Alpine has finally given a mostly-firm date for its new in-car iPod interface, the KCA-420i, updating their website to show a “late September” availability. The connector is one of the most promising iPod car adapters out there, connecting to any of Alpine’s head units that support its Ai-Net standard (which unfortunately explains the relatively cheap $100 price). The KCA-420i also supports Alpine’s MediaXpander technology that attempts to add back in the harmonics lost in MP3 compression on the fly, making your so-so sounding compressed audio sound much closer to its CD-quality source (and although I haven’t personally heard MediaXpander, I’ve actually heard nothing but good things about it).
More betterness, and links, after the jump.
Not so much use for me these days, since my car is basically a $350-a-month ticket magnet now (thanks, Brooklyn!), but if you’ve already invested in Alpine, it doesn’t look like a bad way to go, especially since — if I’m parsing this correctly — all your regular playlists and such will still be accessible, unlike the recent iPod Your BMW setup we’ve been talking about. (Thanks, Aaron!)
Read – Product Page [Alpine-USA]
Related
Gizmodo Exclusive: iPod Your BMW Secrets Revealed [Gizmodo]
iPods and Film Contests [ArtOfSpeed]
https://gizmodo.com/gizmodo-exclusive-ipod-your-bmw-secrets-revealed-16383
