Are CDs obsolete - Page 13

Using Wimp (equivalent to Spotify), which streams from a gigantic online library in 256 kbs AAC directly to my Squeezebox Touch. 

I run it throgh my Naim DAC, and it sounds surprisingly close to CD. Even though it's not lossless, it has practically made CD's obsolete to me..

"EDIT: i just A/B ed a few more songs and i still cannot tell a difference. i also looked it up online and Rdio's streams are all either 256 or 320kbps mp3, so the quality is definitely there. if you consider 320kbps mp3's to sound bad, then i am glad that i don't have your ears."

I can ABX such bit rates from lossless but I think mp3's sound great as long as they are ~256+ and encoded with LAME. High bit rate lossy is fairly high quality I think, just not as good as lossless. For this reason I always buy CD's.

Just my 2 cents.

About 40% of my music is in the form of cd"s and ripped to Apple lossless   , I also buy some music from HD tracks and the  B&W music club in a Flac format ,  but the rest is downloaded from Itunes , The music list there just never stops . I did a search or Ray Charles yesterday and came up with maybe 150 or 200 of his albums , I just can't get that kind of selection here in the local music stores . I stream my music through my computer to my airport express to my Yahama RXV 1800 and to my Energy RC-70's , I really don't hear much difference in the music one way or another ,at least to the point that i can point out what is 256kb and what is Lossless. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by imdskydiver 

. I stream my music through my computer to my airport express to my Yahama RXV 1800...

 

Great receiver.  I've got the same one.  What soundfield are you using on the receiver to play your iTunes tracks?  I have mine set on Music Enhancer (Straight Enhancer), which is supposed to enhance the sound quality by simulating the original depth and width of compressed audio.  Works really well and lossy tracks really don't sound... um... lossy. 

it works great for me. even if it was only 95% as good as CD then i'm still fine with that.
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by ffdpmaggot 

Jason, services like it, in my experience, have issues with sound quality, notably grooveshark or most any internet radio, and when I a/b 320 kbps vs. ALAC, ALAC sounds much better to my ears, with more detail and a warmer sound. Part of the issue is my internet connection is incredibly slow at this point in time, but I suppose for some it would work, for some it wouldnt. 

Jason, using the exact same song, "David's Disarm Their Goliaths" by In Flames, encoded in ALAC and 320 kbps mp3, the mp3 only sounds about 70% as good as the ALAC, which sounds a bit clearer, a bit less grainy, a bit warmer, and has more of the nuances and textures in the song, most notably, the "fuzzy texture" to the guitar during the intro seems to vanish with 320 kbps mp3 (to my knowledge, this was a deliberately included thing). Its not that the 320 is bad per se, just that ALAC sounds better. Could I point out the difference without A/Bing it? Probably not, but amazon runs me an average of another 2 bucks per album when i buy physical CDs than itunes, so id much rather have that hard copy with that slight increase in sound than those two dollars.

i A/B'ed and heard no difference. thats all i know, end of story. either your equipment is more revealing, or your ears are better, or it's a a placebo. i don't know, but in my A/B tests i heard no difference. maybe Rdio is 256 and 320 but not in basic MP3 form, maybe something better. maybe they have a better encoder. i don't know.

i'm happy with it, thats all that matters.
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by ffdpmaggot 

Jason, using the exact same song, "David's Disarm Their Goliaths" by In Flames, encoded in ALAC and 320 kbps mp3, the mp3 only sounds about 70% as good as the ALAC, which sounds a bit clearer, a bit less grainy, a bit warmer, and has more of the nuances and textures in the song, most notably, the "fuzzy texture" to the guitar during the intro seems to vanish with 320 kbps mp3 (to my knowledge, this was a deliberately included thing). Its not that the 320 is bad per se, just that ALAC sounds better. Could I point out the difference without A/Bing it? Probably not, but amazon runs me an average of another 2 bucks per album when i buy physical CDs than itunes, so id much rather have that hard copy with that slight increase in sound than those two dollars.

Great receiver.  I've got the same one.  What soundfield are you using on the receiver to play your iTunes tracks?  I have mine set on Music Enhancer (Straight Enhancer), which is supposed to enhance the sound quality by simulating the original depth and width of compressed audio.  Works really well and lossy tracks really don't sound... um... lossy. 

It depends on the music i am listing to but most of the time i set it to (straight enhancer) . I play around with it all the time , others i use are : straight , 2 ch , or neural -TXS 

Quote:

Originally Posted by imdskydiver 

Great receiver.  I've got the same one.  What soundfield are you using on the receiver to play your iTunes tracks?  I have mine set on Music Enhancer (Straight Enhancer), which is supposed to enhance the sound quality by simulating the original depth and width of compressed audio.  Works really well and lossy tracks really don't sound... um... lossy. 

 

 

It depends on the music i am listing to but most of the time i set it to (straight enhancer) . I play around with it all the time , others i use are : straight , 2 ch , or neural -TXS 

 

Yeah, the built-in soundfields are killer.  All vinyl and cassettes are normally played via straight analog (basically 2 channel), but I play around with the different classical and live performance SFs when listening to those genres as well.  It replaced my aging RV-V995 a few years ago which was a nice also. 
 

There may be a certain hunter collector mind set which is in play 100% of the time for some humans. We have evolved from nomadic tribes to making solid structures to live. A section of human beings get a basic primordial pleasure from hunting and bringing home to the nest. The CD store is the jungle.

Other humans do not have a mental wiring of this sort.

The CD store is the jungle indeed, the record store is worse and the collectors fair, like the big one in Utrecht every half year is pure temptation. My wallet is in danger in that place...