of holes alongside the stock holes to allow for better airflow - but I'd be really careful with this if you use the unit in any area where dust/dirt/water could be introduced.

I don't think I'd have needed fans if I didn't want to mount the unit somewhere without circulation - but I don't know for sure.

Anyhow, keep that in mind if you decide to go this way. Oh and BTW - I finally tried a txt file with the unit and it only displays the text on the monitor... boo! I'd hoped it actually read the text to you but obviously I am a major dork and didn't read it correctly!

Less


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## Hernan (Jul 9, 2006)

I have a 260S unit connected to the H701 3rd optical input. When the 701 sense a digital input, the turner source becomes the optical 3 input. Simple, Just a toslink connection from the 260 to the 701.
It sound as good or better than CDs or DVDs. 
Navigation is a bit crude but nothing compared to using CDs...
It also could be used as a USB storage device. 
4 stars... the GUI could be better.


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## less (Nov 30, 2006)

Hi Herman,

The S model has some advantages and some disadvantages compared with the X model. Honestly, I'm split between the two in terms of which I prefer, but I'd need to post screen shots of the gui of each to make the differences clear. Its been quite a while since I've used the S model, but here are the major differences I've found. I also suspect that the S model may have the advantage in terms of SQ since I believe the X model has some element in the digital signal path that allows you to control the volume output from the media player, where the S model only controls the volume output if you use the analog output.

S Model:
- Really nice ability to create your own background, over which the menu projects. I made some really nice screens that I liked a lot and was really sad when I found that I couldn;t control the looks of the background on the X model - or at least do it as easily as its done on the S model.

- Allows for only 15 or so characters to be displayed on each line - with one file per line... making it sometimes hard to pick the songs you want unless you edit the file names

- Only lets you play files that are in folders fewer than two levels deep. In other words - you create a folder in the root of the drive called my music, then you can create as many folders as you want in that level... but if you make them one level deeper, the player won't allow you to play them


The X Model offers:

- the ability to see a LOT more characters for any given file, plus it scrolls to the side to show you characters that go off the edge of the screen - handy

- Storage and use of m3u playlists for audio works fine with this unit... but the new unit is preset to only work with video lists for some reason. - big plus if you are using a smaller drive particularly

- doesn't seem to run hot when playing video or put in a confined space.

- a fixed menu screen that you can't put your own background behind - and although its much more functional - its also less attractive. In the end, you go to the folder you want to listen music in, hit shuffle, then you can close the monitor and ignore it if you want. Its a lot easier to find what you want with the new model though.

- plays HD1080i and offers hdmi connection - nice for those who will use it

- plays a LOT more types of video files including most popular formats but still prefers divx

- has a really nice feature that allows you to set a segment of music/video that will play over and over - if you are making adjustments and tuning, this is really handy!

- allows you to play files from any level of folder - giving you a lot more flexibility

- is preset to only recognize video playlists and not audio playlists. The instructions say you can somehow change the setting through the internal memory, but sadly provides no information on how to do this. Essentially, audio playlists simply don't work - a big drag in my book, but with a 500gb drive, I just copy files into folders that I've set up as psuedo play lists. It works but shouldn't be required.

- lets you read text files if you want for some reason

- runs hot and should be mounted in an area with ventilation or if put into a console or glove box, requires a fan. Oddly, it doesn't really seem to need a lot of circulation - if I pop the lid on my console, it never over heats.

Anyhow, that is the summary of the differences that I can think of at the moment. I need to get researching different ways to build apillar pods now so I can actually get this #$^#$ project going that I've been toying with for too long! I either need to make slight mods to my kick panels baffle angles and rebuild the top layer -or- build pods for my apillars so I can finally be 100% satisfied with this setup and start final tuning! My imaging is off just a tick and it bugs me enough that I want to get it resolved... and I've always been fond of the sound emanating from ear level despite the tonality and overall sound of my current kicks being just a hair short of spectacular. I'm anal enough to tear out a lot of hours of work to get it JUST right lol.

