averydonovan
Headphoneus Supremus
I'm not a big fan of MPEG compression in general, but AAC is a notable improvement over a similar-bitrate MP3 file. AAC has less issues with pre-echo and transient handling and doesn't compress the soundstage as much as MP3 does. I prefer a 192Kbps AAC over a LAME -aps MP3 since the AAC just sounds more "alive" to me. The only use I have for AAC is when getting tracks from AllofMP3.com and the tracks seem to transcode pretty well to MP3. MPC is still my favorite lossy format but its limited support has caused me to abandon it and Ogg Vorbis doesn't interest me except at really low bitrates, 64Kbps roughly, but my portable player can't play bitrates that low so I have no use for it.
But as good as many lossy formats are, I prefer lossless for my CD rips when listening at home. Lossy is great for downloads and on my portable player, but when listening to my CDs at home I like to hear them full quality. I realized I enjoyed my CDs much more after I re-ripped them to lossless since it just seemed to retain more life in the music. The soundstage is more real and the music is more involving. Not to say that I can't enjoy lossy files, I do quite a bit since I still put the music ahead of the sound quality. I just see no reason to use lossy on my home setup when I have no real reason to.
But as good as many lossy formats are, I prefer lossless for my CD rips when listening at home. Lossy is great for downloads and on my portable player, but when listening to my CDs at home I like to hear them full quality. I realized I enjoyed my CDs much more after I re-ripped them to lossless since it just seemed to retain more life in the music. The soundstage is more real and the music is more involving. Not to say that I can't enjoy lossy files, I do quite a bit since I still put the music ahead of the sound quality. I just see no reason to use lossy on my home setup when I have no real reason to.
