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I still record on cassette and will till I die. My current car has a 3.5mm mini jack input to the audio system that I use to enjoy my music with a Sony WM-D6C on the seat next to me. Lately I have been shopping for a new car to find that manufacturers have abandon the 3.5mm input and just offer a USB input. Amazon offers a USB to mini jack 3' cable but the reviews imply it does not work with analog outputs.
My question is, does anyone else have this problem and if so, is there a solution? Was thinking I'd find out if the Toyota or Honda vehicles USB input would accept line-level analog at all, or just digital input, and is there a patch cord for this. Or, is there a device that could go between the tape player and the car USB? I hate to think I'll be driving the same car for the next 20 years.
Follow Ups:
I own a 2018 Toyota Camry XSE and it has both a USB port and a 3.5-mm analog input to its stereo.I think you should probably get rid of the cassette in favor of a hi-res digital Walkman because they sound much, much better. I have a FiiO M11 Quad DSD Walkman that I plug into my Camry's analog stereo input and it sounds fantastic. I prefer it over a USB flash drive, but my Toyota will playback up to 24/192 PCM digital from a USB flash drive. You really should explore a new DSD digital Walkman because it will trounce a cassette Walkman.
I also own a fifteen thousand dollar turntable with a thousand dollar phono cartridge and a four thousand dollar phono preamp, so I understand your enthusiasm for analog. However, a FiiO DSD Walkman will put a cassette Walkman to shame. Anyway, check out a Toyota Camry XLE or XSE and I think you'll find they still have an analog 3.5-mm input to their stereo system.
Good luck,
John Elison
Edits: 10/07/19
Thanks John. I lurk Vinyl Asylum and learn from your respected posts. From my research, it appears that both Toyota and Honda 2019-2020 are dropping the 3.5mm analog input from their sound systems. Maybe not all vehicle models but I think so, and I want to buy new. When you upgrade your vehicle, this may be a factor for you too. My concern is not really about sound quality in a car, I use bluetooth for my phone and various music apps and CD, and surprisingly, the Sony cassette player with Dolby B and Metal IV selector is right up there, minus the ease and convenience. My guilty pleasure is capturing music to the highest quality cassettes using a Nakamichi Dragon in a Herron tubed system. I looked at the digital walkman you linked and will consider that for future use, but for now, I have about 1500 cuts of music recorded over 10 years that would be all but impossible to transfer to digital storage, much of it unidentifiable with Shazam or Sound Hound.
Well, I was driving home from a listening session at my audio buddy's home and I decided to stop in at the Green's Toyota dealership in Lexington, KY where I bought my Camry XSE. I took a look at a 2020 Toyota Camry XSE and you're absolutely correct: No AUX input; only USB. I didn't look at a 2019 model Camry, but I looked at a 2019 Avalon and a 2019 Corolla. Each of these 2019 models had both a USB and an AUX input to their stereo systems. Consequently, if you're looking for a good deal on a brand new 2019 Avalon, it definitely has the AUX input you require. If you're willing to buy a brand new 2019, you might want to check out the Camry because it might also have an AUX input; I didn't get a chance to check it out, Anyway, both the 2019 Avalon and Corolla have it.
The salesman I talked to is Isaiah Hall at Green's Toyota of Lexington, KY. He said he'd make you a fantastic deal on a brand new 2019 model with an AUX input. He also said you don't need to live in Lexington or even in Kentucky. Just send him an email and he'll fill you in on the details: hall.isaiah87@gmail.com
Good luck,
John Elison
I may do that and I will also watch my local Toyota dealers for clearance sales on 2019 models. Thanks so much.
Joel
My car stereo has an aux in input!It cost 40 euros and I bought it at Praktiker (like Home Depot in USA).it's a chinese unknown brand, but it's quite good compared to the OEM tape deck that the car came with! (2000 Hyundai Atos).It has a USB and an SD card input and radio. I installed it myself, goes without saying!
