Quote: Originally Posted by Mike Wazowski As much as I am flattered by your proposal to further investigate my hearing ability, sorry it just doesn't sound like much fun, and quite a lot of work, for that. Besides, is it really still interesting? True, at some point in this thread my...

Quote: Originally Posted by Audio-Omega So is it iPod or CDP (less than $1,000) ? I would spend up to $1,000 for a CD player but not if an iPod is better. Well, no one ever replied to that question. There seem to be a lot of experts in these forums but no one can answer such an...

Quote: Originally Posted by Mike Wazowski You'll get more response if you make it a new thread, appropriately titled. You can upload a couple of samples of your choosing and offer people to evaluate, asking them to make sure to specify their setup. If you want more info/variables to...

Quote: Originally Posted by Mike Wazowski You'll get more response if you make it a new thread, appropriately titled. You can upload a couple of samples of your choosing and offer people to evaluate, asking them to make sure to specify their setup. If you want more info/variables to...

Hi! Loads of new comments since last time I checked! As regards the mp3/lossless comparison, it would be interesting if the people who think it's not possible to tell them apart uploaded some specially prepared files for the ones who claim they can to do an AB test. Try MEGAUPLOAD - The leading...

Quote: Originally Posted by Mike Wazowski Now I need to finally decide what to get first - the source or the amp... Although source (Marantz SA8001) first would be more cost-efficient and straightforward - no need to buy an iPod-to-RCA connector, and no need to connect and disconnect...

Also, talking about headphone amplifiers, how would be the way to connect such a device to a cd player/amplifier system, without the need to reconnect each time you want to hear through the speakers or headphones? Using the pre amp outputs in the amp?

Quote: Originally Posted by Mike Wazowski Did some quick reading an enthusiastically ripped a few albums to 256 kbps AAC Interesting. Would you be kind enough to import some song you like to 256 aac and wav, and then convert them both to wav, import them into foobar2000, so that...

Quote: Originally Posted by tfarney Perhaps. But I suspect you got the results you did because The Beatles material on Love has been remastered. Pretty dramatically, from what I understand. Tim Yes, maybe. But then I could say that I prefer the Love version and that would have...

Quote: Originally Posted by nick_charles I keep an open mind and I am open to trying this myself. Agree with you. I'm open to new things too, but if they are supported by some kind of justification.

Ok. I found out about k2HD. Fair enough, it's the latest and also probably the best mastering process for standard CDs. But what? Does anyone here thing we should re-buy our cd collection each time they release a better mastering process? I don't think so. I may do it for my favourite album, but...

Quote: Originally Posted by tourmaline k2hd is the newest incarnation and uses 24/196 mastering. At the end, you'll end up with a much better sounding cd! xrcd or k2hd cd's i have compared to the same cd's are in every espect superieur to the cd. K2hd especially goes deepr then any...

Quote: Originally Posted by Mike Wazowski What is ABX? I honestly don't know. And also, sorry if I sound I'm giving you too much advice or something, but take it as a suggestion, why don't you consider buying a headphone amplifier instead of a sacd player first if you're on a...

Quote: Originally Posted by Mike Wazowski What is ABX? I honestly don't know. Hi. It's basically a test to compare two sources, A and B, and tell whether X is A or B. Check wikipedia "abx test", it'll explain it better than me surely! To do this test in a computer, comparing two...

Quote: Originally Posted by xenithon One most not forgot - or rather, factor in - the systems on which testing is done between songs/formats/albums/etc. When listening via Sennheiser HD595's through an entry level headphone, you may not get very far. Listen on a Stax Omega II system or...

"First Blu-ray record, Divertimenti, released" Also, guys, look at this, http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f7/fir...leased-330051/. Check out all the formats that blu ray album comes in! It's getting crazy! Now we should add to the discussion the comparison blu ray vs sacd vs cd vs apple...

Quote: Originally Posted by Mike Wazowski "I think we've arrived to the conclusion that there are no audible differences between an ipod and a cd as source, so you may not even need a new cd player!" - Hmm, I don't think it was quite that. If there was any consensus in this discussion...

Quote: Originally Posted by Mike Wazowski The only SACD-capable machine they had was a Denon universal player. And have you given that sacd player a try? If sacd is relly that good, that sacd player should already show the difference in sound quality when reading the sacd stereo...

To mike - Hi Mike. I found you posted you live in Washington DC suburbs. There are no real hi fi stores there? I live in Cambridge, England, and we've got many stores here, and all very well stocked. But maybe not so much for headphones, since I think there are less popular than speakers. But...

To Mike - mmm, I'm not sure about what you say that "more people report sacd to be better than cd". Just google "sacd vs cd sound quality" and you'll find many interesting reports argueing that there's no difference. But besides, the point is not if statistically people can't tell it, the point...

Hi xenithon. You may be interested in reading about this before investing money in a sacd player. Hydrogenaudio Forums > Double-blind test of SACD and DVD-A vs. Redbook 16/44 in JAES Septembe

Quote: Originally Posted by bigshot The Philips player I have outputs true 5:1 SACD. It doesn't matter though, because the sound quality is indistinguishable from redbook. You're worrying about all the wrong things, bf2008. See ya Steve Through analogue or hdmi? Can you...

Quote: Originally Posted by xenithon From my knowledge and understanding, this is not correct. Some output full resolution in multichannel (generally the higher end players), some downsample (generally the lower end players). Hi. I think none of the players in the market output...

Quote: Originally Posted by Mike Wazowski 1) I understand SACD goes out only in analog on all SACD players. And actually, SA8001 is only 2 channel, but it people say it does those 2 really well. I'll be listening with headphones... Don't have any speakers yet, and not planning to, not...

Quote: Originally Posted by xenithon Any amplifier fed by full resolution analog input. If you are using the system for 5.1 channel output, just hook up the 5.1 analog out of the player to the 5.1 input of the amplifier. If you want to do it through digital for some reason, I cannot...