Hi guys,

I have a question on the PCM 3.1 (2011+ Cayenne): What audio formats does the PCM read from USB besides MP3 and WMA (if any)?

Reason I ask is my music library is all in lossless (FLAC and ALAC) formats and I'm wondering if I'm stuck using the iPod (with ALAC in it) or if I can just have them be played off a USB stick.

(I'm still waiting for my Cayenne Turbo and before I drive to a dealer with one with PCM in stock -- not easy to find -- and try it myself I thought somebody here might know)

 

attatched.


to convert file types.... you can download a program and convert all to AAC or MP3 from FLAC or ALAC

 

sorry screen shot cut off:

The PCM system (standard on the Cayenne Turbo with BOSE® Surround Sound System) includes 11 speakers divided into 7 channels, an external amplifier and a total output of 235 W. The integrated CD/DVD player supports audio playback of audio and video DVDs and plays music in MP3 format (formats: mp3, aac, wma, wav, Dolby Digital, mlp, dts). The familiar audio interface has been further improved and permits digital audio transmission that results in higher sound quality in the new Cayenne (also with an iPod®). The standard Apple iPod® USB cable (supplied by Apple) is used as the connecting cable; the previ- ous serial cable has been deleted.



The standard CDR-31 audio system has an extremely high-quality user inter- face. The look, feel and central functions correspond to the latest PCM genera- tion. The main feature of the new audio system generation is a 7-inch TFT dis- play with touchscreen. All the func- tions (except for volume) of the CDR-31 system can be controlled by touching the color screen. This allows fast and simple navigation through the various menus. The standard CDR-31 already has a sound system with 10 speakers divided into 4 channels with a total out- put of 100 W and can be used to play audio CDs and music in MP3 format (for- mats: mp3, aac, wma).

 

Thanks dude, that's really good info.

The "new" connecting-the-iPod-through-USB thing is actually my main concern, because that might mean the PCM is just using the iPod as mass storage which means... no support for ALAC.

I'm definitely not going to convert the FLAC/ALAC files to MP3 or AAC because there's a loss of quality and I'm getting the Burmester system precisely because I'm really very, very **** about sound quality.

*However* there is hope; worst case scenario I can do WAV and best case scenario PCM 3.1 supports lossless WMA (PCM 3 did NOT).

 

it plays anything when u connect ipod to USB, connecting the USB to ipod is a diff story however.. if your **** about sound quality then bought songs on itunes are not 320kbps i think they are 256kbps, which means not high quality.. they just started talking about allowing high definition downloads but i dont think its available yet... ;-)

dolby is 640kbps
AAC is 192kbps
Mp3 can be 320kbps

most cant tell diff between 320kbps MP3 and FLAC

 

Well, I never once in my life bought a song on iTunes -- I buy the CD and rip it to ALAC or FLAC...

I can tell the difference (even in double-blind tests) between those and 320kbps MP3, but I do realize most people can't. In fact, I know several people who somehow actually prefer MP3 to ALAC/FLAC.

I am however very interested in your comment that it will play anything on the iPod -- have you tried ripping a CD to ALAC (Lossless) in iTunes and seeing if the PCM 3.1 will play it? That would be great news (I know PCM 3 does play it, my concern is PCM 3.1...).

 

iTunes can import CDs at full quality - 16-bit, 44KHz. Under Import Settings select AIFF. The files appear in iTunes with a bit rate of 1411. iPods can load these files and play them at full resolution. I was not expecting that the sound of AIFF would be so dramatically superior to MP3 320k on the Burmester system.

 

I converted about 50 CDs to mp3 at 175kbps Variable Bit Rate (VBR) and stored them on my laptop in a folder structure of Genre/Artist/Album. Copied the whole lot to a USB memory stick and pluged it into the USB slot in the center console.