Well, I bought my new Camry about 18-months ago and I suspect it will last another few years, possibly the rest of my life. I'm sorry to hear Toyota deleted the analog input from their car stereos, but that's not a deal breaker for me because I don't have any cassette tapes remaining. I got rid of my two Dragons in the mid 1990s after buying a Sony DAT Walkman in 1991. I used my Dragons exclusively to record vinyl LPs, but I didn't like the wow & flutter of my cassette Walkman's. I'm very sensitive to wow & flutter. I had no problem with my two Dragons but I couldn't find a cassette Walkman that would play piano music without noticeable wow & flutter. That's the reason I bought a Sony DAT Walkman. I expected it to sound like a CD player but I decided I could put up the digital artifacts if it provided perfect speed stability. I was taken completely by surprise after hearing my first vinyl recording to discover it exhibited no digital sonic artifacts. All my DAT copies of vinyl sounded just like vinyl to me. That's when I decided to replace my Dragons with DAT recorders. I've never regretted switching to digital although I sometimes wish I had kept one of my Dragons. ;-)Good luck,
John Elison
Edits: 10/07/19
Like you, I really like to play cassettes in my car. I still dub LPs, this is most of my tape collection...I don't have very many pre-recorded cassettes.
After a number of years of placing a walkman on the passenger seat in my 2010 VW Golf, I got fed up. So here was my solution: dump the factory double DIN CD changer and replace it with 2 single DIN units in its place...a single DIN Kenwood Excelon CD receiver with a NOS Kenwood tape deck receiver. It's a great combination: a modern receiver with full bluetooth capability, it will play single CDs (I do this sometimes), and it has this spotify,pandora crap that I will never use....BUT...it has a rear AUX input, which I feed the dash mounted tape player into.
Right now, if I want to play a tape, I just select the AUX input on the Kenwood Excelon...and I can play tapes.
Thing is, Kenwood is the ONLY manufacturer currently producing a head unit with REAR AUX input...nobody else does.
So my suggestion is go aftermarket, get a Kenwood Excelon single DIN unit, and wire it up with another single DIN tape player (you can find them on fleabay, just keep watching for them), and you are done. It's the best thing I ever did for my car audio!!
As an aside, the Kenwood tuner sounds better than the stock VW unit, the CD player does too...there isn't much downside as I see it.
Incidentaly, I sold the idea on all this to the wife with "well dear, I need to do this so that the bluetooth works properly, so you can get a hold of me all the time when I am driving".
There's nothing like the sweet sound of a nice chrome or metal tape you dubbed playing in your car!
Cheers
Grant
Thanks Grant for understanding my predicament. Your remedy is on my list. My options are: keep the current vehicle until the wheels fall off, buy new and swap sound system, or buy used with factory aux input. My understanding is that the USB input is digital only, so I searched for and found a cheap ADC (analog to digital converter) that is powered by USB, but it's output is either coaxial or optical, and I can't find a patch cable for either of those to USB. I don't really want to buy a new vehicle and instantly throw another $$$ into it to fix a $10 problem. But will do what it takes to fix the problem, and the auto salesmen seem sympathetic, but there's nothing they can do. Will look for the Kenwoods.
I now record music to cassette from my phone's headphone jack via YouTube and TuneIn Radio app. If I really like a band I will buy the CD or vinyl, but mostly it's free, and fun to make 90 minute tapes using Maxell, Sony or TDK metal, one song at a time, and almost nothing you would hear on American radio (unless I go nostalgic). Oh, and the sound quality is very good, friends always think I'm playing a CD. In the house, Vinyl Rules, but still spend most time recording with little or no loss of quality.
If you are OK with having the walkman sitting on the passenger seat to play tapes, there are a number of brands of single DIN head units that still have a front panel Aux. input. Pioneer units for sure. After many years I got fed up with it! Had to pull it out, plug the 12v power in & connect the Aux. Can't do it with a passenger there.
But if your next car only has a single DIN then replacing it with another single DIN isn't a big deal...I'm getting the impression more cars are coming with double DIN head units to facilitate the "rear camera" screen which might be required for mechanical certification in some jurisdictions? Personally, I've been driving for over 40 years without a rear camera, why would I need one now?
Anyhow, for an older camera-less car with a double DIN space installing the 2 single DIN units in there works great. Can't be happier. And like I said, the Kenwood Excelon 702 & 502 are the only "current production" head units with rear Aux inputs which allows this.
Grant
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