[charlie875578]

Okay so I love listening to music on my computer. I have a new Macbook Pro. I don't want to load it up with music like I did my last computer, so I have a Rhapsody account. Question is: is this inferior quality? I'm I better off putting my CDs on the computer? or is that inferior quality too, and I should just listen to the CDs directly? Or is it all about the same. Any suggestions on getting the optimum sound quality would be great. 
 
I'm also looking at Fiio e5, e6, e9, e11, e17 for the near future.
 
Thanks

 

[nagual]

Many people claim been not possible to discern from 128 kbps to higher bitrates.  If I´m not  mistaken,  www.hydrogenaudio.org, led an experiment about this.

 

[charlie875578]

Okay cool thanks

 

[charlie875578]

oh yea, also looking at e7 if anyone has any amp suggestions

 

[obobskivich]

It depends on the bitrate of the stream; if it's 64-128k it may have issues depending on the material. If it's a >256k stream it's probably going to be hard to pick apart from the CDs.

If you don't have lots of storage on your computer, consider an external hard-disk just for music perhaps. Or a network hard-disk (like Time Capsule); you could even go nuts and have the music distributed around your house (to other compatible devices, like Airport Express).

Regarding the equipment question - need more info; what do you want to plug in?

 

[BrownBear]

Quote:

It depends on the bitrate of the stream; if it's 64-128k it may have issues depending on the material. If it's a >256k stream it's probably going to be hard to pick apart from the CDs.
If you don't have lots of storage on your computer, consider an external hard-disk just for music perhaps. Or a network hard-disk (like Time Capsule); you could even go nuts and have the music distributed around your house (to other compatible devices, like Airport Express).
Regarding the equipment question - need more info; what do you want to plug in?

 
Yes. Plus one to all this. Storage is cheap, or so I hear, and that way you could have even lossless files of your music available to your whenever you want. That way, you can assure you're getting the best quality.