SNR of aux input vs. cassette tape adapter in cars

[infinitesymphony]

Is anyone aware of tests that have been done to measure the SNR of aux inputs vs. cassette tape adapters in cars? The general consensus seems to guess that the cassette tape adapter would fare worse, but I am curious to know how much worse it measures (if at all).

 

[Blumlein 88]

I've not measured them. The only cassette adapters I've heard have much worse frequency response and obvious noise. Not necessarily enough noise to invalidate their use, but you can tell there is noise there.

 

[amirm]

No measurements but they are considerably worse as mentioned. So avoid them unless you have no other choice.

 

[Werner]

Given that the playback noise of a good tape machine is only a few dB lower than the bias noise of the
best tape, the very best case for the adapter is 64 dB(A)-ish, and that's with 70 us eq. And no idea how much
headroom (hehe) such an adapter has. Probably really not much at all.

 

[infinitesymphony]

This all makes sense to me. I suppose the biggest concern is the potential for hiss and electrical noise due to the tape head connection (is this even grounded?) followed by possibly poor analog electronics.

What prompted my question was a test drive I had in a 2006 luxury car that had CD/tape and no aux input, leaving a tape adapter or a FM transmitter as the only solutions for plugging something in short of cutting up or replacing the dash panel to provide enough room for a 1- or 2-DIN aftermarket unit. There are a number of pre-2007 cars like it that will last forever with regular maintenance, but it's hard to keep them technologically up to date.

A couple of years ago I moved from a '99 car with tape adapter to a '96 car with a FM transmitter. I miss the tape adapter.