Bluetooth Transmitter and Charger for iPod Classic

Hi I bought a Kokkia bluetooth transmitter and headphone and they work well with my iPod class. The headphones are nothing special

http://store.kokkia.com/bluetoothstereoheadsetmusicandvoice.aspx

They don't allow charging but I mainly use in the gym

Hi, I had the same problem (wanted to use my iPod Classic in my car using bluetooth and during long rides the battery didn't last) and could not find a bluetooth adapter which also charges the iPod. Could not find a cable to support that either. I already had that bluetooth adapter. So I decided to create the missing cable myself and that worked fine. I bought a 30 pin extension cable (male/female) and a standard 30 pin USB cable. I cut of the 30 pin connector from the USB cable, opened the extension cable, connected all four USB wires to the appropriate wires in the extension cable, disconnected these wires from the 30 pin female connector except for ground which must of course stay connected to all connectors (30 pin male, 30 pin female and USB).

I don't know of any with a "pass-thru" for charging. However, you may want to look into the type of Bluetooth transmitter that connects to the headphones jack. This type is not specific to iPods; it works with any standard mini-stereo output jack. Then, you can use a regular USB docking cable to keep it connected to power.

DaveBrock9 wrote:

I have heard that there is superior quality audio from the 30 pin connector than the headphone jack, so I am hoping to use the 30 pin connector

to somehow link to a Bluetooth Transmitter.

The most significant issue when using the headphone output from an iPod Classic is that if your iPod was purchased within the EU (European Union), then maximum volume from that headphone socket is lower than the standard (non-EU) iPods (except, I believe, from very early iPods). What this means is that you will need to turn up the volume on your Hi-Fi amplifier in order to compensate for this. However, this lower input to the Hi-Fi amp can result in a wishy-washy* sound, even more lacking in bass than usual (see below).

If you're really determined, you could feed the headphone output from the iPod into a headphone amplifier first and then feed that into the bluetooth transmitter. That would allow you to boost the volume to the Hi-Fi amp, but be careful not to turn it up too far, which would simply cause distortion.

Even then, I find the Hi-Fi amp shows up the lack of bass from an iPod, so I add EQ as well. Not perfect and Hi-Fi geeks will probably disapprove, but since this is about compromise, it just depends on what you want to achieve.

* wishy-washy - (in this context) weak or ineffective.

DaveBrock9 wrote:

For those who are familiar with bypassing the internal iPod amp to produce the best sound.... does this make sense as a good route to get the best quality sound.... and also be able to charge the iPod at the same time?

Well, although I cannot offer a guarantee, it does look as though it will do the job. Make sure you buy the later version (Rev.B) though as the earlier version does not offer Line Out from some iPod models.

DaveBrock9 wrote:

I am also hoping to use this to connect the iPod to Bose Soundlink Mini 2 external speakers.

That should produce a good sound.

Note the comment I made previously about the lack of bass or the wishy-washy sound connecting to a Hi-Fi amplifier. A standard Hi-Fi amplifier is designed to sound best when using music on CD. It is not tailored to compensate for an iPod's "compressed" files, which is why the sound can be less than great. (Before anyone gets huffy and claims that Apples Lossless isn't compressed - in this context, yes it is.)

But the Bose Soundlink was designed for the type of music files found on your iPod and the results are very impressive.

I suggest you try and find a retailer who will let you try the Sendstation device before buying it, if you can. That way, you'll be sure, because I don't have personal experience of the Sendstation.