iPod photo and DLO Transpod FM work great

[unixadm]

I had ordered the Belkin TuneCast II, the power cord for it, and the cupholder bracket when I saw the DLO Transpod. This looked like a more elegant solution for my use and I was right.

Works great in my Ford F150 truck. No static (The Belkin had no static either). The iPod Photo fits perfectly into it. Nice thing with the placement is I can leave the Backlight on and easily read the track titles and see the artwork!

I haven't decided which power port to leave it in. I am leaning towards the middle one below the radio.

It does have an additional extention that allows more angling, but with it hanging out that far, it was putting too much pressure on the cig lighter outlet.....it actually started turning when I made a sharp turn, so I took the extention out of the mix.

[unixadm]

Here it is in the 12V power outlet

[brianrpsgt1]

Did you have to add any of the spacers to the back of Transpod? I have a 60GB Ipod Photo and the power does not seem to line up. I really like the Transpod A LOT and want to continue to use it, but right now it is not operatable for me.

Thanks,

B

[iPodible]

Looks sweet. Too bad it blocks the passenger air vents.

[unixadm]

I have the 60GB.....I put in the thinnest foam spacer. The iPod slides in smoothly, is nice and tight in there, but not too tight.

As far as blocking the vent, there is an extention that comes with it that I have since put on. There are all kinds of adjustments on it, and allows me to angle it as well.

Here are a couple of photos:

[unixadm]

and here

[pkazmercyk]

I've been using Sonnet's Pod Freq FM transmitter, and the FM transmission quality is inconsistent. Very often, higher frequencies (vocal "s", cymbals, etc. are very "essy" for lack of a better term -- sometimes to the point of being unlistenable). I've already replaced one unit, but the replacement seems the same. The effect is similar to what you'd get if you were trying to tune in a station on an analog dial, and it's not quite locked on, so you need to fine tune it (except with the Pod Freq, you can't!)

So, I'm wondering what your experience the TransPod has been. Would you rate the sound quality overall (FM quality, AM quality, somewhere in between?) and what about the distortion I described above?

Thanks!

[unixadm]

I definitely rate it as FM quality in my situation. I crank up the music and it sounds fantastic.

But, I will also add that I have an Ford F150 truck that has an external antenna on the front passenger fender near the windshield. As you can see from my pictures, the transmitter is in a cigarette lighter/power outlet that is on the dash right below the windshield, so it has a very close range to the antenna.

I am sure that does help things a lot. Vehicles that have the FM antenna in the rear window may not be as friendly with any transmitter you get.

Another thing is that you MUST find a station that has no other broadcast on it or nearby it or you will get the interference. I have it at 89.9 and that is great all around the Georgia area. But we recently went to Florida, and I started getting bleed over from radio stations and had to change to another frequency.

The "essy" sounds you hear definitely sound like either the radio is not tuned into the same station as the transmitter (like it was off by a tenth of a frequency), you have heavy interfernece, or your transsmitter is too far away from the antenna, or not working properly.

[pkazmercyk]

Thanks.

In both my vehicles the antenna is very near a front window. I've tried moving the Pod Freq onto the dashboard and other locations putting it within a few feet of the vehicle's antenna, but the problem persists. I agree with you that it sounds like the frequency is off just a hair.

Thanks for the reply. Your setup looks great. Enjoy it!

[bck9]

I too, recently purchased the DLO Transpod. I am very happy with it. I was using a Belkin II, which I thought was fair to good (no real complaints). The DLO is a much better investment, imo.

[wytwolf]

I just bought the icarplay. I think it's great. I orginally had the itrip, but i wasn't strong enough for my car. My mazda 3 has the antenna on the back of the roof. So not only does the signal have to travel farther it has to pass through the roof instead of just glass.

I could heard interference with the itrip, but the icarplay is crystal clear. I always cursed on how few the number of good radio stations we have in my city. Now i think it's great :) It's less i have to worry about interference with my transmitter.

[s0ulg]

I found the DLO Transpod less than wonderful. Although the signal was clear most of the time, the bass response was lacking with a real 'walkman' type sound to it. I'm plugged in directly with a pocket dock line-out -> HU aux-in and the improvement was well worth the few extra dollars, IMHO.

[pkazmercyk]

Doesn't the TransPod use the iPod's line level output through the dock connector? If so, why would there be any variation in bass output. The Pod Freq uses the line level output and delivers more bass than necessary (with iPod EQ turned on, that is).

[s0ulg]

Because the Transpod, in the stock config., uses an FM modulator to deliver sound to your stereo system. Loss of sound quality is inherent in this method, I noticed it most in the richness of the sound quality, particularly the bass response. However, the DLO does have a line level out, so if you are able to connect it up directly and bypass the FM mod. (i.e. your stereo has aux-in or CD-changer buss connector), then you would get line-out quality sound. I used the unit with the FM mod., so my comments were based upon the quality of the sound over the airwaves. The sound quality wasn't BAD persay, but listen to your iPod hooked up in a hard-wired configuration and you will notice a definete difference.