[mechanix]

First of all sorry for my bad grammar, possibly messed it up at the topic title.
 
Which audio format provides the best quality for ipod touch? I guess I should use Apple Lossless but just wanted to be sure. Secondly, I do not own the cds of my music archive. So in this case should I download FLAC and convert them to Apple Lossless? Will it cause quality to drop?
 
Also an off topic question for ipod touch users. I just cant find the right EQ settings to go with metal / rock music. Are there any improvements with iOS4 in terms of EQ? I am willing to upgrade if there any improvements, otherwise I'll stick with 3.1.2.
 
Thanks in advance.

 

[Anaxilus]

I heard OS4 does improve EQ.  
 
Wav or Apple Lossless is best quality.
 
Dowload either FLAC or Wav and convert to ALAC/M4a (Apple Lossless).

 

[Young Spade]

^Yes.
Also just a bit of info, converting between lossless formats (WAV/FLAC/ALAC) Doesn't decrease the sound quality. It all stays the same. 

 

[krmathis]

Apple Lossless is the audio format/codec to go for. Or AIFF is storage space is not an issue.

 

[stevenswall]

I think the headphone output is the limiting factor in this case... in any case, just keep a FLAC copy if you get a different player a few years down the road... re-conversion is not a fun process once your collection gets large.

 

[mrarroyo]

I agree, I have had to re-convert my library three times: 128 mp3 => 193 VBR mp3 => Apple Lossless. I am not through yet, done about 7,200 songs and about 11,000 to do. Very time consuming! 

 

[mechanix]

Considering the suggestions, I'm getting a 1TB HDD tomorrow and re-acquire my music archive in lossless format. Luckily I only have an archive of 31 gb at the moment. The sooner I start, the better

 

[nc8000]

Quote:

I think the headphone output is the limiting factor in this case... in any case, just keep a FLAC copy if you get a different player a few years down the road... re-conversion is not a fun process once your collection gets large.

 
Quote:

I agree, I have had to re-convert my library three times: 128 mp3 => 193 VBR mp3 => Apple Lossless. I am not through yet, done about 7,200 songs and about 11,000 to do. Very time consuming! 

Totally agree. I have about 1000 cd's ripped in 320kb aac with metadata and cover art all done and that is simply not going to get re-ripped

 

[Zacorias]

Converting from 128 kbps mp3 to 193 kbps mp3 to apple lossless only takes up more space. You can not convert to better quality, only equivalent quality or worse. Your music is still only 128 kbps quality but taking up a ton of space.

 

[Young Spade]

Quote:

I agree, I have had to re-convert my library three times: 128 mp3 => 193 VBR mp3 => Apple Lossless. I am not through yet, done about 7,200 songs and about 11,000 to do. Very time consuming! 

You're still keeping 128kbs quality. You can't go "up" the chain.
Lossy: Once you go down you can't go back up.
Lossless: Can change between formats at will (ALAC/WAV/FLAC)

 

[Achmedisdead]

 
Quote:

I agree, I have had to re-convert my library three times: 128 mp3 => 193 VBR mp3 => Apple Lossless. I am not through yet, done about 7,200 songs and about 11,000 to do. Very time consuming! 

Quote:

Converting from 128 kbps mp3 to 193 kbps mp3 to apple lossless only takes up more space. You can not convert to better quality, only equivalent quality or worse. Your music is still only 128 kbps quality but taking up a ton of space.

Quote:

You're still keeping 128kbs quality. You can't go "up" the chain.
Lossy: Once you go down you can't go back up.
Lossless: Can change between formats at will (ALAC/WAV/FLAC)

I suspect that Zacorias and Young Spade may be misunderstanding mrarroyo's post. I don't think he is upconverting his 128kbps files, I think he is re-ripping them.

 

[mustardhamsters]

Apple Lossless.

 

[mustardhamsters]

High-quality AAC is pretty good though.

 

[Young Spade]

Quote:

 
I suspect that Zacorias and Young Spade may be misunderstanding mrarroyo's post. I don't think he is upconverting his 128kbps files, I think he is re-ripping them.

Yea... if I am my apologies; I noticed that it was mrarroyo posting and I knew he would probably know this already lol... but just posting for clarification for other members as well

Quote:

High-quality AAC is pretty good though.

Yea high quality lossy formats are great formats as well. I'm on the "if you can use lossless, why settle for less?" side but I also use 320kbs on some of my files if I can't get FLAC versions or I don't have them readily available.
 
Of course your ability to discern between lossy and lossless is going to depend on how well your hearing is and how resolving your equipment is as well.
 

 

[Ypoknons]

Just do the test yourself with regards to lossless. Get or borrow a really good setup, test for differences A/B or blind (I'd argue for the later), and see if you notice (and actually care about!) the differences. You could go entirely ALAC just in case, and I do it for a lot of my favorite tracks because I might want to do some editing with them and just to be safe, but having more music on the road is more important for me.