vranswer
1000+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- May 19, 2004
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OK. This is probably some sort of HeadFi heresy, and I'm not really sure which forum to post this in. But I just got through with an experiment which yielded interesting/startling results. On a lark and out of curiosity, I re-ripped one of my CDs using Sony's ATRAC3Plus codec, for listening with my new NW-E507 flash player. Was interested in the gapless aspect of ATRAC, and wanted to see how ATRAC3Plus (256Kbps) measured up against EAC LAME APS, using my new Shure E4Cs.
WELL......very interesting indeed. First of all, gapless playback is not so insignificant a thing as I thought it to be - especially with the many prog rock CDs I listen to. Many of them feature transitions from one song to the next, and while I previously believed, "eh, no big deal", it is in fact quite a deal. Gapless provides a flow to the CD which was intended (I think) by the artist...and which is missing using anything other than a codec which can provide true gapless playback. Since mp3 does not, I immediately noticed a "WOW" reaction listening to albums benefitting from the feature using ATRAC3Plus.
But to the crux of my post: With my Shure E4s, the NW-E507, using ATRAC3Plus, rips APART LAME APS. To these ears it's not really very close. I was hearing essential elements to songs which LAME (I guess) decided needed to be tossed out. Plus song transitions remained intact, which was a treat in and of itself. I got to wondering if maybe Sony's philosophy of 'boomy bass' and 'excessive highs' (as witnessed by their headphone line-up) might be an advantage when being used with Shure phones. i.e., could there be this tremendous synergy achieved if one matches Shure (E4C) canalphones {big midrange, OK treble, expandable bass} with a Sony player which is playing ATRAC3Plus compressed files {little to no midrange, shrieky highs, Sony sound}. Is that what's happening here? Don't know, but getting ready to ditch all my other stuff and go with this combination, 'cause it's freakin' awesome. Lightweight, battery NEVER needs charged and kicks butt with the Shure phones. Don't hate me for liking ATRAC3Plus
WELL......very interesting indeed. First of all, gapless playback is not so insignificant a thing as I thought it to be - especially with the many prog rock CDs I listen to. Many of them feature transitions from one song to the next, and while I previously believed, "eh, no big deal", it is in fact quite a deal. Gapless provides a flow to the CD which was intended (I think) by the artist...and which is missing using anything other than a codec which can provide true gapless playback. Since mp3 does not, I immediately noticed a "WOW" reaction listening to albums benefitting from the feature using ATRAC3Plus.
But to the crux of my post: With my Shure E4s, the NW-E507, using ATRAC3Plus, rips APART LAME APS. To these ears it's not really very close. I was hearing essential elements to songs which LAME (I guess) decided needed to be tossed out. Plus song transitions remained intact, which was a treat in and of itself. I got to wondering if maybe Sony's philosophy of 'boomy bass' and 'excessive highs' (as witnessed by their headphone line-up) might be an advantage when being used with Shure phones. i.e., could there be this tremendous synergy achieved if one matches Shure (E4C) canalphones {big midrange, OK treble, expandable bass} with a Sony player which is playing ATRAC3Plus compressed files {little to no midrange, shrieky highs, Sony sound}. Is that what's happening here? Don't know, but getting ready to ditch all my other stuff and go with this combination, 'cause it's freakin' awesome. Lightweight, battery NEVER needs charged and kicks butt with the Shure phones. Don't hate me for liking ATRAC3Plus