Glad to hear that many others are finding the SQ and convenience of these units to be as worthy as I did! I hope I've been able to make a contribution here to the people who've helped me achieve wonderful sound in my own car!

Less

-


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## pete348 (May 24, 2009)

great


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## Asentaja (Jul 20, 2008)

Jim, I´m having trouble using playlists on the S model. They work fine with video but I can´t use them on audio. I´ve put the m3u files in the respective album folders. Any input?


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## less (Nov 30, 2006)

Here is a shot or two of the slide mount I made for my media player - in an effort to make it easier to remove and to preserve the wires integrity by minimizing the amount of movement that they have to go through. 

In case its not clear, my Civic has a small box under the armrest in the console (pretty common), and I've built the slide mount into that box, removing the stock single lighter plug and adding a switched and lighted triple plug (the power supply for the abigs and the fans are hard wired into a harness seperately) outlet to the console. My ipod and phone chargers reside there permanently):

Side view:









Top View: (note- ran out of JB Weld so I couldn't pretty up the look from this angle - but there is a ton of the stuff holding the plugs in space)









I've also added a fan to the mount and drilled additional holes in the back of the case to help with cooling, but the original fans I'd planned to use were junk. My new fans came in the other day and I've mounted a super quiet Scythe $6 fan from newegg now - but no pics yet. It runs on the same switch that lets me keep the unit on when I am just getting gas or something and don't want to have to mess with a reboot when I get back.

Asentja, I don't have an S model anymore so I can't say for sure what your issue is bud, sorry. I'd strongly suspect that the pointer your m3u file is using is telling the unit to look for a drive that doesn't exist. What worked for me were hand made m3u files made using winamps playlist tool. I simply selected files while the abigs was connected from that hard drive and dropping them in the winamp playlist window. I never really understood why you'd want a playlist for an disc since you can just number the tracks when you rip it and then set the unit to play them in order... what am I missing?

Special thanks to the Alpine H701 users for posting up how that works... I knew it had to, but I sold my 701 a couple years back... its cool to share with others how easily it could work with them. The monitor issue is still the hold up for a few folks I suppose, but now that I've discovered in car video, my lunchs have never been the same! Its actually a pretty nice bonus to this whole concept but adds some cost.

Less


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## Asentaja (Jul 20, 2008)

Less, what I´m trying to achieve is playlists of albums, not tracks. Like you wrote in message #35.


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## less (Nov 30, 2006)

less said:


> However, you can always toss a playlist into each folder for each disc by the artist if you made them when you ripped the music... if listening to complete discs is "your thing." Storing by artist name also makes it a LOT easier to find specific songs if you are in the mood to listen to something specific.
> 
> 
> Less


My apologies, but I assumed the above would work, since I've been able to create playlists on the Sarotech that worked fine. It may be possible to create new playlists for each disc that you want to use. You will probably have to create them (using winamp or another playlist editor) by selecting the songs in order and droping them in a new playlist - name the new m3u file the name of the disc if that helps you. 

Sorry Assentja! I learned a lot as I went along with this whole set up. Obviously, I make a couple of assumptions along the way that seemed logical but didn't turn out to work so well! Its a bit of work, but I'd still guess you can make them.... USING THE 260S MODEL ONLY! The 260X will only play M3U lists created with just video files until someone figures out how to adjust the settings in the internal memory. I thought this would really bug me, but in the end it is no big deal since I have a huge drive and can just make psuedo playlists by creating folders and droping the tracks I want in them. 

OMG, I wish I could communicate with the manufacturer... I've even tried to work with them on the concept of making an "Audiophile Sarotech Abigs!" Their English is quite poor and my Korean is non-existant - otherwise, I'd show them some slight modifications that they could do to attract a whole new market by creating a high quality digital music server with menu's, features and internal design that still did video, but focused on users with high end audio interest first.

Oh well...

