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Engadget: They may not have been the highlight of Sony’s IFA 2010 press conference, but the company’s new XNV head units deserve a place of their own, given they integrate full-blown TomTom GPS units and audio/video playback into their 7- and 6.1-inch WVGA touchscreens. Presently destined for Europe, the XNV-L77BT, XNV-770BT, XNV-L66BT and XNV-660BT will ship in November with TeleAtlas maps of 45 nations for a number of undisclosed prices, with each sporting Bluetooth, auxiliary and USB jacks, DivX playback and a DVD drive. The presumably-more-expensive “L” models also come with the usual array of traffic and weather alerts plus a Google-powered local search function, and all four decks sport a music recommendation engine that reportedly changes track based on your mood… though how the system measures your emotional attentions, we’re not quite sure, and hope to find out soon. Press release after the break.

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ipodNN: Sony last week revamped its Xplod car stereo head-end units with its first truly iPod-aware models.

The GT630UI, GT430IP, GT330 and GT130 all have a USB connection that allows iPods and (for the GT630UI) iPhones to be controlled and charged through the stereo’s own interface rather than the player itself. The same support also allows other MP3 players to be recognized through the digital link.

All three also mark the introduction of a scan technology dubbed ZAPPIN that Sony says will do for digital content what auto-scanning does for radios; using the option plays samples of each track in a given piece of the listener’s library to give them a taste of songs and allow playing it by ear rather than text descriptions.

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freep: Speaker-maker supreme Bose has begun making full sound systems that offer navigation, hands-free phone use, satellite radio and voice commands.

Bose, which has made high-end speakers for cars since its first application on the 1983 Cadillac Seville, is the sole supplier of audio, video and navigation for the $264,000 Ferrari 612 Scaglietti.

The elegant system has the same combination of high style and high fidelity that distinguish striking Bose home audio equipment like its Wave radio and Lifestyle audio and video systems.

Called the Bose Media System, the unit has everything from a 30-gigabyte hard drive to store 200 CDs to proximity detectors to sense when you reach for the control knobs.

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E-Gear: Want to learn all about car audio systems, even with next to no prior knowledge of the subject? A new book should go a long way towards helping you out.

California-based writer and E-Gear magazine contributor Doug Newcomb has written “Car Audio For Dummies,” the latest entry in Wiley & Sons popular series, and the book teaches all the basics on how to “plan, buy, install and enjoy” car audio and video systems.

Topics covered in the book include where to buy equipment, whether to go professional or do-it-yourself for installation, sound quality, iPod integration, accessories, and safety, both through anti-theft protection and safeguarding of your hearing. And much more beyond that.

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Audio Junkies: Sound Domain got the scoop on Pioneer’s 2008 Premier high-end car audio lineup. Two things of interest are the DEH-P800PRS headunit and PRS-A900 amplifier. The P800PRS is the replacement for the renowned P880PRS headunit and the PRS-A900 is a completely new amplifier.

Pioneer DEH-P800PRS Headunit Features:
* Copper plated chassis
* Linear DA converter
* 3 high-volt pre-outs
* HD Radio
* USB input
* Auto-EQ and Auto-Time Alignment
* Dual (L/R) 16-Band Graphic EQ
* Burr-Brown DACs

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Telegraph: A few years ago, the audio equipment in a new car consisted of a radio/CD and a four-speaker system. It came as part of the package and really didn’t have a high profile. All this has now changed. A recent survey showed that audio equipment has suddenly become a top-five in-car item. Amazingly, these days it’s all factory fitted and not shoehorned in by the local car-audio installer.

In this highly competitive market, car manufacturers have decided to give some real credibility to their sound offerings and call in the big names of home hi-fi to design systems. First to appear was Bose in Audi, Mazda and Porsche, then Harman in BMW, closely followed by Bang&Olufsen in the Audi A8, Mark Levinson in Lexus, Dynaudio in VW and Volvo, then new arrival Bowers&Wilkins in the Jaguar XKR Portfolio edition. These partnerships offer manufacturing advantages to both sides; the audio designers are in at the beginning of vehicle planning and can advise on the best speaker siting and sound options.

The biggest single influence on factory-installed systems has been the adoption of Dolby multichannel/surround sound. This enables the use of multispeaker systems, up to 14 in some vehicles. In theory this puts the passenger centre-stage no matter where he/she is sitting; with the original stereo system, the driver or front passenger got the ambience while the rear passengers got the residues.

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Newlaunches: Americans may enjoy the services of XM and Sirius Radio, but the satellite radio industry in Europe is quite at a nascent stage. Working on the similar premise of the dish antenna for TV, ESA and their nine partners have labored for three long years and are coming out with a satellite car radio that will change the face of the radio industry in Europe for good. The prototype of this radio will be demonstrated at the Noordwijk Space Expo on Thursday 25 January.

Saying goodbye to signal loss in tunnels, cracking voices and static noise, this multimedia car radio is just the beginning of the good times to come. Keeping the sleek looks of the car in mind, it will have no large dish antenna on the roof, but a specially designed mobile antenna, flattened so that it can be built almost invisibly into the bodywork. Instead of new satellites and a network of ground-based transmitters the ESA system uses only existing communication satellites.

Due to the advanced technology used (cache memory), received signals can be stored and can be played back later. So in case you need to make that restroom stop in the middle of your fav song you could pause the song, you can even select a part of the broadcast to listen to.

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As followup to their audio-only iPod interface, it looks like Alpine has been quietly pumping out an iPod video capable KCE-415i unit in Europe for the last month.

Yet a North American KCA-415i version is, at best, stil only on display on the trade show circuit. The E-variety 415i retails for about $100 and allows you to play/pause, skip, fast-forward/rewind the main 5G iPod directly from your Alpine MultiMedia station or overhead monitor with additional controls available from the Alpine head unit, remote control, or iPod itself.

The interface is seen by your Alpine system as an external DVD source and not only charges your iPod’s battery, but allows the iPod to be switched on/off via your car’s ignition system. The unit provides composite or S-Video outs and as you’d expect works with a wide-variety of Alpine monitors. So just kick-in the autosync on your iTunes season subscriptions and you’ll never suffer the lack of fresh, child numbing content on those long-haul trips again.

Source: engadget

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