Not For Audiophiles
Written: Jan 31 '05 (Updated Mar 05 '05)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: It works if you're desperate enough to use it.
Cons: It doesn't work well, and the input jack wears.
The Bottom Line: If you are not an audiophile and need an adapter like this, GO FOR IT. If you're an audiophile, you will hate it.
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| darksentinel's Full Review: FID (IROCK400FM) (IROCK! 400 FM) FM Transmitter |
This device accepts audio input through it’s mini headphone jack and broadcasts the audio in stereo over one of four FM channels in the 88 Mhz range. You pick which channel has the best reception. For me, it was 88.1, but for you, depending on the interference in your area, it might be 88.7.
My car has no audio input, and I want to use my MP3 player while I drive, so I bought it from Radio Shack. Sometime last year for $19. This device is NOT for audiophiles and thus I’m not impressed with it. It’s better than a cassette adapter but just barely because of convenience, not sound quality.
The car adapter power source that came with it had a tight coil and barely fit into my cigarette lighter. The slightest tug would disconnect it and you’d have to press the big on/off button again. The button itself was confusing because of a delay. You might turn it on and think it’s not on yet and then turn it off.
The transmitter isn’t very powerful. I can have it sitting right under my radio and still sometimes have bad reception. Of course my radio might be shielded. I would try placing it on the back dash, nearer to my car’s antenna, but even if I could, that would be inconvenient. The tightly coiled adapter and extremely short input cord prohibits that anyway. Coiled chords aren’t good for me. Why make a 6-foot cord and bill it as a 6-foot chord if you’re going to coil it and make it less than two feet long? The only time it’s six feet long is when it’s about to break. At three feet, it’s taut enough to unplug itself.
When I first used the device, the stereo separation was so lacking that I thought it was a mono device, but when I played “You must Be Dreaming To Think I love you” from the Heavy Metal soundtrack, I could definitely hear the stereo separation. It was just the worst separation I’d ever heard. The fidelity also lacked. Despite my initial disdain for the audio quality, I used the transmitter quite a bit.
You might have noticed that I refer to this device in the past tense. That’s because there’s an annoying short in the jack now, and I have to sit it on the passenger seat, in just the right position for both channels to come in. To facilitate freedom of movement and precise placement to get both channels, I can no longer restrict the device to the short power chord and have to run it on expensive battery power. I haven’t used it in months. I don’t even know where it is now. There has to be something better.
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
darksentinel
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Location: Shreveport, LA
Reviews written: 29
Trusted by: 0 members
About Me:
I arrived on earth, ten blocks from then toddler, Michael Jackson. He's somehow eclipsed me.
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