Less 

Less


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## Asentaja (Jul 20, 2008)

Less, ok thanks for clearing that up. I agree with you that these units have a incredible potential, they´re almost there but quite not. And we´re not talking about any major things. This is after all absolutely the future of car audio. A high end unit will come sooner or later, probably by a big name in car audio. But that piece will come with a hefty price tag, I suspect. Btw, I tried a SSD on the S model. It works and runs a lot cooler, the surface of the unit was I´d guess around 100F. Can´t wait for them to become reasonably priced.


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## less (Nov 30, 2006)

What is an SSD? Oh - sweet a solid state drive? Sweet! 

The sarotech is good enough for me until a better alternative comes out... its such a huge improvement over CDs that I'll be ok using this bugger till the day it dies =)

Less


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## less (Nov 30, 2006)

I just found out that you can cut and paste files on this while the unit is disconnected from the computer - handy! 

While not playing a file, highlight the file you want to copy and hit menu - up pops a screen asking you to copy or paste... hit copy and then move to where you want to paste it - hit menu again and select paste. Viola!

Man I love these 

Less


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## newtitan (Mar 7, 2005)

just a heads up, the guy you recommended , said he sold his last unit last week, so its off to ebay if you want the sarotech units

nice tutorial by the way


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## less (Nov 30, 2006)

I really wish some reliable business old these units, but I've not found one. I see new egg sells similar units and there are a lot of options that are close to this one, but this was the only one at the time I was buying that seemed to meet all of my needs. As time goes by, maybe another major manufacturer will come out with something like this - or they will end up with hard drives in head units... either way would be good.

By the way, for those who really don't want to use a monitor in their car, you might be able to use the sarotech model designed for home use with a 3.5" drive - and then just install a 2.5" sata drive in it - since the connectors are the same. I wouldn't use a 3.5 in a car since they aren't built to take temp extremes or vibration. Anyhow, I think one of the models they make has a built in screen of sorts... might work well actually. You'd just have to find a way to secure the smaller hard drive.

I'm glad people are able to make use of this... to me it is just too cool. Surprised no one has put a star on it actually.

Less


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## Asentaja (Jul 20, 2008)

Less, how about this: UnicSen - Unique Electronics from Around the World - Unicsen, Inc. It´s the US branch of the company
I´ve bought my units from.


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## less (Nov 30, 2006)

Good news!

They released a firmware update for the 260X yesterday (i've checked nearly every day hoping for a fix on the playlist issue) and it had some nice inclusions. To me, the most important is that the unit now allows you to set up at least one playlist! It may now work with m3u files like the 260s model does too, but I haven't had a chance to test it yet. When you select the MUSIC icon, then navigate through your drive to any song you want to add to the list, then you simply hit the SYNC+ button and it is added to the main playlist. To find the main playlist, you simply hit the MUSIC icon on the main screen, then where you normally select your drive, you select the little index card looking icon. That opens up the playlist and you can play, random, or whatever you want from there. You can remove files from it by highlighting them and hitting SYNC- on the remote.

I think its time to start a new thread that doesn't mention the DRZ in the header since its apparent that this works with just about anything with a digital input - and many probably never even read the post due to the DRZ statement. Once I get my Bit One installed and complete the new kicks/pillars - I honestly intend to post some screen shots so people can see how the GUI works and get a feel for how easy it is. 

I also want to fool around a bit more and try to get a substitute wallpaper up on this model - or at least a scrolling image rotation for a screen saver so you don't have to look at the boring menu 24/7 =) Half the time though, I just get to the files I want and start random... then close the monitor. 

Lastly, its official (I think)! I've finally decided to totally ditch the standard Head Unit concept, and as long as the Bit One is as good as it sounds, I'll be getting a VGA touch screen monitor and running it to the laptop (used and cheap) that is going to fill the role of head unit for me! MAy even go back to the stock "Premium Sound System" so it looks completely stealth - and mount the monitor on a spot between the console and the dash.

