USB from car radio to 3.5mm jack on ipod

19-05-2015 3:08pm #1

The earphone jack on car stereo does not appear to work, so if I got a usb to 3.5mm cable would this work?

i.e. use usb port to car stereo and 3.5mm jack to ipod touch 4th or 5th gen (not sure!)?

Thanks

Special Circumstances · 19-05-2015 3:15pm

Can you link to an example of a cable that makes a headphone output appear as a USB device?

I'm not saying they don't exist.. but it seems like an awkward solution.

What headunits - some can be set to enable/disbale the aux port so you can cycle through the other inputs quicker.

19-05-2015 3:19pm

for example: http://www.ebay.ie/itm/281079322694

Nah I can hear some sound, but its quite faint.. As if the connection (or cable) is faulty.. just bough the cable from ebay, a cheapy one so it may be the cable?

Special Circumstances · 19-05-2015 3:24pm

"These cables are not compatible with 3rd and 4th generation ipod shuffles and with iphones. Your mp3 player or iPod must be specifically designed to connect via 3.5mm over USB."
I don't know how common that feature is to be honest.

Faint sound - thats Aux ports for ya. You will need the volume of your Ipod cranked up to the max and even them you will likely have to turn your headunit up more than you usually would with other music sources.

19-05-2015 3:27pm

Its an Ipod touch.. have been looking online to see if it supports it, cant find out !!

I have tried the volume all the way up on both, faint thinny sound !

Special Circumstances · 19-05-2015 3:51pm

Easiest thing to try so is to borrow a cable from someone else that doesn't have problems with playing music through aux port.

If you still have problems it sounds like your headunit is the culprit. If you don't it's the your cable is the culprit.

coylemj · 19-05-2015 3:54pm

There's an earphone port on the car radio and obviously there's one on the iPod Touch, I don't get the reference to a USB Port and why did the OP buy a cable with a USB plug?

Special Circumstances · 19-05-2015 4:13pm

a) I assume the headunit has a 3.5mm aux port (ie an input) rather than a 3.5mm headphone socket (output), but I wasn't gonna get all pedantic like ;-)
b) He didn't get that weird cable and I don't think he should - unlikely to work with his device at all.

coylemj · 19-05-2015 4:20pm

Special Circumstances wrote: »

a) I assume the headunit has a 3.5mm aux port (ie an input) rather than a 3.5mm headphone socket (output), but I wasn't gonna get all pedantic like ;-)

Agreed, so a cable with a 3.5mm jack plug at each end should give him the connection he needs. Which is why I'm confused about the mention of USB.

Special Circumstances wrote: »

b) He didn't get that weird cable and I don't think he should - unlikely to work with his device at all.

I'm not so sure. He posted the link to the cable on eBay and in the same post said he bought it, see post #3

Special Circumstances · 19-05-2015 4:24pm

Aha..
I interpreted it as - "I've tried a normal 3.5mm jack-to-jack cable and didn't work except very faintly, what if I get this specific-use cable from ebay instead". But I can see how that might not be the correct interpretation.

dr.fuzzenstein · 19-05-2015 4:32pm

That's analog to digital? How does that work without a D/A converter? What is this sorcery?

coylemj · 19-05-2015 4:33pm

OP, have you tried this type of cable - 3.5mm jack at each end? That's assuming that there is a suitable port (input) on the car radio, the iPod Touch headset port will definitely take this cable ....

Still confused at the mention of USB

Special Circumstances · 19-05-2015 4:48pm

dr.fuzzenstein wrote: »

That's analog to digital? How does that work without a D/A converter? What is this sorcery?

Hence my sceptical response in my first post. There's even more to it than that because it would have to pretend to be a filesytem as well as converting A/D.

BUT... some devices - mainly really small ones, do seem to have USB device functionality as an extra function on the headphone socket - with a special cable. If the headunit has a USB port AND the mp3 player in question supported that mode it might work. But knowing apple it only works with apple stuff.

I'm guessing the OP wanted to use the USB port on his head unit instead, via a 3.5mm to USB cable. Which, as you say, won't work if it is boggo analog audio output.

