Headless Hifi
 

Anyone considering removing the head unit and running an iPod>DAC>amp setup?

would look cleaner, will sound better, and with a small amp under the seat but without the head-unit the weight would be lower in the car, it would even leave room for some gauges :)

I doubt the weight would be lower. You'd need a dock of some sort, most of which (last I checked) ran on AC power so most people do iPod/iPad to dock which is plugged into a power converter, to a bitone (or something else with an optical in, optical out from the dock), to amp(s).

Output is only 2 channels on the iDevice so unless you plan on running passive crossovers to seperate freqs to the three drivers plus splitting that RCA output from the dock to 4 channels, etc...

So while you can do a killer headunit less (I'd consider the iDevice a head unit sorta..) I don't think it would sound better really unless it was done right, nor do I think it would be lighter (I doubt the headunit weight would offset the dock, DC->AC convertor and amp).

The way I'd do it would be to keep a HU (stock or otherwise) to retain sat radio, regular radio, once a decade CD usage, etc, run that to a bitone, run an ipad into the bitone with an optical out from whatever dock has it these days, run 8 channel out of the bit one (3 way active front, no rear fill, subwoofer) to amps..

So yeah, it would be much heavier for me. :)

Sorry, what I meant was the weight would be positioned lower (height) in the car. But yeah, would prob weigh more all up.

Was thinking a portable DC powered DAC like the CypherLabs AlgoRhythm or similar? Def more info on some of the car stereo forums.

Depends what you want, but for me, less is best. 2ch only (passive xover), no sub, just quality splits.

I totally understand what you want. I am surprised that nobody has tried to make a product like this yet. My ideal stereo would not include the iPod, but that is one way to go. I would rather see an integrated DAC/Amp with USB input, an informative display that could be read in any lighting condition, compatibility with many file types (Mac, PC, MP3, ACC, Apple Lossless, FLAC, etc.). With a double DIN this is easily possible. Something like this after a little reworking would be great:

http://belcantodesign.com/Belcanto_C...Amplifier.html

If you want to use your iPod, perhaps this would work for the DAC:

http://www.musicalfidelity.com/produ...eries/v-dacii/

The V-DAC even works off of 12 volts. For an amp, I would suggest a class D amplifier. Something like this:

http://www.rockfordfosgate.com/produ...?itemid=120544

I understand why you would want just 2 channels, but 4 is a lot better in a car because you need to be able to adjust the front to back power for best sound (fader function). The only problem with this setup is how to adjust the volume. If you use the USB out from the iPod, its own volume control may not be an option, or not work well enough for the task. A good car stereo custom shop would probably be able to source a usable control for not a lot of money.

Technically, if you use the iPod USB input on the console, you should be able to fit the amp, DAC and volume control in the double DIN hole in the dash. If this amp (see link below) was reworked to have 4 channels, run on 12V car feed, and be stable into common car speaker loads [2-ohm stable?] it would probably do the trick. With enough money, the company may even design and build it for you, and include provisions for a volume control as well.

http://classdaudio.com/class-d-audio...-240w-x-1.html

Don't worry about the weight of the stock car stereo, or any of the items I have suggested; they just don't have enough mass to really affect the balance of the car.

Yup, that too. Thanks for the links.