I rarely use cds and never listen to the radio... but with that set up, I can slowly add things I DO want: wifi internet access for the road, nice audio software for VU displays, spectrum analyzer displays, an actual RTA, internet radio access, navigation, rear camera monitor, games and other fun things one can do on the PC. I'll be interesting to learn about how a laptop does in the car environment... but I've always been a PC geek so why not go full blown!

Less


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## nycsurfer (Mar 8, 2009)

Thanks for all your input and keep us updated ,I am about to order a 260x to work with my bitone as well ,and use the video-in on Pioneer Z110BT double din navi(coming out next month) for display.

But if you are going to do a Carputer in your car ,I doubt you will need the 260x anymore ,there are audiphile sound cards that have digital output ,and option to bypass the internal D/A to work with external D/A processor as well.


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## less (Nov 30, 2006)

Morning all,

Have a little issue that is ticking me RIGHT off! For some reason, and I think just since the last patch, my unit now makes a ticking noise while playing WAV files only. It works fine on the 5% of my files that are mp3s and perfect on all the video formats that I use - and it USED to work fine with WAV files too. Anyone else having this issue?

Here is what I've tried so far:

1. dropped in another hard drive with similar files - no change
1 a (I also ran scan disc on and defragged both drives)
2. checked files for noise when playing through media player - none
3. flashed firmware to newest version (1.10), thinking maybe that since I'd been running it from the files instead of flashing it in, it was using too much of its internal memory - no change
4. reverted to the firmware from february - no change (1.07?)
5. now converting WAV files to other lossless codecs for testing - player handles: aac, ac3, wav and wma (and ogg, mp3, wma lossy formats), but I know it doesn't play ALL types of wma files and in fact, I think it only works with wma9 on one quality setting - the almost bit perfect version - which is good but not good enough for a long term solution)

The only other thing I can think of is that perhaps I cut and didn't paste a file so something is being saved in its internal memory that is keeping it from being able to keep up with the processing speed needed /shrug

I am a bit worried that I may have to buy a new unit... and if I do, I may just have to go with the S version. Honestly, the S version has some advantages (plays m3u playlist well, allows user background screen, volume control doesn't impact digital output and some others) with its primary disadvantages being the limited characters displayed for file names and the inability to process some video types (well and non-hdmi output or hi def output - but who uses that in the car)

It could still somehow be related to the patch too - so I'm going to keep tinkering! I sure wish the original one I bought and toasted had made it back to me ... after weeks of waiting - someone at the post office ripped it off and I was delivered an empty box... and Robert didn't ship it insured after I sent him $23 for shipping.


*Lastly, I've started a new thread entitled - Sarotech Media player users discussion for us to use and will link this thread in there for others to find out the basics. Lets use that thread for the future - and maybe more folks who don't have DRZs will join us?*

Thanks for any input you might have!

Less


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## javiertoti (Jan 16, 2007)

How can i know if my Optical cable it's working?


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## less (Nov 30, 2006)

*Please post all new post in the new thread - thanks: http://www.diymobileaudio.com/forum/diy-mobile-audio/61277-sarotech-digital-media-player-discussion-thread.html*

Sorry friend, apparently you are saying that you aren't getting output when playing through your optical cable? Its a lot more helpful if you can take the time to explain more details so we know enough to make a diagnosis.

Given the little information, here are some thoughts:

Using a DRZ? IF so and if substituting the media players digital output for the changers, make certain that you are playing a digital output signal through the media player, then hit three buttons on your DRZ: I think its 1 - 6 - function - but read your manual to be sure. This forces the unit to check its digital input for an incoming signal. It won't detect anything unless you are playing a file when you do it! You will have to set the unit to play from the cd changer - have the cenet cable connected to the cd changer (and I like to have a zero bit 78 minute track of silence inserted and set on repeat - but its not needed). 

Also try to connect the units analog outputs to an aux input and if it gets signal and plays, but the digital option isn't making output on a standard WAV or MP3 file, the optical cable is the issue. If you are using a BitOne, consider going with the coaxial input - as they are supposed to be superior to optical aside from the passing of electrical noise.

