[cirodts]

A level sound quality I think the best format without data loss remains the flac.

 

[jschlarb]

Well at least we aren't debating whether Nyquist was right or not.
 
My collection is a mix of Apple lossless, AAC256 and MP3-320. What stands out for me the most is that some CDs have horrible Dynamic Range Compression. This matters much more that which codec you choose:
 
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ab/Cd_loudness_trend-something.gif

 

[cirodts]

  Well at least we aren't debating whether Nyquist was right or not.
 
My collection is a mix of Apple lossless, AAC256 and MP3-320. What stands out for me the most is that some CDs have horrible Dynamic Range Compression. This matters much more that which codec you choose:
 
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ab/Cd_loudness_trend-something.gif

thanks

 

[fourrobert13]

   
If I can get someone willing to help me set up an independent test, would you be willing to take it?  Your idea that you can tell night and day with most MP3 simply doesn't gel.  And your assertations about classical music are a million miles away from the truth.  In reality, your metal is generally more poorly recorded, and well recorded classical will easily have harmonics over 10 kHz.  Classical does employ cymbals too you know 

.  Also a violin will reach as high into the frequency range as cymbals.
 
And why are you boosting 14 kHz?  For what?  Cymbal decay won't be audible there - it's frequency range is much lower.  All you'll get at 14 kHz is harmonics.
 
I really wish you wouldn't make some of these sweeping assertations.  Like I said - try saying the same thing on HA - I'll be interested to watch the fallout ......
 
 
EDIT - I just reread this bit:
 
 
So you are using bright headphones, boosting 14 kHz by 6-12 dB and giving people advice how MP3 is bad ..... ?
 
I honestly would facepalm.  Do you know how bad the advice you just gave is?

I'm not here to debate flac vs. mp3.  What I highlighted in bold above is what I disagree with.  Have you heard any modern metal production?  Bands like Allegaeon, Vektor, Black Crown Initiate, or Rivers of Nihil have superb production.  Even power metal has excellent production.  I would even suggest looking at the extent bands like Septicflesh go through to produce their albums.  Production and mastering go a long way as to how good something sounds (flac, wav, aac, mp3, ogg, etc.).  If they produced garbage, then we would hear garbage regardless of the format and I'm leaving it at that.  With all of that said, I can't hear any difference between flac and 320 bit mp3s.  However, I rip CDs to flac and I'll buy flac files, but convert them to 320 bit mp3  so I can't fit more on the DAP.  

 

[Dobrescu George]

  Well at least we aren't debating whether Nyquist was right or not.
 
My collection is a mix of Apple lossless, AAC256 and MP3-320. What stands out for me the most is that some CDs have horrible Dynamic Range Compression. This matters much more that which codec you choose:
 
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ab/Cd_loudness_trend-something.gif

 
We are not going to contradict the dynamic range compression statement, that does matter more than the format encoding. Mastering matters more. Headphones matter more. Everything matters more than codec compression as long as it has a high bitrate. 
 
But it does matter. 
 
About nyquist, he cannot be wrong in theory, out of very simple mathematical considerations. 
 
What can be wrong is the reconstruction filter, but let's not dwell in these conversation, since listening music with X5ii and ie800 and in FLAC and mastering music, I am slowly giving up on caring about the other technical details, biggest improvements in music can be made by mastering, a simple adaptive DSP can improve music by large margins. 
 
Sorry, dynamic range cannot be brought back once lost, it's a technical impossibility, kinda like an overexposed image. 
 

  I'm not here to debate flac vs. mp3.  What I highlighted in bold above is what I disagree with.  Have you heard any modern metal production?  Bands like Allegaeon, Vektor, Black Crown Initiate, or Rivers of Nihil have superb production.  Even power metal has excellent production.  I would even suggest looking at the extent bands like Septicflesh go through to produce their albums.  Production and mastering go a long way as to how good something sounds (flac, wav, aac, mp3, ogg, etc.).  If they produced garbage, then we would hear garbage regardless of the format and I'm leaving it at that.  With all of that said, I can't hear any difference between flac and 320 bit mp3s.  However, I rip CDs to flac and I'll buy flac files, but convert them to 320 bit mp3  so I can't fit more on the DAP.  

 
 
I did not wanted to contradict, because I feel people around here might look with other eyes if mentioning bands with really well recorded and mastered treble 

 
Hello there, metal friend! 
 
About metal, I think that before they were prone to not recording it so well, especially the cymbals due to either low budget or low quality microphones, or microphone limits due to technology used. (I do not know a lot in this domain, sorry)
 
At any rate, I might be wrong about it, but I like the novelty of having FLAC with me, even if every difference was in fact inaudible. At any rate, in the mastering process I can guarantee that MP3 does erase something and it does induce artifacts. Whether those things are audible or not, is something else.
 
 
 
We should all enjoy our great audio products and be happy instead of splitting hairs 

 

 

[fourrobert13]

 
 
I did not wanted to contradict, because I feel people around here might look with other eyes if mentioning bands with really well recorded and mastered treble 

 
Hello there, metal friend! 
 
