[G4] Integratng with home stereo

[Jim Pacyga]

I have used iTunes to manage my 30Gb 500+ cd library for 3 years.  I 
have used both the speaker out into an optical Denon amp with Klipsch 
speakers as well as a set of USB Sound Sticks.

I have tried MP3 formats for 160k, 192k and 320k, MP3 VBR and AAC 128k.

To be honest I have not heard a major difference.  However, I have 
noticed the difference with items encoded using WMA (which I hate) or 
MP3 128 or below.

A friend of mine with a Wintel + sound card setup claims his output is 
very poor unless he uses 320k, but when he heard my Sound Stick setup 
or my speaker out setup with was impressed with the fidelity (we played 
the CD v. the rip back to back).

I think it depends on the quality of the hardware (obviously) and 
speaker ports are not notorious for low THD and high SNR, but it seems 
to work out ok.

As a previous person said - it is all up to the listener - one man's CD 
quality is another man's crap.  It takes a $5 patch cable to connect 
the Mac to an RCA input pair on a any stereo, give it a shot and try 
ripping some good music (that follows all sorts of range and amplitude) 
at different rates with different formats and compare them with the CD 
in your machine.  It would be at best a few hours and you can be happy 
that you have the best setup for your taste.

If you want to go hog wild, get a G5 with its digital out and feed to 
an all digital amp and go for broke - that leaves it to just your 
source and your speakers...

Jim

On 9 Jun 2004, at 04:12, Roger Harris wrote:

> I don't have exotic stereo setup; but it is probably barely above 
> average. Fairly good Sony reciever and the spearkers are in wood 
> cabnets. The sound quality is good from the mac. My files are all AIFF 
> straight from my CDs to iTunes; I don't have any MP3s. I have a 6 CD 
> player in the stereo I run the Mac to but I never use the CD player 
> anymore; For at last two years.
>
> My active iTunes is 650 songs at 13gig. I have about twice that or 
> more but I didn't bother to put it in iTunes because I don't listen to 
> them. I will definitly be using Apples losless.
>
> It doesn't cost much to try it this way. Sound quality is very 
> subjective but I think most people will find this setup with Mac's 
> built in sound is just fine; but you are really using your stereo. 
> Many of my friends are long time musicians and they generaly like my 
> setup. Remember; It is running through the stereo and the stereo 
> delivers the sound. The Mac is acting like a tape deck or CD deck. The 
> Mac port works fine. A sound card would be a waste because; Again, you 
> are using the stereo.
>
> Roger
>
>
> David wrote:
>
>
>> Roger, Nathan,and Zhmmy.
>>
>> What sound quality are you experiencing going from the speaker port 
>> of you mac into your amplifier? What format are you using for your 
>> music files?
>>
>> I want to get rid of my CD rack, and burn everything to a dedicated 
>> music server running itunes and hook  it to my amp. I want the sound 
>> quality to be as good as my current stereo system cd player. The 
>> questions I have are:
>>
>> Do I need to burn the CDs as uncompressed to get decent sound 
>> quality? What about Apples new lossless compression format?
>>
>> Do I need a PCI sound card to get the best fidelity, or will the 
>> speaker  port work? I only want two channels, not surround.
>>
>> Thanks,
>> David
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> I have the same simple hookup as Nathan. I have a beige G3 OS 9.1 I 
>> use as a print and ...
>> Roger
>>
>> On Jun 8, 2004, at 2:25 PM, Nathan Smith wrote:
>>
>>
>
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