For those using mp3 players from CDs with their boxes

[trippy1313]

I was curious to know, if you import songs from CD's, to either iTunes, or Zune, etc.... what is your preferred way to import them as to have the least amount of "loss" in the transfer? I know being on a CD it's probably already lost some of the original sound, but do you import at the highest bit-rate allowed, use a "Variable" bit-rate. Apple even as a format called "Apple Lossless"

What do you guys do, to get the most natural sound, when importing music from a CD?

Myself, I use iTunes to import my CDs, never downloaded, and I usually use a 256 or 320 bit-rate.... even though I've heard CDs or only capable of 192, not sure if that's true or not.

I know this has been touched on here and there in various threads, but I figured I'd ask it specifically.

 

[vladi123456]

I personally rip cd's on my computer at 320 bps, and then copy everything on a memory card and insert it in my mp3 player. I have a newer mp3 player which supports cards up to 128gb, so one card holds pretty much everything I have!

 

[Beosystem10]

Audio CDs are recorded in PCM, these are "lossless" files in that they are capable of carrying all of the original information from the studio, so when I'm transcribing [the CDs] to tape or onto my music laptop, running Ubuntu studio, then I'm doing so without losing any information. All that's required is to export an empty sound file into Audacity before adding the music otherwise the software won't recognise the format: Not the end of the world as it would then default to WAV or FLAC, which compresses without any loss from source.
Technically, the vagaries of human hearing are such that we cannot - in spite of what the audiophools may reckon - tell the difference between anything above 768K or thereabouts and a live original since at that sort of bitrate, much of that which is lost will be without the response range of our brain, so WAV, OGG, etc. are - to the human ear - indistinguishable from the original performance but FLAC contains every bit of [that original] and is only compressed in stored form, not when played.

 

[hemiguy2006]

For what its worth, I use I tunes and Apple lossless format.

 

[trippy1313]

For what its worth, I use I tunes and Apple lossless format.

I've thought about trying this to see if I notice any difference. Maybe do the same album in this format and again in what I currently use. Really I'm not sure how good my ears are to tell, but I know I can tell the difference between some different radios, speakers, etc...

 

[caution]

I use Exact Audio Copy to rip CDs. I've got it set up with LAME for mp3 compression, and with a dynamic bitrate, in that the compressor decides what is needed for each frame (128-320). I think it sounds great. My brother and I used this setup years ago to convert our CD collections. It also has a built-in WAV editor for trimming tracks and other stuff like normalization, for when I need to adjust audio from YouTube or wherever. Lots of programs out there will do this stuff, but I like EAC/LAME because they're free and do what I need.

 

[ford93]

This is very interesting stuff.

I normally convert my downloaded music to Magix Mp3 maker at 320 Kbs.

Some music stores already have their music set up at 320 Kbs.

 

[Ken]

This is very interesting stuff.

... in spite of what the audiophools may reckon...

I guess I resemble that remark. The same music on vinyl and compact disc sounds quite different to these ears. I would describe vinyl as sounding warmer & thicker, with more depth to it's soundstage.

Just sayin'.

When downloading, I go from FLAC to mp3 with Windows Media Player at max bitrate. With vinyl & cassette, I use Diamond Cut Audio software to wave, then edit noise and superfluous bs with DCArt-32 version 4.02 on an XP Sound XP-201 A to D converter/amp. Comes out really nice with as much noise filtered out as you want to spend time editing.

 

[goodman]

I rip one CD to mp3 192kb/s and to 320 kb/s.
When listen these songs on street with my mp3 player, I can't find difference.
Of course have difference, when listen songs on HI-Fi sytem with big and quality speakers.

Don't forget one important question for level of mp3 songs....
Usually old CD's have low levels and new CD's have high levels.
When I rip new CD to mp3 songs, usually level is high - more than 0 dB.
But for digital songs, peak level must be 0dB.
In this case is necessary to manually adjust levels of all songs, lower than 0 dB...

Do you use something to adjust level of songs or not?!?

 

[trippy1313]

I rip one CD to mp3 192kb/s and to 320 kb/s.
When listen these songs on street with my mp3 player, I can't find difference.
Of course have difference, when listen songs on HI-Fi sytem with big and quality speakers.

Don't forget one important question for level of mp3 songs....
Usually old CD's have low levels and new CD's have high levels.
When I rip new CD to mp3 songs, usually level is high - more than 0 dB.
But for digital songs, peak level must be 0dB.
In this case is necessary to manually adjust levels of all songs, lower than 0 dB...

Do you use something to adjust level of songs or not?!?

That's a pretty good point. I do actually have iTunes automatically adjust the audio levels of imported CDs, and have my noticed newer CDs are often adjusted to around -7db, wheras my older stuff is often right around 0db.

 

[Gluecifer]

The modern music I get, I don't care really about 'perfection' as it's all done on computers to begin with and rarely has any analogue sources or is professionally mixed so I'm happy with 320 mp3s.

Anything produced in the 70s or 80s I listen to I stick to vinyl and cassette, and avoid any modern 'remasters' like the plague.

Not a CD fan, only buy on CD when all other favoured formats are precluded.



Rock On.

 

[Beosystem10]

avoid any modern 'remasters' like the plague.

Yes, sadly even records these days aren't as mechanical as they could be! It's great that records are making a comeback, you don't get the same pleasure from looking at the album art on the inlay in a CD case, but current records are very rarely processed AAA, as they used to be. Now, they tend to be processed in the sequence DDA where the studio - and the lathe that cuts the press tool - use a digital source so that the only analogue process is the actual pressing and that's where it makes the least difference of all.
A good quality early CD, most likely AAD, will sound more believable than a current chart record (much classical and jazz stuff is still made in sufficiently low volumes to be analogue throughout) when played on a high quality bit of kit such as the Philips CD Pro (VAU1252) disc transport found in Rowe-AMI CD jukeboxes, Marantz CD7 CD readers and my own B&O Century, which affords CDs a "warmth" rarely found outside of an original, all mechanical shellac record that carries some Fats or Elvis.

 

[Ghettoman]

i collect mp3 players,i have at a guess about 100,i like the different brands,different displays,features ect..they'r cool,its just a bit of fun,keeps life going..

 

[Beosystem10]

i collect mp3 players,i have at a guess about 100,i like the different brands,different displays,features ect..they'r cool,its just a bit of fun,keeps life going..

This is encouraging, since even the mp3 player will reach the point where it becomes hard to find and any and all efforts to preserve the means of hearing music, at whatever bit rate, lossy or not in its format, will ultimately create - and with luck maintain - an interest in the music itself. Music, or farmyard noises, talking books, recordings of classic two stroke Diesels under load (no? OK so that's just me then ) and fridges falling down fire escapes, the working title of the next album from the winners of "Pop Idol".
Nowadays - so I'm told by some young people who know these things - streaming directly is challenging the whole concept of actually storing and saving content in any existing format. This is a nuisance as I was going to apply to Dragons' Den for funding to develop a music player that can be surgically grafted right into the human brain. Oh well, back to the drawing board.

 

[hopey]

There are devices that can upscale the mp3 file by accessing the digital souce file then using hi spec DAC which is superior to the ones built in to the phone or mp3 player. This is is little harder to get working on a portable but just strap one of these onto you boombox and away you go.

http://www.cambridgeaudio.com/products/hifi-and-home-cinema/dacmagic-plus