About metal, I think that before they were prone to not recording it so well, especially the cymbals due to either low budget or low quality microphones, or microphone limits due to technology used. (I do not know a lot in this domain, sorry)
 
At any rate, I might be wrong about it, but I like the novelty of having FLAC with me, even if every difference was in fact inaudible. At any rate, in the mastering process I can guarantee that MP3 does erase something and it does induce artifacts. Whether those things are audible or not, is something else.
 
 
 
We should all enjoy our great audio products and be happy instead of splitting hairs 

 

Agreed, we should enjoy!  Yes, older recordings (death metal in particular) do suffer from poor production/mastering and that's a fact.  I too enjoy hearing every cymbal crack which is why I try so many different headphones and iems.  However, new progressive and technical death metal has excellent production/mastering.  I always say that the format we choose to listen is personal preference.  I have a mix of flac and mp3s on my X5II.  If I need more space, I'll convert some of that flac, but I paid for it so I'm going to listen to it.
 

 

[Dobrescu George]

  Agreed, we should enjoy!  Yes, older recordings (death metal in particular) do suffer from poor production/mastering and that's a fact.  I too enjoy hearing every cymbal crack which is why I try so many different headphones and iems.  However, new progressive and technical death metal has excellent production/mastering.  I always say that the format we choose to listen is personal preference.  I have a mix of flac and mp3s on my X5II.  If I need more space, I'll convert some of that flac, but I paid for it so I'm going to listen to it.
 

 
This has to be said

 
BTW, some of the ppost 2000 - 2005 recordings are really really well recorded. Even indie post hardcore bands have really good recording and mastering nowadays.
 
Some of the older recordings have way too little treble, and I feel regret for it, since some of those older recordings I really love and I really wish were done in better quality 

 
 
 
 
To stay on thread: All of these are possible courtesy of X5ii, as it is my player of choice to enjoy all this great music! Rock On! 

 

[jschlarb]

Somewhat related to this discussion, here's a nice way to carry around your lossless files:
 
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005SPQ8XK/

 

[freddy315]

I tend to side with George to a degree re: MP3.  I remember a few years ago, before I switched to aac and flac, that I could hear what I used to call "aliens" in the background.  Admittedly I think back then I was using 128 kbps and upping to 320 might lessen that.  And as time goes by and I lose some high frequency hearing such distortions become less noticable. But still, I no longer use MP3 because I think there are better alternatives, even in lossy formats.

 

[Dobrescu George]

  Somewhat related to this discussion, here's a nice way to carry around your lossless files:
 
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005SPQ8XK/

 
That is very cool for who has to wants to take more microsd cards with you. 
 
Though it might come in more handy for other appliances than audio now with 128 and 200gb microsd cards. Especially with X5ii having two microsd slots. 
 

  I tend to side with George to a degree re: MP3.  I remember a few years ago, before I switched to aac and flac, that I could hear what I used to call "aliens" in the background.  Admittedly I think back then I was using 128 kbps and upping to 320 might lessen that.  And as time goes by and I lose some high frequency hearing such distortions become less noticable. But still, I no longer use MP3 because I think there are better alternatives, even in lossy formats.

 
There is a lossy format which sounds perfect to the original, I cannot distinguish the differences and most software has trouble finding a difference between the files. That format is OGG -q10, 
 
Those days of MP3 at 128, when having the same song in MP3 at 320 meant a totally new song, even with 5$ headphones or speakers... Those were the times! 

 

[cirodts]

I converted a dts song to wav but the audio quality and loses volume, how can I do to keep him multi-channel and read on x5ii?

 

[Koukol]

Is there one place where we can see what we gain and lose with each fw update?
Shouldn't the Fiio site list the changes for each update?
 
Right now I reverted back to 1.0 to regain the OTG function.
I'm not sure I can stand the lagging though.

 

[Phil B]

  Is there one place where we can see what we gain and lose with each fw update?
Shouldn't the Fiio site list the changes for each update?
 
Right now I reverted back to 1.0 to regain the OTG function.
I'm not sure I can stand the lagging though.

1.2 is actually pretty good. I use a custom 1.2 theme and the lag is much better. Not as good as the latest firmware, but good enough to use if you need OTG capability.

 

[Koukol]

 

  Is there one place where we can see what we gain and lose with each fw update?
Shouldn't the Fiio site list the changes for each update?
 
Right now I reverted back to 1.0 to regain the OTG function.
I'm not sure I can stand the lagging though.

1.2 is actually pretty good. I use a custom 1.2 theme and the lag is much better. Not as good as the latest firmware, but good enough to use if you need OTG capability.

I just tested 1.2 with a custom theme and yes it's a little better concerning lag and a whole lot better concerning appearance.
I'm going to live with this for awhile.

 

[Phil B]

Fwiw, I also bounce from the latest FW back to 1.2. for the OTG. I use an external 1TB drive that uses an external power supply. It recognizes it with no problem and plays like it was reading from the sd cards., Its not portable but as a standalone going thru my sounds system it really works well.