UPDATED: lossless vs lame 3.97 codec...

[lemur]

Thanks for helping out!
Yes I know about EAC but never used it.
I tried it once but DBpoweramp is much more userfriendly. Maybe I need to upgrade it to the latest version. Although it has presets that I need to look into.

 

[Kabeer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lemur /img/forum/go_quote.gif Thanks for helping out! Yes I know about EAC but never used it. I tried it once but DBpoweramp is much more userfriendly. Maybe I need to upgrade it to the latest version. Although it has presets that I need to look into.

EAC Settings screenshot
EAC isnt that hard, here is my settings screen, after that your rolling. (err btw, I hope I have done it right lol dont wanna look stupid

)

I think the bitrate drop down bar doesn't do anything if you have specified the v2 --vbr command (corrent me if I am wrong)

 

[ricmat]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ex0du5 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Well I haven't tried any other solution yet for the laptop. If you want the best music listening experience out of the laptop, you're going to need to use an external USB DAC solution. However for multipurpose, I think the Audigy 2 should fare quite well. All I know is that my Realtek HD, really, really blows. But since I don't need ultra high-fi sound on my laptop, and I am a gamer, I am just getting a USB headset myself (Plantronics DSP 400). For a hi-fi setup, ask around at the computer-as-source board.

Really?

after some search, I was willing to put some more $$ in the system (as my HP stand is now ES7, MS1, DT880, SR325, K701, -and looking to some good senns...)

and I was thinking on smt like:

portable (it will always be an important source) -> Micro DAC -> Hornet -> HP


What do you say about this idea?

Any other sugestions?

Cheers

 

[donunus]

preset fast extreme is my sweet spot. john coltrane lost some speed on the cymbals and top end extension when i listened to the v2 rip. V0 is the way to go

 

[Redo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by donunus /img/forum/go_quote.gif preset fast extreme is my sweet spot. john coltrane lost some speed on the cymbals and top end extension when i listened to the v2 rip. V0 is the way to go

Yes, with a good drummer that can strike the cymbals smoothly, paired up with great recording quality, and -V 2 can start falling just a hair short of complete transparency. With good quality cymbal oriented music, -V 0 --vbr-new all the way!

 

[cooperpwc]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Redo /img/forum/go_quote.gif Yes, with a good drummer that can strike the cymbals smoothly, paired up with great recording quality, and -V 2 can start falling just a hair short of complete transparency. With good quality cymbal oriented music, -V 0 --vbr-new all the way!

That's interesting. I haven't had that experience yet but as my ear gets more trained (and my DAC/amps improve), I wouldn't be surprised. That is the beauty of using AutoFLAC/EAC to rip FLAC images with cue sheets. All of the time and effort goes into creating those images which I then archive to DVD. I can reconvert an album to any Lame level of MP3 in about 20 seconds by dragging the cue sheet into Foobar and a right click of my mouse. And the FLAC image with cue sheet mean that those MP3s are true gapless. So if I ever decide to go V0 - or individual FLAC files once that dream music server with a huge hard drive enters my arsenal - it's perhaps one weekend of work to convert hundreds of albums. By contrast, if you have to rerip, it's weeks or months of work...

 

[Febs]

-V0 lowpasses between approximately 19.4 and 19.9kHz. -V2 lowpasses between approximately 18.7 and 19.2kHz. In that octave, that is a really small difference. For most people, it will probably be inaudible (I certainly fall into that category) and even those who can hear a difference may find that it is so small as to not be worth the additional file size.

 

[donunus]

well, the difference is not there with all songs from all artists but with old jazz like coltrane and miles davis, it's definitely there. Its definitely worth the filesize bump. It just adds that snap and realism to the crack in the cymbals (I guess thats more due to the pre echo problem of mp3 more than the extension due to the lowpass) I would say 320 is where its more of a waste since the filesize goes way up and its virtually identical to V0. The files I have where v0 can't sound identical to the wav, 320 also has the same problems. Its more the mp3s limitations rather than the bitrate. V0 -preset fast extreme wins to me

 

[Febs]

Quote:

Originally Posted by donunus /img/forum/go_quote.gif well, the difference is not there with all songs from all artists but with old jazz like coltrane and miles davis, it's definitely there. Its definitely worth the filesize bump. It just adds that snap and realism to the crack in the cymbals (I guess thats more due to the pre echo problem of mp3 more than the extension due to the lowpass) I would say 320 is where its more of a waste since the filesize goes way up and its virtually identical to V0. The files I have where v0 can't sound identical to the wav, 320 also has the same problems. Its more the mp3s limitations rather than the bitrate. V0 -preset fast extreme wins to me

Good point.

 

[donunus]

Febs. I actually listened and analyzed why i could tell the difference to a certain file sample taken from patricia barbers a fortnight live in france cd to different mp3 bitrates/presets. Its as if there is a sound trailing to the peak of the transient with the mp3 version while the original wav is dead silent/pitch black before that cymbal is hit. This translates to a more startling and more emotional experience when I listen to the original against the mp3. With this particular cymbal hit, even 320 didn't do it justice. I guess v0 gives that part 320 anyway while v2 might have done so also but v0 is just more aggressive in giving more parts of the music higher bitrates when lame thinks its needed. The coltrane I mentioned earlier was a better example where v2 might not have given the cymbal hits the highest bitrate possible while V0 did.
Some might think this is placebo but i did try abx in foobar and sure enough my theory is correct. perfect score 7/7 for the 320 patricia barber sample against the wav where after that i stopped when the difference became less obvious due to fatigue after concentrating on the differences.