iPod Video / Apple Lossless
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Thought I would pass this onto everyone.
I currently have the prof. stereo and standard speakers in my 330d (below average system IMHO in this day and age); I have however had a recent music revelation! I bought myself an 80GB iPod Video in anticipation of the USB2 interface on my forthcoming 535d; the 80GB pod now has all 60GB worth of my music collection on it. I have encoded a carefully selected number of albums (Floyd, Zeppelin etc etc) in the Apple Lossless decompressed format - oh my god!!, if you play a standard CD through the stereo and then the equiv. track through the iPod via the AUX input the sound quality difference is amazing - I never thought that MP3 could sound better than source CD but I have been proven wrong, sound quality is now far better than average. I can not wait to hear it via dedicated USB2 and Logic 7..
In terms of the rest of the music, this also sounds very good, better than standard CD - It is all ripped into iTunes 7 at 192kbps, this seems to be a high enough bit rate to see an improvement over most standard CD's. To be completely clear, when I say improved quality I mean far crisper base response, more clearly defined mid range and far more realistic vocals. I would be very interested to know if others have had similar experiences?
I currently have the prof. stereo and standard speakers in my 330d (below average system IMHO in this day and age); I have however had a recent music revelation! I bought myself an 80GB iPod Video in anticipation of the USB2 interface on my forthcoming 535d; the 80GB pod now has all 60GB worth of my music collection on it. I have encoded a carefully selected number of albums (Floyd, Zeppelin etc etc) in the Apple Lossless decompressed format - oh my god!!, if you play a standard CD through the stereo and then the equiv. track through the iPod via the AUX input the sound quality difference is amazing - I never thought that MP3 could sound better than source CD but I have been proven wrong, sound quality is now far better than average. I can not wait to hear it via dedicated USB2 and Logic 7..
In terms of the rest of the music, this also sounds very good, better than standard CD - It is all ripped into iTunes 7 at 192kbps, this seems to be a high enough bit rate to see an improvement over most standard CD's. To be completely clear, when I say improved quality I mean far crisper base response, more clearly defined mid range and far more realistic vocals. I would be very interested to know if others have had similar experiences?
#2
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another point to add, the file size difference between Lossless and standard MP3 is significant - average goes from around 5mb per track to 30mb per track - only decompress files if you have the storage capacity!
#3
Originally Posted by TC.' post='388851' date='Feb 8 2007, 06:26 PM
Thought I would pass this onto everyone.
I currently have the prof. stereo and standard speakers in my 330d (below average system IMHO in this day and age); I have however had a recent music revelation! I bought myself an 80GB iPod Video in anticipation of the USB2 interface on my forthcoming 535d; the 80GB pod now has all 60GB worth of my music collection on it. I have encoded a carefully selected number of albums (Floyd, Zeppelin etc etc) in the Apple Lossless decompressed format - oh my god!!, if you play a standard CD through the stereo and then the equiv. track through the iPod via the AUX input the sound quality difference is amazing - I never thought that MP3 could sound better than source CD but I have been proven wrong, sound quality is now far better than average. I can not wait to hear it via dedicated USB2 and Logic 7..
In terms of the rest of the music, this also sounds very good, better than standard CD - It is all ripped into iTunes 7 at 192kbps, this seems to be a high enough bit rate to see an improvement over most standard CD's. To be completely clear, when I say improved quality I mean far crisper base response, more clearly defined mid range and far more realistic vocals. I would be very interested to know if others have had similar experiences?
I currently have the prof. stereo and standard speakers in my 330d (below average system IMHO in this day and age); I have however had a recent music revelation! I bought myself an 80GB iPod Video in anticipation of the USB2 interface on my forthcoming 535d; the 80GB pod now has all 60GB worth of my music collection on it. I have encoded a carefully selected number of albums (Floyd, Zeppelin etc etc) in the Apple Lossless decompressed format - oh my god!!, if you play a standard CD through the stereo and then the equiv. track through the iPod via the AUX input the sound quality difference is amazing - I never thought that MP3 could sound better than source CD but I have been proven wrong, sound quality is now far better than average. I can not wait to hear it via dedicated USB2 and Logic 7..
In terms of the rest of the music, this also sounds very good, better than standard CD - It is all ripped into iTunes 7 at 192kbps, this seems to be a high enough bit rate to see an improvement over most standard CD's. To be completely clear, when I say improved quality I mean far crisper base response, more clearly defined mid range and far more realistic vocals. I would be very interested to know if others have had similar experiences?
And as for MP3 sounding "better" than the original - great - we have perpetual motion and contravention of the Laws of Thermodynamics and Information Theory rolled into one!
Someone's due a Nobel Prize!!
Seriously though. Listening to audio is a psycho-acoustic process. It just depends where you are on the scale!!
ABC
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Originally Posted by aybeesea' post='388904' date='Feb 8 2007, 08:40 PM
Well I'm extremely confused. I don't understand what has Apple Lossless got to do with how MP3 sounds.
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Originally Posted by TC.' post='388851' date='Feb 8 2007, 10:26 AM
Thought I would pass this onto everyone.
