Westone 3: Is ANY amplification needed?
Dec 19, 2008 at 5:15 PM Post #16 of 30
Quote:

Originally Posted by thatguyoverthere /img/forum/go_quote.gif
isn't it significant to mention that he said it was a 320 kb/s AAC file?

Wouldn't that explain the lack of difference? the file wasn't even lossless.



I defy you to do a real blinded A/B test and tell 320AAC from lossless. I have all Naim home gear, and I switched to 320AAC for convenience, size and streaming ability after determining that I couldn't even begin to tell one from the other.



Well, I'm going to get to do my own testing now- I got a $100 Amazon gift certificate and sprung for the NuForce Icon Mobile amp. What the hell- it's basically free to me (well, after the $68 Iphone line out cable...). Yeah, I know, "sorry about your wallet".
 
Dec 19, 2008 at 7:23 PM Post #17 of 30
Quote:

Originally Posted by AndrewF /img/forum/go_quote.gif
I defy you to do a real blinded A/B test and tell 320AAC from lossless. I have all Naim home gear, and I switched to 320AAC for convenience, size and streaming ability after determining that I couldn't even begin to tell one from the other.



Well, I'm going to get to do my own testing now- I got a $100 Amazon gift certificate and sprung for the NuForce Icon Mobile amp. What the hell- it's basically free to me (well, after the $68 Iphone line out cable...). Yeah, I know, "sorry about your wallet".


Well, I've never heard from a high end headphone, so I wouldn't know if there was a difference. Is the difference between lossless and 320 really unnoticeable? that's a shame, because everyone else seems to say there's a difference. I know I can't hear it now with my headphones, but once I get my Westone 3s I was hoping I could.

You tried the amp with lossless and couldn't tell a difference?
 
Dec 19, 2008 at 7:28 PM Post #18 of 30
Quote:

Originally Posted by thatguyoverthere /img/forum/go_quote.gif
Well, I've never heard from a high end headphone, so I wouldn't know if there was a difference. Is the difference between lossless and 320 really unnoticeable? that's a shame, because everyone else seems to say there's a difference. I know I can't hear it now with my headphones, but once I get my Westone 3s I was hoping I could.


This is a very involved and controversial subject. The great majority of people can't tell the difference, even down to 196AAC. I went for the highest possible AAC just for extra "insurance". If you don't have fantastic gear, I would be shocked if you could tell the difference. There may be some extraordinary people who can tell lossless from high quality AAC, but they are very few and far between.
 
Dec 19, 2008 at 7:32 PM Post #19 of 30
Quote:

Originally Posted by AndrewF /img/forum/go_quote.gif
This is a very involved and controversial subject. The great majority of people can't tell the difference, even down to 196AAC. I went for the highest possible AAC just for extra "insurance". If you don't have fantastic gear, I would be shocked if you could tell the difference. There may be some extraordinary people who can tell lossless from high quality AAC, but they are very few and far between.


well, we are talking about W3s here. For $400 I was kind of hoping I'd hear a difference.
 
Dec 19, 2008 at 8:16 PM Post #20 of 30
Quote:

Originally Posted by thatguyoverthere /img/forum/go_quote.gif
well, we are talking about W3s here. For $400 I was kind of hoping I'd hear a difference.


Well, you might, but I wouldn't base your decision on that. You will certainly hear an improvement over whatever else it is you are using (they are wonderful IEM's). If you went down as far as 128mp3 or aac, yes, you would hear the bad quality with W3's, and that would be a reason to rip at a higher level. There's nothing wrong with ripping lossless if you have a massive harddrive that you like to haul around. It's just that you get the same, or imperceptibly close, quality with 320aac, at a fraction of the space.

Let me put it this way- IF you have ears that are good enough to tell the difference, the W3's will certainly be a tool that will allow you to "achieve your full potential".
 
Dec 19, 2008 at 8:27 PM Post #21 of 30
There is much more to portable amps than just volume control, which seems to be your impression (They get the same volume, so why do you need an amp over a simply volume control?). That is why people don't only use amps with iPods, but various other DAPs as well.
 
Dec 19, 2008 at 8:32 PM Post #22 of 30
No, that's not what I'm saying at all. I've had a Tomahawk in the past- I know what a decent amp does. It's just that I never tried comparing it to using nothing at all- in other words doing a single variable rather than a multivariable experiment. That's why I thought my little experiment this morning was interesting- it actually sounds pretty damn good straight out of the lineout. Once I get my new amp, I'll be able to do my own comparisons, I guess.
 
Dec 20, 2008 at 1:45 AM Post #25 of 30
Quote:

Originally Posted by AndrewF /img/forum/go_quote.gif
Well, you might, but I wouldn't base your decision on that. You will certainly hear an improvement over whatever else it is you are using (they are wonderful IEM's). If you went down as far as 128mp3 or aac, yes, you would hear the bad quality with W3's, and that would be a reason to rip at a higher level. There's nothing wrong with ripping lossless if you have a massive harddrive that you like to haul around. It's just that you get the same, or imperceptibly close, quality with 320aac, at a fraction of the space.

Let me put it this way- IF you have ears that are good enough to tell the difference, the W3's will certainly be a tool that will allow you to "achieve your full potential".


I have Sennheiser CX500s right now and I can hear the difference between 128 and lossless, but its not very defined.

anyway, I have enough space for my music. I think, when I get my new headphones, I'll post a thread where I do comparisons where I take a 3 versions of a song, make them identicle except one will be lossless, one will be 320 and one will be 196. Then I'll shuffle them and use the iPod's rating system to see if I can correctly identify which is which. Or maybe not, depends how long it takes in the end.
 
Dec 20, 2008 at 1:52 AM Post #26 of 30
Quote:

Originally Posted by nsc4u /img/forum/go_quote.gif
can anyone recommend a amp for w3?


You might want to review both the W3 and P-51 Mustang threads.
You'll find a number of comments / impressions about Mustang & W3 synergy.
(in other words - read the threads to justify it, then order a Mustang, if you can swing it - you won't be sorry)
 
Jul 20, 2011 at 7:06 PM Post #28 of 30


 
Quote:
ilrr11x said:
w3's are amazing!
Click to expand...



Glad you like them.  Just not sure bumping 5 different threads within minutes, one being 2 years old and this one 3 years old is a good idea to be fair.  Enjoy
ksc75smile.gif

 
 
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