I'm quite new to this and just learned about lossless formats like a week ago.I've since been importing my CD collection to itunes as ALAC files instead of buying AAC files directly from itunes which are of lower quality (correct?).
AAC is a lossy format which works by using psychoacoustic coding to discard some data, depending on the settings such lossy files can be perceptually transparent i.e indistinguishable from lossless files for a given track with a given listener
I only have a small collection of CD's and have been thinking of buying vinyl.I hear people say that a good vinyl is better than a CD
A good LP can manage a SNR of about 75 - 80 db this is broadly equivalent to between 12 and 13 bits of resolution, redbook CD has 16 bit resolution or an SNR of about 96db i.e much less noisy - CD also has better distortion, better speed stability and can render a 20Khz signal at full scale anywhere on the disc, with LP as you approach the label it gets harder and harder to imprint a trackable high frequency signal of any magnitude, there are numerous other limitations of LP such as rumble and susceptibility to acoustic feedback. Playback of low level signals on headphones for instance is drowned by the inherent noise - this is a matter of physics.
,something to do with analog and digital but I won't pretend I actually understand any of that just yet.
Now would be an excellent opportunity to educate yourself, Ken Pohlmann's "Principles of Digital Audio" is a superb place to start or even the piece on digital audio by Monty at xiph.org
My question is is there a way of digitising(seems like right word?) records so they can be played on music players/computers.And if so will that file EVER be of a higher quality than the lossless files i've imported from my CD's,or is vinyl only better when played on a record player ?
For $30 you can get the Behringer UCA202 USB device which allows you to digitize any analog line level signal via the USB port of a computer. For this to work you have to take the signal from the turntable , feed it into a phono preamplifier stage, any old 70s/80s Amp or receiver will have such an input, take the tape-out from the said amp and feed it into the Behringer. You can use free software such as Audacity to capture and edit the analog signal. This solution will give you a capture of your LP to about 15 bits but since you'll only have 13 bits to start with you will not lose anything material. Any tiny noise added will be drowned by the incipient noise from the LP. Of course you can spend more on better capture devices and/or a stand-alone phono preamplifier but I frankly would not bother until after you have tried it the cheap way first. A good quality Analog to digital; capture is perceptually transparent