[coolvij]

I believe this feature is an aspect that deserves a good look at.

First of all........the following are generalized observations made off of an R700 paired with MDR-E888s and KSC-35s.

I have generally found LP2 to smooth out the just a little. HOWEVER, many ppl think that, like mp3, as the bitrate decreases, the detail and overall cohesiveness of the presentation do as well.

I beg to differ.

LP2 sacrifices a little in the highs, and the bass looses it's punchiness, to an extent. The midrange remains fairly intact, though details are definetely comprimised. In a careful listen, saxophones DO indeed lose something, though the rythym section survives fairly intact. Trumpets are hurt by the attenuation of highs. Trombones sound the same (i don't have any recordings where i actually have a trombonist that's good enough to make me critically listen, so, t-bone fans - bear with me

). It should be noted that LP2 does not make the sound thin, or make it lose its edge....unlike mp3...

Generally, i think that when used in the only enviroment they SHOULD be used (MD), LP2 is an excellent compromise of space vs. quality. If i'm on a subway, i'd much rather have 160 min. of good sounding stuff than 80. min. of stuff that only has the potential to sound better. You'd need an amp and full-sizers/ety's to tell the difference.....i doubt any convential earbud could make the difference between normal mode and LP2 obvious).

So......LP2 is great for me,
though you may really hate it,
for me, the diff is hard to see,
tho my ears aint educated

(sorry for the poetic touch....it oozes out of me quite often..)

 

[ronzoni]

For portable use LP2 is great. I use it to record long music programs off non-commerial stations. Also I plan to record some outdoor concerts this summer. Where else can you get that recording quality in such a small package, all the better to conceal, and not having to change media for 2hr and 40 min. My main concern about recording quality is with the small mics I will be using, rather than lp2.

And lp4 which is immediately noticibly lower quality, is still useful, for extra long recordings (5hr 20min). Great for long talk radio shows or meetings or classes, etc. When showing my R700 to a friend, I recorded a few mins of oldie fm music from a portable fm wm. The mid-hi freg emphasis of the cheap fm radio was rolled off but in some ways improved for a listenable recording. Especially when the source is not that good or for voice recording I find lp4 useful. And it's not as annoying as low bitrate MP3's.

 

[leon]

Coolvij says:

...and the bass looses it's punchiness...

Sorry, but that does it for me. To my perceptions, "SP" compression often already involves a loss of punchiness, and I don't like its further absence on LP2. Hence I sold my R900

 

[coolvij]

lol, leon.

Yeah....well.......u got better cans than me......bass is never punchy on 888s anyways, imo

 

[Mike Walker]

I don't believe ATRAC, or any other lossy compression algorithm does much of anything to bass response. There's no need! Bass frequencies are low, hence they lack complexity, and very little data is necessary to FULLY encode them. This is why even Real Audio and Windows Media at 20kbps still have FULL bass extension.

Having said that, I don't doubt that some of the 'punchiness' of bass instruments COULD be lost, however, because this 'punchiness' doesn't occur at bass fequencies at all, but at mid and high frequencies. Remember, despite what audiophile magazines tell you, there is no such thing as "fast" bass. Being low, bass frequencies are ALL "slow". Think about it...of course a diaphram moves more slowly reproducing a 50hz signal than a 5khz one! However, NO musical signal is made up just of the fundamental "note". ALL musical sounds include OVERTONES, octaves above the "fundamental" which give the instrument it's particular "timbre" (without overtones, an electric bass and and an acoustic double bass playing the same note would sound identical!) These overtone frequencies which give the impression of "speed" or "punchiness" to bass instruments are actually not bass at all. They're "overtones" contained in the midrange and high frequency bands. Ask an experienced engineer how to make bass appear more prominent in a mix without becoming "bloated", and he'll say "boost the upper midrange and treble" on the bass channel. A boost of several db at 2khz on the track containing bass guitar really brings the instrument forward in the mix. But the BASS content remains the same! Hence the fact: there is no such thing as FAST bass!

So, while ATRAC and mp3 do practically nothing to bass, they can in fact affect the "punchiness" of bass instruments by changing the timbre of mid and high frequency "overtones". End of lesson

 

[coolvij]

I knew that.......