So, the options are
- try another cable as per mycrofts image,
or
- try a usb-to-apple-(20pin or lightning)-connector (not the headphone one linked to above).
This USB option depends on the headunit being "made for iPod" or whatever. It may not see it, may not even charge it otherwise.

coylemj · 19-05-2015 5:08pm

Special Circumstances wrote: »

BUT... some devices - mainly really small ones, do seem to have USB device functionality as an extra function on the headphone socket - with a special cable.

The iPod Shuffle does something like that because it doesn't have a 20-pin or lightning connector but the iPod Touch has a headphone (3.5mm) socket and either a 20-pin (G1-G4) or lightning (G5) connector.

Special Circumstances wrote: »

If the headunit has a USB port AND the mp3 player in question supported that mode it might work. But knowing apple it only works with apple stuff.

USB to iPod connector will work if the car radio has this logo but not if you're connecting USB to the headphone socket on the iPod which as stated above would be linking an analogue output to a digital input port with no conversion.

Special Circumstances · 19-05-2015 5:49pm

coylemj wrote: »

The iPod Shuffle does something like that because it doesn't have a 20-pin or lightning connector but the iPod Touch has a headphone (3.5mm) socket and either a 20-pin (G1-G4) or lightning (G5) connector.

USB to iPod connector will work if the car radio has this logo but not if you're connecting USB to the headphone socket on the iPod which as stated above would be linking an analogue output to a digital input port with no conversion.

Yes.

colm_mcm · 19-05-2015 11:01pm

On any Sony stereos I've had with 3.5mm in, there is a level adjustment in the settings menu for the line-In

20-05-2015 7:45am

Wasnt expecting so many responses
Sorry for the confusion..

The car stereo has a 2.5mm jack and the Ipod Touch has a 3.5mm jack - have tried this but either the cable or the connection on the stereo is dodgy!

The car stereo also has a USB port, so I was wondering if I got this cable (http://www.ebay.ie/itm/281079322694) and plugged the USB into the car stereo and the 3.5m jack into the Ipod Touch, would it work?

20-05-2015 8:15am

The USB port on the car stereo says 'ipod/usb' on it...

Special Circumstances · 20-05-2015 10:03am

rockdrummer4 wrote: »

The USB port on the car stereo says 'ipod/usb' on it...

Use the lead you transfer music/ charge it with.
Should work, no messing with different gains. Direct digital to audio conversion done by the head unit.

20-05-2015 10:31am

Tried that with Iphone, doesn't work, will try with Ipod Touch when I get home but have a feeling it wont work..

Special Circumstances · 20-05-2015 10:35am

What headunit? Herself has one that you must enable Ipod use on the usb port through the menu. JVC. Horrible menu interface. Horrible in general but the colour matched the rest of the dash displays...

20-05-2015 10:48am

Its an argos jobby, see pic

20-05-2015 10:49am

Have attached a USB stick to it with mp3's on it and it reads it fine...

A right pain to navigate thru the artists etc.. hence would like to use the Touch !

Special Circumstances · 20-05-2015 11:11am

rockdrummer4 wrote: »

Its an argos jobby, see pic

You're on your own here...

20-05-2015 11:20am

Its actually quite dacent... Nice sound, would be perfect if I can get the Touch to work ..

21-05-2015 8:11pm

WHats this for?
Tried plugging iPod into this but the sound isn't great
And only used 2 connections, 1 red and 1 white.. Their is
2 of each coming out of back of stereo!!

dr.fuzzenstein · 22-05-2015 9:34am

rockdrummer4 wrote: »

WHats this for?
Tried plugging iPod into this but the sound isn't great
And only used 2 connections, 1 red and 1 white.. Their is
2 of each coming out of back of stereo!!

Looks like aux in and looks like you have 2 of them.
You're plugged into both red ones, you should never do that.
You need to plug into a red and white. Try both. That should™ work.

22-05-2015 1:20pm

They are just front right, front left, back right, and back left speakers... so doesn't really matter which they are plugged into.. Have tried combinations of them all and the same, just comes out the different speakers!

Just wondering if I can get a 4 RCA connector to 3.5mm connector? Tried searching online but cannot find!

Also, when plugged in only the volume on the iphone works, the car stereo volume does not work.. and it is very low even with volume up full on iphone..

Wondering if have all 4 plugged in would this make a difference?

Is this connection meant for this purpose or is it for something else e.g amplifier etc?

USB from car radio to 3.5mm jack on ipod

Comments