Also, please post all new post in the new thread:


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## javiertoti (Jan 16, 2007)

Thanks friend less, it was a sudden doubt


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## Hernan (Jul 9, 2006)

javiertoti said:


> How can i know if my Optical cable it's working?


Look at the end of the cable. You should see a red light.


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## DAT (Oct 8, 2006)

so if you have you media player installed in the hatch you'd have to have a monitor with touch screen? I wanted to use 2 sunvisor monitors on control the play up front


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## mxl16 (Oct 2, 2008)

DAT said:


> so if you have you media player installed in the hatch you'd have to have a monitor with touch screen? I wanted to use 2 sunvisor monitors on control the play up front


You wouldn't need a touch screen but you will need a monitor of some kind. You navigate through the sarotech menus with the remote control.


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## minibox (Mar 25, 2009)

mxl16 said:


> You wouldn't need a touch screen but you will need a monitor of some kind. You navigate through the sarotech menus with the remote control.


I'm still confused as to how the UI on this thing works. You control it through the remote control or you can use a touch screen?


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## t3sn4f2 (Jan 3, 2007)

minibox said:


> I'm still confused as to how the UI on this thing works. You control it through the remote control or you can use a touch screen?


You need a display that is compatible with the output signal from the device and you would us one to show you what it is you are doing when using the remote.


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## mxl16 (Oct 2, 2008)

t3sn4f2 said:


> You need a display that is compatible with the output signal from the device and you would us one to show you what it is you are doing when using the remote.


exactly


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## Robb (Dec 5, 2008)

wow.. I'd certainly love to have this done to my drz9255 !


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## robstah (Aug 13, 2009)

I was able to do the same thing with my Alpine CDA-7949. I currently have it running to a PRA-H400 via Ai-NET. As long as you have the 7949 set to digital output, it turns on the optical out when you change the unit to CD. So from there, just plug any optical toslink device (I'll be using an iRiver iHP-120) into the "CD" input on the PRA-H400 and it should play. You don't even need a CD in the HU for it to work and you don't need a changer in the mix. 

Each piece of the puzzle can be had for around $100 if you search, so being $300 in with an optical based setup is pretty hard to beat. I'm actually surprised that Alpine stuck 6 18-bit burr-browns in the PRA-H400 too, but it seems to make a difference compared to just the HU (7949 being rated at 1 1bit DAC?). I am all for overkill though.


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## Got-Four-Eights (Sep 10, 2011)

Bringing this back to life for info on players.. my headunit I am getting allows digital coax inputs.. what players are out now I can take use of this with? Would love to load my FLAC collection on a hard drive player!


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## t3sn4f2 (Jan 3, 2007)

Got-Four-Eights said:


> Bringing this back to life for info on players.. my headunit I am getting allows digital coax inputs.. what players are out now I can take use of this with? Would love to load my FLAC collection on a hard drive player!


Would you absolutely need the ability to play high resolution files?

Which head unit will you be using? Will the 6to8 in your sig go with this head unit?


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## Got-Four-Eights (Sep 10, 2011)

Sound Monitor CDT-450x feeding over to the Mosconi... the Sound Monitor has digital coax in. I want this to be able FLAC and other lossless audio formats.


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## BoomHz (Apr 20, 2007)

I second some FLAC friendly info................Please!!


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## rasahman (Jan 28, 2007)

Talking abt fooling the clarion's optical in, I came across this : 

China Clarion Digital CD Changer With USB/SD+3.5aux IN - large image for Car Cd Changer

I'm assuming it takes in a hdd or sd card directly as a source, and then the signal sent to the HU for 'processing'. 

Any thoughts in, this-vs-sarotech?


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## t3sn4f2 (Jan 3, 2007)

rasahman said:


> Talking abt fooling the clarion's optical in, I came across this :
> 
> China Clarion Digital CD Changer With USB/SD+3.5aux IN - large image for Car Cd Changer
> 
> ...


