Guys I am working on doing a carputer, I am wondering who has one and specifically has anyone experimented with a computer sound card that interfaces well with a high quality audiophile car amplifier? I am thinking in my head that with the right sound card and equalizer program you can get superior sound from the carputer vs. a headunit. I am installing an 8" inch TFT screen in the stereo panel and the PU will run the whole car. Datalogit and PFC, Navigation, Stereo, you name it. Who has done this? and how is it? Anyway any real life experience opinions or facts are greatly appreciated. I need to create the perfect system for my setup.

 

www.mp3car.com <-- I figure you have already seen this site but just in case you can find pretty much everything you need as far as hardware and software info.

I've done several for my buddys and its very hard to get the same sound quality out of a carputer that you would get out of say a $300 Head Unit. Its possible though if you use a high enough quality sound card or alternately (and im gonna say this is english vs. audio speak as im unsure of the extent of your sound knowledge) you could always bypass any sound amplification by your sound card and simply use it to input a signal to a device that processes your signal + crossovers (pick out which sound frequencies go where) and from there in to amp's and there in to speakers. Hope this is at least a little help. Also if you do a little searching on mp3car there are several guys that have written mod's to the Windows OS that will help you integrate your stereo and nav with your EMS and make it all much more userfriendly.

Ill be doing one for my own car in a few months and using it to run EFI Live (LS1) allowing me to log and tune on the fly. Remember to put in either wireless or bluetooth so that you can upload anything you log to a laptop/house computer.

If you need anymore help feel free to pm me as i've got lots more knowledge that id be happy to share

Rob

 

My carputer is almost done, the key to superior sound is going optical, and using all optical wiring vs rca and regular wire. Heres what I have going in.
msi board
amd xp-m 2400+
corsair 512mb pc2700
opus 150w
seagate 120gb hd
M-audio delta 66 ($250 sound card, out performs creative x-fi)
xenarc 7"
alpine pxa-h701
monitor 1 components (only 55 sets ever made)
all arc amps
undecided on a sub, either 15" sound splinter or avanlche.
Anyways thats the jist of it, i just need the monitor, sub and amps and its dones. Anyways, like i said going optical from the cpu to processor is where your going to notice a difference. Here is a thread that PROVES that a carputer has BETTER SOUND QUALITY than a HU, very very good and worth-while read.
http://mp3car.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=40351

 

I'm too old to worry about that sort of sound quality, but I was thinking about car computers on the way home from work. If people installed wireless hard drives loaded with music in their vehicles. We could all listen/download each other's music as long as we were in range. Let's see if the RIAA could defeat that kind of p2p network!

 

there are at least two forum members that have done this in the last 4 years....you can do a search in the interior/exterior subforum.

I think most of the pics are no longer linked but you can get an idea. They look terrific IMHO and would be a nice thing to have if you have a datalogit and PFC

 

You should talk to Mike (B-Man) on the local forums. We've done a few in our cars, I have most of the stuff to throw in my FD and the S14, but haven't gotten around to it. We have been using the touch screen Moniters from Karpc.com with a setup of PC guts hidden somewhere in the car. It was mainly just to we could have easy access to our AEM tuning instead of trying to drive with a labtop in the other seat or in your lap.

Pm him and I'm sure he could send you pics of the setups we did in his Supra, the NSX, and Bruces solara.

 

Wouldn't optical cabling inside the car be a pain in the ***? Do they make amps that take an optical input? I think having a good quality sound card will give you good results. I was actually looking into getting a carputer a while ago, but I am broke. I found that the Audigy series gave very good results on my computer at home.

I had planned on buying one of those small form factor 17cm x 17cm boards and hook an Audigy 2 for great sound. The computer will connect to a 7 inch touchscreen LCD (I believe the 7 inch is a perfect in the double din slots) and be connected with goodies such as the Datalogit, GPS, WIFI (Some serious wardriving action), and bluetooth to integrate with cell phone.

 

you go optical from the cpu to the processor, than coaxial from the processor to the amp. Unless you can find an amp that takes digital in.

 

thanx fo the input guys. I did cruise the forums on www.Mp3car.com and it is a huge topic. Yeah I have extensive audio background (home and mobile). I definately agree that if you go all digital the sound would be superior. I also realize that it is in the sound card and sound proccessing software. Interface looks like the tricky part, but I am sure with more research, I can find people that have come up with solutions to this. So what is the best known sound card for that small of a PU housing? It makes a lot of common sense to me that this would indeed be better than a headunit as far as sound quality and many other factors. I love the possibilities.

 

Yep, I used a digital to optical cable from my Audigy 2. Sounds as good as a dvd.

But that was just one of many experiements before I realized I didn't want a computer in my car.

 

http://www.xenarc.com/product/index-pc.html

dont know if this helps or not... I didint know that people did this sort of thing, but always thought it would be a good idea...