A line drive basically increases the output voltage of the source unit to match to the head unit.The higher the output voltage, the more headroom(volume) the stereo will have and you wont have to overdrive the stereo. We (PAC) had a adjustable and fixed output line driver now we just have the fixed output that would increase by 2:1 and have a 12dB bass boost, P/N Turbo X.

 

While the line driver may be better for level matching your Soundgate to the other sources, I must warn you of one pitfall associated with Line Drivers. Every device added to the signal path increases one's chances of introducing noise into the system. If you are willing to live with that gamble and track down any potential noise issues, then go for it.

Of course, the flip side is that a line driver may not introduce any noise... The choice is yours as to whether or not you want to take that risk for something as simple as tweaking the volume ****.

 

I'll look into them, I think soudgate makes line drivers also. ill take a look at there website. Are they easy to install?

 

Hate to make the mp3's sound bad by adding noise...

The amount of noise introduced by a good quality line driver will not be noticed compaired to the output gained.

 

If one wants to risk yet another potential entry point for a ground loop noise and adding that lovely HISSSSSSSSSSS sound, then more power to them.

Personally, I never saw the need for a line driver in any of my setups. In fact, that Soundgate device seems a little lacking since they didn't include a simple gain control to allow for source level matching with it.

 

I dont think there are any aux inluts that have a gain control.We stopped making them in to ours because consumers would crank them up and then complain about sound quality.We do have 1 with a gain which is the AAI-FRD04.Other then that, we dont have any issues with noise unless the mp3 is junk and need the level increased too much, but is not a ground loop noise.

 

HHHHHHHHHHHHIIIIIIIISSSSSSSSSSSSS noises? You thinkin about the old tape days?

 

Unfortunately I am not. My most recent experience with a noisy amplifier was a popular unit manufactured by Zenon out of Korea. Prior to that I experienced noise issues with a full range PDX amplifier and some old school Linear Power amplifiers.

Don't get me wrong, I understand the noise issues associated with the old school Linear Power amplifiers mainly due to their self-oscillating power supplies along with their super small input filtering capacitors. What I didn't understand was why a modern production Alpine PDX-5 or Korean amplifier would have noise floor issues. Some of the "professionals" blamed my install even though no other amplifier I tried exhibited that lovely HISS with a little oscillation thrown in. I was even able to reproduce the results on a test bench.

Going back to the history of line drivers, weren't they initially created because most head units had super weak outputs and cranking the gain introduced hiss into the mids and/or tweeters? Granted, ground loop issues can appear as hiss or alternator whine, depending on the source of the problem.

Regardless, I am having a hard time buying the fact that one would need a line driver for source level matching with a factory head unit. IMHO, Soundgate designed an inferior product if the output through the Zune interface is significantly lower than the CD player or the radio to the point where one needs the volume at 50% just to hear the tracks on the Zune. Something is just WRONG there...

 

they have not been making the soundgate zune intergration for very long, and unlike the ipod, there are no aftermarket headunits that support zune controle, so this is the only route you can go as fare as intergration is. i dont think its an inferior product, nothing is perfect.

 

So something like this? http://www.soundgate.com/index.php?r...usereferrer=1&