Now when the car starts, it reads the stick and I can scroll through the genres, albums, artists, etc. to get what I'd like. Good way to get all your CDs available through the PCM. I can't understand why the optional 6 disk changer is even offered. My wife's M37 auto-rips any CD onto it's internal hard drive and adds to a library (even came with the car w/o a multi-$k option).

So, why 175kbps? Your listening chamber will be travelling at 70 mph (or more) unlike your living room. The road noise (even in a Cayenne with Bose) kind of trims those suttle sounds. Tests on the net point to this kbps as as good as anything higher. So, saves space and can get more on your USB. I actually tried tests with a much higher kbps and couldn't tell the difference.

Bottom line. Download a free CD ripper. Rip your CD collection at a kbps of your choosing. Put it on a USB stick in a logical file format. Plug it in the tiny center console and enjoy. Also think of all those dollars saved not ordering a 6 disk changer (who uses those anymore anyway).

Regards

 

"Put it on a USB stick in a logical file format."

Don -- I am very interested to hear that you put files on a USB stick. I have tried using a USB stick with wav files without success. When I insert the USB stick into the socket, I cannot get the system to recognize a USB stick has been inserted. I get DISC / iPod / AUX as my choices. No USB. I've tried using two different sticks, both with FAT32 formatting. The owner's manual is not specific on what USB stick to use and says some may not work at all. I'd like to ask: Did you have any initial issues? Or was it hassle-free from the start? Any tips? Thanks!

 

To update this thread, I bought a Lexar JumpDrive 16G S70, plugged into the iMac, drag and dropped files from iTunes onto the drive.

Unfortunately, track numbers were created as part of the file name from the drag and drop:

01 Bach......
02 Beethoven....

And so I used this software to strip the extra digits batch renaming them into:

Bach...
Beethoven....

The Canadian 2011 Cayenne Turbo PCM 3.1 recognizes everything including subfolders. Haven't tried out the lossless formats yet, but since it's a friend's car, not going to spend too much time on this.

 

Hi folks,

FYI: I have tested a few things and wrote a blogpost about it. Maybe this is helpful to hifi-fans with Bose or Burmester-Sound Systems.

As I could fetch my brand new Cayenne with PCM 3.1, Bose and Universal-Audio-Interface w/ 40GB HDD from the dealer two weeks ago, I wanted to feed my Bose-speakers with something better than your standard MP3. Feedback is very much appreciated.


Porsche PCM 3.1 Highresolution Audio How-To
How to copy DVD-Audio

Cheers

Rainer

Tags: MLP, LPCM, FLAC, ALAC, DVD-Audio, WAV, DTS, Advanced Resulution

 

I know this is an old thread, but I was curious to see what others have opted for. I'm currently using USB with highest possible MP3 compression at 320kbps to feed my Bose on my PTT and was thinking of switching to my old iPod 5.5 where I'd store music in Apple lossless. So I did some tests and could barely hear the different, or maybe didn't even hear the difference (possibly my brain made me think I did because deep inside I wanted to
Anyways, I'm curious to see if others have done this test as well and if it's worth switching to iPod from USB.

 

Well, in the meantime I did get my Cayenne Turbo S (with the Bose system) as well as a Panamera Turbo S (with the Burmester) so I had plenty of opportunity to test pretty much every combination under the sun...

So comparing ALAC to MP3@320kbps:

The only combination where you'll hear a difference is with a Burmester and an acoustic music source (e.g. Classical Music, Classic Rock, etc.) ripped from a CD while you are stopped (in traffic, parked, etc.).

The Bose does so too much DSP stuff that any extra clarity you get from ALAC from an iPod (vs. MP3@320kbps) goes away by the time it comes out the speakers.

The road noise will also drown any advantage of ALAC over 320kbps.

And if the music you listen to isn't acoustic (Pop, EDM, Hip Hop, etc.) the MP3 compression really doesn't eliminate any detail you'll notice (at least not at 320kbps).

Hope this helps.

 

hspder, thanks for the feedback, this was exactly what I was looking for! Again, thanks!