[daveDerek]

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Only one original member - guitarist Gary Green. Mortimore was drummer on the third GG album only (which makes Three Friends a good name...)
Okay, I get the message. I have to try to see these guys live.

yeah, it's true that Malc wasn't the first drummer, but he was a member of GG. sorry if that caused any confusion. and yeah, you do need to see them if possible. there are plenty of folks who regret having missed seeing GG live back in the day. you never know if there will be another opportunity so if you have one i'd highly recommend seeing them!
NewDuke, cooperpwc is another fan (ck out his avatar. his previous one was the cover of In a Glass House).
they went from being called 'Rentle Giant' to '3 Friends' when keyboardist, tuned percussionist, and composer extraordinaire joined them, making it a particularly apt name. unfortunately his tenure was short lived. glad i got to see them while he was still part of the band.

 

[Danneq]

Count me as another GG fan!
 

I'm mostly a fan of the albums between, and including, In a Glass House and Interview, but I enjoy all their stuff. Even the late ventures into pop. Even if their heart wasn't in the music any more by then, I'd still take Gentle Giant pop over ordinary pop any day of the week.
 
A present day US band that has been very influenced by Gentle Giant is Echolyn. Especially their first phase between 1989 and 1995 was very proggy with a Gentle Giantish touch. They broke up in early 1996 and then reunited in 2000. Their newer stuff is less all out proggy, but still great rock with the same GGish feel.
Well, if you are into prog rock, you probably already are familiar with them...
 
To keep this thread on topic, I enjoy Gentle Giant, Echolyn and Transatlantic, converted to MP3 VBR0 or CBR320, on my DAP:s.

 

[Theodore]

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you can ABX FLAC and a mp3 ask yourself this. Is this (slight) difference worth not having more music with me on the go?
I think in 98% of cases the answer is no.
 
It really comes down to the individual.
 
Things such as where you listen to your music (quiet or loud environments), if you can notice the differences and if you think it's worth it all all factors in making a informed decision.
 
Personally I use V0 transcoded from FLAC on the go (courtesy of J River Media Center) on my Clip+, FLAC on my 80gb iPod just because I can and I plan to use 320kbps mp3s with my incoming HM-602.

It is not only the individual,but the dbs also.
The more dbs you hear,the more you ask for more Kbps's.Try to listen at a flute with a 128Kbps written music,and you will turn it down immediately.

 

[cooperpwc]

This GG tangent is way off topic - and I'm loving every post. Dave, I did see GG live - the Missing Piece tour when they performed most of Playing the Fool. I really regret missing the Free Hand outdoor concert at Varsity Stadium in Toronto (with J Geils Band, pre-Angel is a Centrefold...)

Danneq, interesting recommendations. I will check them out.

Speaking of dinosaur rock, I am currently revisiting the ELP library which is about as Jurassic as it gets. Putting this back on thread, Tarkus in Lame V0 through the Westone ES5 while waiting for a plane at the HK airport and typing this on my iPhone is better portable SQ than anyone deserves.

 

[Guidostrunk]

To me some tracks have better imaging with FLAC as opposed to 320mp3, more of jazz, female vocal and meditative music is where i notice it , but for the most part the differences are subtle. But that's my ears, to save argument.

 

[daveDerek]

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Count me as another GG fan!

I'm mostly a fan of the albums between, and including, In a Glass House and Interview, but I enjoy all their stuff. Even the late ventures into pop. Even if their heart wasn't in the music any more by then, I'd still take Gentle Giant pop over ordinary pop any day of the week.
 
A present day US band that has been very influenced by Gentle Giant is Echolyn. Especially their first phase between 1989 and 1995 was very proggy with a Gentle Giantish touch. They broke up in early 1996 and then reunited in 2000. Their newer stuff is less all out proggy, but still great rock with the same GGish feel.
Well, if you are into prog rock, you probably already are familiar with them...
 
To keep this thread on topic, I enjoy Gentle Giant, Echolyn and Transatlantic, converted to MP3 VBR0 or CBR320, on my DAP:s.

 
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This GG tangent is way off topic - and I'm loving every post. Dave, I did see GG live - the Missing Piece tour when they performed most of Playing the Fool. I really regret missing the Free Hand outdoor concert at Varsity Stadium in Toronto (with J Geils Band, pre-Angel is a Centrefold...)