I currently have the prof. stereo and standard speakers in my 330d (below average system IMHO in this day and age); I have however had a recent music revelation! I bought myself an 80GB iPod Video in anticipation of the USB2 interface on my forthcoming 535d; the 80GB pod now has all 60GB worth of my music collection on it. I have encoded a carefully selected number of albums (Floyd, Zeppelin etc etc) in the Apple Lossless decompressed format - oh my god!!, if you play a standard CD through the stereo and then the equiv. track through the iPod via the AUX input the sound quality difference is amazing - I never thought that MP3 could sound better than source CD but I have been proven wrong, sound quality is now far better than average. I can not wait to hear it via dedicated USB2 and Logic 7..
In terms of the rest of the music, this also sounds very good, better than standard CD - It is all ripped into iTunes 7 at 192kbps, this seems to be a high enough bit rate to see an improvement over most standard CD's. To be completely clear, when I say improved quality I mean far crisper base response, more clearly defined mid range and far more realistic vocals. I would be very interested to know if others have had similar experiences?
I currently have the prof. stereo and standard speakers in my 330d (below average system IMHO in this day and age); I have however had a recent music revelation! I bought myself an 80GB iPod Video in anticipation of the USB2 interface on my forthcoming 535d; the 80GB pod now has all 60GB worth of my music collection on it. I have encoded a carefully selected number of albums (Floyd, Zeppelin etc etc) in the Apple Lossless decompressed format - oh my god!!, if you play a standard CD through the stereo and then the equiv. track through the iPod via the AUX input the sound quality difference is amazing - I never thought that MP3 could sound better than source CD but I have been proven wrong, sound quality is now far better than average. I can not wait to hear it via dedicated USB2 and Logic 7..
In terms of the rest of the music, this also sounds very good, better than standard CD - It is all ripped into iTunes 7 at 192kbps, this seems to be a high enough bit rate to see an improvement over most standard CD's. To be completely clear, when I say improved quality I mean far crisper base response, more clearly defined mid range and far more realistic vocals. I would be very interested to know if others have had similar experiences?
Now, if iPod sounds better than CD - something is wrong with your CD player. iPod does have decent digital to analog converter, maybe your CD player uses cheapo DAC.
#6
I don't think so.... How could your digital files sound better than the actual CD which is in the original digital format? On Apple iTunes you can modify the sound volume and it might depend on the equalization given by your iPod that their sound is different and you are identifying that as "better". Besides you are not even using the iPod iDrive interface but the Aux input which is supposed to have an inferior signal quality
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Originally Posted by Wiu-Bimmer' post='388932' date='Feb 8 2007, 12:45 PM
I don't think so.... How could your digital files sound better than the actual CD which is in the original digital format? On Apple iTunes you can modify the sound volume and it might depend on the equalization given by your iPod that their sound is different and you are identifying that as "better". Besides you are not even using the iPod iDrive interface but the Aux input which is supposed to have an inferior signal quality
#8
Originally Posted by swajames' post='388937' date='Feb 8 2007, 09:03 PM
It's perfectly possible - using the same reference disk, no two CD players will sound alike either. The same CD (or any other lossless digital data source) can generate audio output that sounds radically different on player A compared to player B due to any number of factors.
Others have pointed out that this terminology may have been made in error.
ABC
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Originally Posted by aybeesea' post='388941' date='Feb 8 2007, 01:10 PM
The confusion was the introduction of MP3 by the OP into the comparison.
Others have pointed out that this terminology may have been made in error.
ABC
Others have pointed out that this terminology may have been made in error.
ABC
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Originally Posted by Wiu-Bimmer' post='388932' date='Feb 8 2007, 12:45 PM
I don't think so.... How could your digital files sound better than the actual CD which is in the original digital format? On Apple iTunes you can modify the sound volume and it might depend on the equalization given by your iPod that their sound is different and you are identifying that as "better". Besides you are not even using the iPod iDrive interface but the Aux input which is supposed to have an inferior signal quality
Now, every CD player or media player employs different digital-to-analog conversion schemes. They are not the same and you can hear differences depending on music material. Also, there are different manufacturers, like Burr-Brown (best), Analog Devices, discrete DACs in high-end players like Mark Levinson, etc. All DACs require post-conversion fillters to eliminate ringing at high frequencies (discussions where they come from is beyond this topic and requires basic knowledge of spectral analysis of signals and digital audio). There are many types of filters, some filter better but affect signal phase distribution across frequencies and some filter worse, but leave phase unchanged. They all affect sound quality in different ways.
iPod probably sounds better than $100 CD player or a boombox. $1000 CD player will sound better, provided you also match it with decent amplifier and speakers. $10000 player may sound even better, but it will require properly acousticaly treated room similar to recording studios and will you hear the difference or not will depend on the music type, recording quality and your ears
iDrive/iPod interfaces pick analog signal from doc connector. You can purchase a cable that plugs into the doc connector and gives you line level signal out. You can connect this signal to aux input and get the same quality as with iDrive/iPod adapter (some recommend removal of low pass filter from aux input though).