[low.pfile]

WOW, what a hassle to get analog line out of the new iPhones!

The iPhone 5/5c/5s are using a new Lightning connector (8-pin) to replace the 10-year old 30-pin connector which was on the first iphone.

Over the weekend I upgraded to an iPhone 5s from my 4, so my current Griffin car charger with line out, using a 30-pin male connector, is no longer compatible. After looking around for days unsuccessfully to find a new car charger with the Lightning connector AND a 3.5mm line out, I came up empty handed. So, I figured I'd do some research on the Apple adapter (Lightning to 30-pin) to see if it could work and pass analog audio into my old charger. Well I purchased the Apple adapter, which is supposes to be able to provide analog audio, but my Griffin charger doesn't see it. When connecting them together I get the dreaded " incompatible device..." or some such error message on my phone screen.

My research has informed me that the Apple 8-pin- to 30-pin adapter cable ($39) contains authentication chip and a DAC chip, so it seemed like it would provide the plain old analog signal I needed to connect into the analog 3.5mm AUX input of my car stereo. There are tons of cheap imports of this adapter, which could never have the electronics of the Apple version since I've seen them as cheap as $1.

So now my next idea is to try to combine:
a) iPhone 5s Dock, which has an analog line out http://store.apple.com/us/product/MF030ZM/A/iphone-5s-dock
b) a new car charger for iphone 5/5s Lightning connectors

This will end up being more parts than I had hoped for but it may allow for me to get the line out I want.  My car stereo does not have a USB input so that is not an option. But I know not everyone with the newest iPhone has a recent model car with that USB input feature. I listen to a variety of things from my phone (podcasts, spotify, pandora, stored music), but would like to just bypass the headphone amp. Of course the headphone out 3.5mm jack output is an option but it is an amplified signal, which is the least preferred method.

Anyone else on AC run into this lack of analog out problem for the newer iPhones?

The iPhone 5, which first introduced the Lightning connector, was available in September of 2012, so I would have thought that some 3rd party accessory manufacturer would have created a car charger with analog out.

[johsti]

Why not bluetooth?  I know a line out would have better sound quality, but bluetooth is not bad.  Especially in a car with road noise to contend with.

You can get an inexpensive bluetooth receiver that connects to your cars 3.5mm aux input.

[low.pfile]

Hi Johsti, Sorry, bluetooth sound quality is not acceptable to me. I've tried it on different systems (car and home), and it just doesn't cut it for me.

[johsti]

I'm very picky about sound quality too, which can probably be said about anyone who belongs to this forum.  Perhaps you have a better car stereo system than I do because I would be hard pressed to tell a difference between bluetooth and the aux input when driving.  I typically stream MOG at 320 kbps and find the sound quality to be very acceptable.  Add in the the convenience factor and it makes bluetooth an easy decision for me.  For home use, I wouldn't be as tolerant using bluetooth nor would I be using an iphone as a source on my system.

Good luck with your search for an analog line out.  I wish Apple would have left the 30 pin connector alone.



 

[low.pfile]

Thanks Johsti. Yeah it was a while ago I tested BT audio in a car. my new compact home system has BT and the difference was dramatic compared to Airplay source.

My acura has BT phone syncing and that soundQ is not great. But maybe BT has improved lately for audio. we know it is compressed and my car system is an aftermarket but not anything crazy. Road noise does exist mainly from the floor. doors are dynamatted.

cheers

[Crimson]

See. You should've gone through the iPhone 5 pain. That way the 5s wouldn't hurt so much.

BTW, BT all the way here for car audio.

[low.pfile]

See. You should've gone through the iPhone 5 pain. That way the 5s wouldn't hurt so much.

BTW, BT all the way here for car audio.

ah, it's a long story Joe, but I made the jump forward finally.

So, is your car BT via a wired in harness to your head unit, a cabled accessory or built into your smart audio system?

cheers,
ed

[skunark]

I use the USA Spec CD changer adapter for iPods/iPhone and with the lightening adapter.    It should run you $100-130 for the cd-changer adapter plus the $30 for the lightening cable adapter.  Works great, charges the phone, plays music and the cd-changer controls can change the track.    Cable can hide between the seat and console when i'm away.   

Jim

[Mikeinsacramento]

My car has an Apple 30 pin input that lets me control the device through the steering wheel controls.  Problem is, 5 version phones don't work.

I just use an old i-pod touch with the 30 pin for music.  BT for phone calls.

[low.pfile]

....the adapter harness(skunkark) and built-in iphone port(Mikeinsacramento) would be awesome, for sure.


** SOLVED (off the shelf version) **

just getting the latest charger and dock does provide me with line level out from my iphone 5s as needed. Sure there is no built in controls on my deck or steering wheel, but I didn't have that before.

When I went to the Palo Alto Apple store,  asking one of their people, who was knowledgeable about the chargers, didn't know about audio (with his confirmation that I could return the dock if it didn't work--I still needed a Lightning (8-pin) car charger). I bought:

iPhone 5s dock $29
Incase mini car charger $30




Yes, this is much larger than I would prefer but chargers for iphone 5 with line out are just not available yet.

What I learned researching a bit. the new Apple lightning cables only pass digital and therefore have both authentication and DAC chips (as do the docks). So it is very unlikely that the $1 ebay USB to lightning cables could be used for anything other than charging and other iphone 5 docks also wont provide audio because they would need to license the electronics from Apple.

Anyway, I now have music in my car from my iphone 5s.

[8snaces]

I have the HRT streamer-12V in one of my cars.

It will charge your phone, and the sound is very nice for the minimal cost.

Easy to switch between Apple devices.

Only does 16bit/48k files.

Setup may not be as easy as your solution.

[rebar]

Hello new here.

I'm also looking for a good car DAC for the iphone5 and have narrowed it down to the HRT streamer-12V..

Or

Lightning Digital AV Adapter > HDMI to TV Composite RCA

Does the iphone5 lightning to usb adapter plug right into the HRT streamer 12v ?  And where do your rca outputs go?

Any thoughts on my second method?

Thanks

[azshawn]

Sure makes me wish I would have gone Samsung instead of iPhone 6. The Galaxy seems to have no power issues using a Dragonfly DAC. Yes, you could dock the phone but I believe the charger/power noise wouldn't be worth the trade off. :/

[fuzebird]

This post is over six years old, but hopefully low.pfile might see this and can answer me. Did the iphone 5s dock setup give you the line level out that you were seeking? I want to have a dedicated iphone setup to listen to music through my vintage receivers. I want to be able to plug into the AUX input on my receivers. I want the proper line level out signal that I can run into my receiver without sacrificing signal quality as would be using the headphone jack output. You can pickup new iphone 5s in the box relatively cheap now, they're so old and you can still find new in the box iphone 5s docks. I was thinking I could buy a new iphone 5s 64mb and an iphone 5s dock and just use it for storing and playing music, and could use the internet capabilities of the iphone to pull up music files to play from Youtube and such. I wouldn't use it as a phone but just leave it connected to the receiver and use it as an audio component. Did the iphone 5s dock's line out jack give you the proper line out signal that you were looking for?