Danneq, interesting recommendations. I will check them out.

Speaking of dinosaur rock, I am currently revisiting the ELP library which is about as Jurassic as it gets. Putting this back on thread, Tarkus in Lame V0 through the Westone ES5 while waiting for a plane at the HK airport and typing this on my iPhone is better portable SQ than anyone deserves.

the more GG fans the, merrier

.  echolyn just doesn't do it for me though i've tried. i own a couple of their discs and saw them live at nearfest in 2002 & 2008. i may have seen them at another festival, but can't quite recall - those festivals become a blur after a while. transatlantic is only somewhat more interesting. the most interesting newer band to me has been far and away Porcupine Tree. i regret missing their reportedly outstanding recent show at radio city music hall. GG stands unique to my ears, regardless of transducer or bit rate, though i must admit a preference for hearing them analog, and if it's gonna be digital than i'm in favor of minimal molestation of the information! 

 

[kiteki]

I think lossy and lossless is like ink and water.
 
A drop of black ink and a glass of water, in perception the difference is 1%, in EFFECT the difference is tantamount and colours the whole spectra when we drink the nectar of hummingbirds.
 
THAT is why lossy sucks.

 

[Gradoman]

Can't stand MP3 sound quality even at 320kps, prefer vorbis. Would I use lossless for portable? Only if could fit a 1TB drive to my DAP. Otherwise it's Q6 vorbis.

 

[Young Spade]

I think lossy and lossless is like ink and water.


 


A drop of black ink and a glass of water, in perception the difference is 1%, in EFFECT the difference is tantamount and colours the whole spectra when we drink the nectar of hummingbirds.


 


THAT is why lossy sucks.

This is exactly how I feel. Sadly I don't have the space to carry all of my music around with me in lossless so I convert it to lossy at heist quality. The aacrifices we have to make.

 

[Danneq]

But would you be able to tell 320 kbps MP3 apart from FLAC in a blind test? If so, you probably have better hearing than most people. If not, the difference lies mainly in your head...

 

[Young Spade]

Well I could when I directly compared on my amped k702 rig earlier this year; the flac files just sounded clearer and had a more airy detail about them that the mp3 files were lacking.

 

[daveDerek]

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But would you be able to tell 320 kbps MP3 apart from FLAC in a blind test? If so, you probably have better hearing than most people. If not, the difference lies mainly in your head...

 
that may, at least in part, be system related. perhaps a good stereo, rather than a headphone rig, makes it easier to spot the differences, especially spatial ones. please see my previous post. he also reported that aac at 320 kpbs sounded better than 320 mp3. :
 
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i came across this report whereby the reviewer compares different sources, and file conversion schemes on a good stereo. the results are interesting, especially his comments about aac vs mp3 both @ 320kbps. :
http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/ipod/ipod.html

 

 

[Satellite_6]

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Can't stand MP3 sound quality even at 320kps, prefer vorbis. Would I use lossless for portable? Only if could fit a 1TB drive to my DAP. Otherwise it's Q6 vorbis.

Are you using LAME? If you use LAME the more recent formats aren't any better than mp3. . . (Vorbis is great too though)
 
I can ABX v0 or 320 sometimes. Lossy isn't as good as lossless but on a DAP there isn't much, if any, difference. 
 

 

[Gradoman]

Your system isn't good enough, or you're using headphones (which I find far less harder to pick out MP3 as inferior sounding) Just listen to a bassy track on full range speakers, and you'll go back to the cd/lossless everytime.
 
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But would you be able to tell 320 kbps MP3 apart from FLAC in a blind test? If so, you probably have better hearing than most people. If not, the difference lies mainly in your head...

 

[xXFallenAngelXx]

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I am trying to imporve my portable experience so I was takign a look at my audio rips.  My newer ones are all 320 MP3 rips but my older ones are all over the place.  So I am goign to rerip some stuff.  My question is would most people be able to tell the difference between a 320 MP3 and a WMA lossless file if I am using a Zune with no amp and a set of budget IEMs like the Visang R02?  And if there is a difference would it justify the space?  Either way I still plan on building a FLAC library on my PC for backup purposes, but just might not put them on the portable.

Yeah, I pretty much agree with everyone else...I can slightly tell a difference between Flac and 320 mp3s but for portable use..320kbps is tottaly acceptable because it takes up less room and you probably won't be able to tell a difference while on the move.