BigCabDaddy
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Feb 21, 2013
- Posts
- 438
- Likes
- 15
Hi folks. First off, I'm a new here. I'm sure what I'm about to ask/say has been covered before. I can't imagine it as unique. I've searched here but I don't see the topic covered as the title of a forum thread with "iPhone" in it. So here goes:
Not only am I new to the forum but I'm a returnee to the ranks of the audiophile... so long have I been an expat to the latter that my previous experience was all vinyl with portable music being largely in the format of cassettes... perhaps there were some burned CDs towards the end but I don't think so. Pretty much the advent of CDs coincided with child rearing and so... you can imagine the rest. It's not entirely true as my audiofile system remained well into the CD era but I digress. The thing is I'M BACK at least in a budget minded sort of way. The thing is, I've got a large library of "legacy" digital music going back to my early rips being largely 128k mp3 and maybe some at slightly better bitrate or of unknown bitrate from my brief times of torrenting, etc. Then enters the era of purchased digital music which is fairly extensive and largely through Amazon so what I'm understanding, some may be at 320k VBR but anything recent would be 256k VBR, right? So then recently I'd started ripping a few CDs into Apple lossless and today started reading... which is where depression enters in:
What I'm reading leads me to believe that even FLAC may not be the best codec. FLAC may be better for theoretical/philosophical/political reasons and ultimately AIFF is probably the route I should be going. That sucks because I'd just mentally decided to make the commitment to future purchases being largely through bandcamp as indie music in the FLAC format because FLAC is their best quality format, right? First real question then: Are you largely screwed from purchasing digital and being audiophile or do you "compromise" with the FLAC format?
Oh but wait there is more: I'm pretty much committed to the iOS world as my portable device format. I'm both an iPhone and iPad owner and I don't see that changing anytime soon. I bought a 64gb 4s as my music player and that is what it is for the foreseeable future. That being so, Apple isn't FLAC friendly. So here I am, what to do moving forward in terms of maintaining a coherent portable music library? That is the bottom line question of this whole, sad missive. I'm not willing to maintain multiple copies in multiple formats on an ongoing basis. That's just not going to happen. I know myself too well. So, what to do? The headphones and the DAC are purchased and on their way. I've got the vintage speakers, receiver, CD player already. I'm willing to buy a headphone amp if need be. But I can't figure out this musical library thing going forward. Any advice or ideas? Like I say, I can't imagine I'm in this boat alone.
Not only am I new to the forum but I'm a returnee to the ranks of the audiophile... so long have I been an expat to the latter that my previous experience was all vinyl with portable music being largely in the format of cassettes... perhaps there were some burned CDs towards the end but I don't think so. Pretty much the advent of CDs coincided with child rearing and so... you can imagine the rest. It's not entirely true as my audiofile system remained well into the CD era but I digress. The thing is I'M BACK at least in a budget minded sort of way. The thing is, I've got a large library of "legacy" digital music going back to my early rips being largely 128k mp3 and maybe some at slightly better bitrate or of unknown bitrate from my brief times of torrenting, etc. Then enters the era of purchased digital music which is fairly extensive and largely through Amazon so what I'm understanding, some may be at 320k VBR but anything recent would be 256k VBR, right? So then recently I'd started ripping a few CDs into Apple lossless and today started reading... which is where depression enters in:
What I'm reading leads me to believe that even FLAC may not be the best codec. FLAC may be better for theoretical/philosophical/political reasons and ultimately AIFF is probably the route I should be going. That sucks because I'd just mentally decided to make the commitment to future purchases being largely through bandcamp as indie music in the FLAC format because FLAC is their best quality format, right? First real question then: Are you largely screwed from purchasing digital and being audiophile or do you "compromise" with the FLAC format?
Oh but wait there is more: I'm pretty much committed to the iOS world as my portable device format. I'm both an iPhone and iPad owner and I don't see that changing anytime soon. I bought a 64gb 4s as my music player and that is what it is for the foreseeable future. That being so, Apple isn't FLAC friendly. So here I am, what to do moving forward in terms of maintaining a coherent portable music library? That is the bottom line question of this whole, sad missive. I'm not willing to maintain multiple copies in multiple formats on an ongoing basis. That's just not going to happen. I know myself too well. So, what to do? The headphones and the DAC are purchased and on their way. I've got the vintage speakers, receiver, CD player already. I'm willing to buy a headphone amp if need be. But I can't figure out this musical library thing going forward. Any advice or ideas? Like I say, I can't imagine I'm in this boat alone.