Which format

[ejm]

Greetings

I am awaiting the arrival of my new HP's and dac/amp. What format is best and also what is acceptable for storing audio files for quality playback?

I am wondering how to get the most out of my hp's but also curious to know what would be considered a minimum quality format for playback on fairly good equipment.

My HP's are Ultrosone Proline 750's and I also have a Corda Aria amp/dac coming.

Regards
EJM

 

[krmathis]

I say use a lossless audio codec.
Just pick the one that have the software/hardware support needed, cause they all sound the same. I prefer Apple Lossless...

 

[rb67]

I only use FLAC/APE, V0 mp3, or 320 kbps mp3. Sometimes I can hear the difference with 256 so I try to avoid anything below that. Honestly, the difference in file size between 256 and V0 is small enough that there really isn't any good reason not to use V0. 128 MP3 is just painful.

 

[mastercheif]

Do you use an iPod? If the answer is yes, use ALAC (Apple Lossless Audio Codec). If not, use FLAC.

 

[rain_uk]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mastercheif /img/forum/go_quote.gif Do you use an iPod? If the answer is yes, use ALAC (Apple Lossless Audio Codec). If not, use FLAC.

X2 - Exactly as I do.. ALAC mainly although I do have many files in Flac and Ape and it's easy enough to convert between formats if ever required. I would suggest checking out any 'Foobar' threads you find, if you are not already using this as a player, with the correct components (plugins) it plays all formats..

 

[Redo]

I'd use FLAC. Even if you have an iPod, just convert the FLAC to 256 AAC in Foobar for your iPod. No reason to waste all that iPod disk space on lossless audio

 

[ejm]

Thanks for the replies,

I haven't got an ipod and probably will do all my listening here though my hp's. From what I understand, they should reveal any shortcomings in the source?

Lots to learn - one more hobby

.


Thanks
EJM

 

[rb67]

Yup, you should be able to discover some new things with your source with your excellent set-up. In the end, give yourself a few weeks to acclimate to your new gear and then try different encoding schemes. If you can't tell the difference between certain formats and you are not archiving important things, you might as well save HDD space.

Remember, don't try searching for faults! That leads you down the slippery path of fringe audiophilia that many happen to tread. Enjoy your music! In the end that's all that counts! Don't let this hobby turn into something that focuses on the equipment and technicalities.

Welcome to the new hobby and welcome to the community.

 

[Lord Chaos]

No matter which format you choose, ejm, when you rip your CDs think about the future. Once the music is on your computer it's easy to use it in other ways, such as a network music player. The most important aspect of this is to pay attention to the metadata tags. Read the FAQs on the Gracenote site for advice on tagging. If you do a good job of tagging now you'll be happier in the future. How do I know? Because I didn't, and am paying for it now.

 

[Amarok]

I would go open source lossless, regardless. Remember Sony and Betamax? err... probably not, you young whippersnappers http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betamax. Moral: Best don't mean success. Witness Windwoes.

As said, you can always transcode from there. But one big advantage for me is it is a bit perfect backup for your CD collection. Lossy is a one-way street. As can be proprietary. Even if it is your own mvsik, the proprietary whores (sorry, no other word for them. And euphemisms often deeply offend *me*) can always add some license BS (ick) to make it illegal. And if it has any kind of DRM, then it is illegal under the DMCA.

So when your 2 yro uses two irreplaceable CDs as skates, you're covered.

And anyway, disk space is essentially free. I just got an enterprise server grade (my Linux server is up 24/7) SATA 250G for ~$75... lotsa ****, lotsa mvsik ;->. So, as has been said, size isn't important. Lossless compression is still better than .wav, tho.

And the open source community supports things like FLAC. Because of this, my iHP140 can play FLAC now that I've switched to using RockBox "firmware." Dunno and don't care if iRiver ever made good on their promise to play FLAC. (Which is worse: Ignorance or apathy? I don't know and I don't care. <groan>)

<soapbox>

And NOTHING is more important to corps than the bottom line: http://www.calbaptist.edu/dskubik/pinto.htm. Rendering your entire mvsik collection unreadable would be as nothing. This is also a warning against DRM'd downloads. And I *don't* steal mvsik. No downloads, no rips copied from friends. And no lending to friends known to do so. But a 99.99% boycott of the RIAA for ~15 yrs. GO indie online labels. Mr RIAA: If I am not paying for media, but for the right to listen, then why won't you replace scratched media returned for shipping and handling. And why not allow me to upgrade from, say, CD to SACD by returning the CD? And if I have a vinyl copy of _Fragile_ and a CD one, is that two licenses, and can I then give on away, legally?

And most importantly of all, why have artists royalties remained flat as
manufacturing costs have plummeted?

</soapbox>

 

[Jaska]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Redo /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'd use FLAC. Even if you have an iPod, just convert the FLAC to 256 AAC in Foobar for your iPod. No reason to waste all that iPod disk space on lossless audio

The reason to avoid this approach is that playback in iTunes and on iPod will not be gapless. When using foobar2000 to transcode FLAC or other lossless files for use on an iPod, the way to go is LAME.

 

[Amarok]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jaska /img/forum/go_quote.gif The reason to avoid this approach is that playback in iTunes and on iPod will not be gapless. When using foobar2000 to transcode FLAC or other lossless files for use on an iPod, the way to go is LAME.

I though LAME was an encoder (even tho LAME stands (or stood for) LAME Ain't and Mp3 Encoder), not a format. But abyway the choice comes down to gapless vs SQ. Which is very much a function of user taste and quality of the play-backing-device.
For me, gaplessness alone is reason enough to go FLAC. From what I've read, only lossless can guarantee gapless. Although, from the stuff I read, it didn't seem insurmountable. I may require a tad more meta-data, but at least newly encoded mp3s, etc, could play back gaplessly.

 

[Jaska]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Amarok /img/forum/go_quote.gif I though LAME was an encoder (even tho LAME stands (or stood for) LAME Ain't and Mp3 Encoder), not a format. But abyway the choice comes down to gapless vs SQ. Which is very much a function of user taste and quality of the play-backing-device. For me, gaplessness alone is reason enough to go FLAC. From what I've read, only lossless can guarantee gapless. Although, from the stuff I read, it didn't seem insurmountable. I may require a tad more meta-data, but at least newly encoded mp3s, etc, could play back gaplessly.

Yes, of course LAME is an MP3 encoder, rather than a format. But it's imperative to single out LAME from other MP3 encoders since, besides Apple's own MP3 encoder, it's the only one I know of that you can use outside of iTunes to create files with gapless playback metadata recognized by iTunes and iPod.

BTW, many lossy codecs can generate gapless files (Ogg Vorbis, LAME MP3, Musepack, Nero AAC and on an on), but they can only be played back gaplessly with capable software/hardware.

The typical way for a foobar2000 user to transcode lossless files to AAC is with Nero's free AAC encoder, and these files will not play back gaplessly in iTunes or on iPod.

 

[Thelonious Monk]

kind of off topic, but i don't think this question warrants its own topics:

does anyone have any links to those workflows that let you update your ipod with lossy files transcoded from lossless files? i'm talking, like keeping all flac/alac on the computer, plugging the ipod in, having foobar/itunes automatically make an mp3/aac copy of it, putting it on the ipod, deleting the copy. i remember seeing a workflow like that in itunes for alac -> aac. thanks.

most lossless formats will fit the bill easily, but yeah, don't use licensed lossless codecs. monkey's audio is almost impossible to use on anything but windows, and while it's smaller than most other lossless files, it's slow to encode and decode. just stick with flac, it's the most widely used standard.