This would still be an analog interface with the head unit since it does not have a parallel digital output for the head unit. Now if you could find a way to hack into the controller and tap into the digital stream before its DAC the it would be the best solution out there since you could have a digital interface plus control and display the external device (somewhat).


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## 2010hummerguy (Oct 7, 2009)

Digging up an old thread but I am considering either the DRZ-9255 or Pioneer DEX-P99RS for my next deck to get 4-way crossover and other tuning options without relying on an external DSP. How are everyone's DRZ combos holding up and any new lessons to share this many years later?


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## bartek-pl (Mar 8, 2014)

Hello!

This man did digital input that:
Clarion HX-D2 Digital Input - YouTube
http://magnitola.org/vysshii-pilotazh/230266-cifrovoi-vhod-dlya-clarion-hx-d2.html

It works! How is this situation synch toslink with master clock?


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## EVcelica (Dec 30, 2008)

So Bartek, it looks like you figured it out.. Care to share how to do it and how it works?


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## bartek-pl (Mar 8, 2014)

It's work!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7Q0qe1oJcc


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## 2010hummerguy (Oct 7, 2009)

Bartek, thanks for this info! I've put that page through Russian translator and I'll try to decipher for our benefit.


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## EVcelica (Dec 30, 2008)

I tried to decipher it using google translate but its nearly worthless.

1.) I cant tell if we need some sort of cd changer emulator for the CeNet connection? It seems like we do still. 
2.) I can not tell where each of the pins on the optical adapter is wired to. This might be possible to figure out using the wiring diagrams. but the part where it says "First mute - cut path to the left of Q418" is unclear.

If we still need the emulator, which one?
If we still need the emulator, couldn't we then use the optical input already on the clarion head unit (after spicing the optical cable), and not have to start soldering wires and cutting connections in the very expensive heat unit?


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## bartek-pl (Mar 8, 2014)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7Q0qe1oJcc
This is my video. My HX-D2 was modified!

You can send mail to [email protected] for help!

This modification no requires changer emulator!


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## peenemunde (Aug 31, 2013)

Digging this up!! 
Spent hours reading on this. Did anyone find the "end-all-beat-all" way of making this work? 

I've got a DRZ9255, CDC1255z,and a CEnet cable... This sounds like a fun project and I want to know where to go from here 

Now that it's 2015 and this thread was made 7 YEARS AGO 

(I should mention I DON'T want to hackNslash my DRZ)


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## 88999 (Jul 14, 2015)

peenemunde said:


> Did anyone find the "end-all-beat-all" way of making this work?


Great question. Now that it is 2015, what is the best way to connect an iPhone to a DRZ-9255?


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## 2010hummerguy (Oct 7, 2009)

Honestly I've been super happy using my DRZ with just the analog aux input. It definitely sounds better than the aux input on most HUs and for 99% of the time it works great. I am aware of a way to hack up a DRZ for native optical input but it is a bit over my head in technicality.


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## 88999 (Jul 14, 2015)

Is this connection compatible with the DRZ:

Clarion CCA750 iPod® Cable For iPod and iPhone® video playback on select Clarion DVD receivers at Crutchfield.com


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## 88999 (Jul 14, 2015)

Actually, it looks like this might be the ticket for complete iPhone connection to the DRZ. Take a look:

Clarion iPhone 6 5 5c 5S iPod Smartphones 3 5mm Aux Input Ccaipod EA1276 EA1251 | eBay


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## javiertoti (Jan 16, 2007)

Any advance in this area? I have some info files untested (and also virused) from bartek but I don't want to cut my HU pcb to hack the optical input.


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## kwametx (Aug 1, 2011)

I actually just used Less' method to feed an optical output from an Joying 8.8" unit into the optical input of my Clarion drX-9255. It worked and sound good on the bench. Now I'll just need to convince the install shop to put it in. And decide where to put the cd changer (which sounds amazing).


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