[iboey]

I know that ipod can only support up to 320kbps. Whats the reason in importing music from CD at apple lossless which may be 500+kbps? Does it sound better since the cap limit of ipod is 320kbps?

 

[Clutz]

Apple iPods can support much higher bit rates using Apple Lossless.

 

[TheMarchingMule]

And don't you go converting your MP3s or other lossy files into Apple Lossless (ALAC) now.

You must rip it straight from the CD source to ALAC in order to have it be 100% lossless, and 100% faithful to what was on the CD.

EDIT: Oh, and to see if you could hear the difference between lossy and lossless, take an ABX test, found in the audio program foobar2000. Very few can, so don't fall victim to placebo and think that your mind is right and the computer is wrong!

 

[iboey]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Clutz /img/forum/go_quote.gif Apple iPods can support much higher bit rates using Apple Lossless.

So u mean other audio formats ipod can only support up to 320kbps? For apple lossless, ipod can support up till 500+kbps?

My source is all CDs. Currently im converting them in AAC Encoder 320kbps, 48khz. VBR.

Im looking at apple lossless and would like to know if ipod is able to support the 500+kbps coz i thought it mentioned the max is 320kbps for ipod.

 

[slwiser]

I use Apple Lossless on my iMod exclusively. It comes out depending on the track between 600kps to sometimes as high as over 1000kps.

 

[iboey]

Quote:

Originally Posted by slwiser /img/forum/go_quote.gif I use Apple Lossless on my iMod exclusively. It comes out depending on the track between 600kps to sometimes as high as over 1000kps.

So the ipod is capable of playing such a high bit rate format? Thought in the ipod manual it mentioned max 320kbps?

 

[slwiser]

Quote:

Originally Posted by iboey /img/forum/go_quote.gif So the ipod is capable of playing such a high bit rate format? Thought in the ipod manual it mentioned max 320kbps?

This is true for MP3s and such but when you load Apple Lossless it plays fine, at least my 5.5g iMod does. How can you test this? Just get a file converted to Apple Lossless and move it to iTunes and push it to the iPod you have, any iPod. Now it will not work if the file is anything other than 44 kHz and 16 bit depth.

 

[iboey]

Quote:

Originally Posted by slwiser /img/forum/go_quote.gif This is true for MP3s and such but when you load Apple Lossless it plays fine, at least my 5.5g iMod does. How can you test this? Just get a file converted to Apple Lossless and move it to iTunes and push it to the iPod you have, any iPod. Now it will not work if the file is anything other than 44 kHz and 16 bit depth.

Any significant improvement from 320kbps AAC compared to lossless?

 

[Febs]

Quote:

Originally Posted by iboey /img/forum/go_quote.gif My source is all CDs. Currently im converting them in AAC Encoder 320kbps, 48khz. VBR.

Do you mean 48 kHz sampling rate? If so, why are you using that? The native CD sampling rate is 44.1 kHz.

And the only way to tell if there is an improvement from 320 kbps AAC to lossless is to listen and test for yourself, preferably using an ABX program. However, it is extremely unlikely that you would be able to hear a difference.

 

[shigzeo]

just encode the two files you want to compare perhaps more, one in alac and one in aac at the bit rate you want to test. have a friend hold the ipod and randomly flit through the two songs for a set amount of times. if you after the test can reliably (margin of error less than 40%) tell the difference, then there is not reason to use lossless except for head-savings where you will not worry about not having lossless.

do this for various bitrates and then see which is best for overall sq and size. personally, i encode at 192 vbr aac but i am inaccurate in blind testing files in aac over 160 and often even 128.

the friend must not tell you the results until after the test. it would be best to face away. this is quite informal but works great to eliminate your tactile, telepathic or empathetic relation to lossless. cheers

 

[Febs]

Quote:

Originally Posted by shigzeo /img/forum/go_quote.gif just encode the two files you want to compare perhaps more, one in alac and one in aac at the bit rate you want to test. have a friend hold the ipod and randomly flit through the two songs for a set amount of times. if you after the test can reliably (margin of error less than 40%) tell the difference, then there is not reason to use lossless except for head-savings where you will not worry about not having lossless.

One problem with this approach compared to a true ABX test like the one in Foobar is that it does not ensure that the volume levels of the two files are the same. If you're going to follow this approach, use Apple's soundcheck feature or ReplayGain (if you're using Rockbox) to ensure that the levels are the same.

 

[shigzeo]

good suggestion - the very reason i suggest taking caution with this. however, so many who claim that 128 k of any precise encoder suck so bad seem so sure that perhaps they would have no problem determining which is better even with further psychological enhancements - like volume!

that only really matters of the two files are so close in quality. another one is to have the volume completely drained between songs and then manually brought up - this allows for errors and even more randomisation in the results but also can be given up to placeobo effect.

but, if the volume must be 100 accurate as well, it shows that file quality has little indeed to do with sq.

very interesting and great suggestion mate.

 

[krmathis]

Quote:

Originally Posted by iboey /img/forum/go_quote.gif I know that ipod can only support up to 320kbps. Whats the reason in importing music from CD at apple lossless which may be 500+kbps? Does it sound better since the cap limit of ipod is 320kbps?

What? Who have told you that iPod's don't support bitrate higher than 320Kbps?
Might be true for MP3 and AAC, but certainly not for Apple Lossless, WAV and AIFF.

 

[dallan]

I used to do AAC 320 then Apple lossless from wave convertions but i got rid of all of the AAC and now only use Apple Lossless and wave files on my ipod. If you are going to spend so much on each cable(silver) connectors, recable why slack on source quality?

 

[dallan]

Make that conversions.