[X4U] Which format for Music?

[Jim Warthman]

First, yes, I did A/B comparisons with a couple long-time favorite music
tracks, which I encoded several different ways. I could not always detect
differences, but sometimes I could. That was enough for me.

Second, I do not use the "audio circuitry" in the Airport Express. Instead,
I use its optical interface to send a digital bit stream (44.1K samples/sec.
I believe) directly to my (high-end) A/V receiver. The actual digital to
analog conversion happens there.  As I mentioned earlier, this approach
keeps my music completely digital from the original CD source material,
through the Airport Express, and into my A/V receiver - the most expensive
component in my system (the G5 aside!).

But suppose I had a different setup, and was listening to my music through a
fairly lo-fi audio system. I believe that ripping a bunch of CDs isn't
something I want to do again in a year or three, when I might invest in a
better system that discloses issues in the lossy encoding that I chose based
on my listening tests today. If I can afford the additional disk space to
support Apple Lossless Encoding, it's a bit like saving my digital photos in
RAW format. I have the best information possible, in order to take advantage
of better technology as it arrives.

Enjoy!

-- Jim


On 2005-08-14 3:23 AM, "B. Kuestner" <kuestner at macnews.de> wrote:

> Before digging into super-fidelity technical details ... did anybody
> ever care to make a listening test if the audible difference after
> using a lossy encoder is even perceivable to your ears, and if so, is
> this difference relevant to you?
> 
> I read about Airport Express here which uses (sorry to break the bad
> news) sub-par audio circuitry. Now if the Airport Express is good
> enough for you, then most likely AAC or MP3 (VBR) both at 160 kbit/s
> and encoded at "highest quality" should be more than plenty.
> 
> Just a thought before you start filling up your hard drives for a
> mostly psychological phenomenon.
> 
> Note: I'm not implying that there is no perceivable difference and
> that it isn't relevant for some. But AAC and MP3 are successful for a
> good reason, because they really do a good job for a large majority
> of the listening habits out there ... which should include all AE
> users. (c: