Ive heard alot of people say that mp3 players have a large lag between tracks. Is there one brand that stands out over the others? Is there one that is the fastest?

 

I notice no lag on my Alpine 7998. If there is a lag, it is small enough I find it acceptable.

-Kimball

 

I never noticed a lag on mine. The lag probably comes from the excess time on the end of an .mp3 file.
For example, it would be the same as if when they recorded a CD and the band finished playing in the room, they didn't cut off the recording for a sec or 2, plus then a sec or 2 in between tracks, plus then the intro for the next song. That could be 5-6 sec total.
Of course, CD recording companies have fixed this problem, but MP3's usually add a little extra time onto the end when they are transformed into Mp3s from Wav files. You can fix this by editing the MP3 files in a MP3/WAV editing program (There are hundreds you can download on Download.com) by cutting off those last few blank seconds.

Again, this is most likely a gap on the actual MP3 file, not a connection to the face whatsoever.

 

i would agree. if anything reading mp3s would be far faster than just regular cds.

 

I install Car audio and Car alarms/remote starts for Circuit City, and I have had a lot of experience with the speed of certain MP3 players. Right now Pioneer is the absolute slowest, pitiful with sometimes a full 5 seconds in between each song. Alpine and Kenwood Excelon HU are the best with almost unnoticable pause in between songs. If I were you I would wait for all the new HU models to come out this spring, most likely there will be absolutely no pause in between songs in ANY brand (except maybe LEGACY and maybe SONY) Wait for about 3 more months and you will be glad you did, There are some sweet HU coming out, especially from my favorite....ALPINE!!!

 

Nope, It is a lot quicker to read a "regular" CD, since the MP3 files are so small, it takes more decompressing, which takes longer.

 

The main reason the other head-units are slow to read the MP3 files has nothing to do with compression. It has everything to do with the file system of the CD and the processor in the head unit.

The higher end units have the better processors and therefore have the quickest response times.

I agree, however, that the Alpine units are probably the best right now.

 

Someone above said Kenwood's are among the best, and I disagree. I have the Z828 and while its an excellent HU it has worse track-track time than my Pioneer.

My brother had a cheap Jensen HU and it had the best track-track times I've EVER seen. It just didn't have a hell of a lot else going for it.

 

Which Pioneer unit do you have? And you are refering to MP3 track to track time and not normal CD audio playback track to track time.. correct?

 

I said Kenwood EXCELON decks, not the Z828 which is NOT an Excelon Deck. Kenwood's non Excelon decks are generally weak performers.

 

Oops, didn't catch the significance of Excelon.

And also, I have the Pioneer DEH-8400, the CD track to track seek time is great, just not the MP3, same goes for my Kenwood, of which it's mp3 track to track stinks. CD audio is so simplistic if track-track times were laggy you have had to REALLY mess up.