Well,

Today I had an epiphany on my new axiom speakers. I have been busy the last two months building out my cabinets for my home theater and getting all my gear hooked up and tweaked. As such I never had a chance to sit back and do some listening tests.

I have read quite often that MP3 files can lose audio quality but, I have not had a system that would allow me to test this out for myself. Well today I had a chance to compare my Norah Jones CD to my MP3 library and all I can say is WOW.

That was the moment that I thought that my M80s are really worth it. It really sounded like she was singing right there in my room.

Two thumbs up Axiom!

One very happy customer.

p.s. their customer service is top notch and reason itself to recommend.

Arrrr!

This 'arrr' has been going around.
My 4 year old has been big on the pirates lately.
I wonder if it is some kind of virus.

Nah, Tom just had limited attention to devote to his post as he was listening to his most excellent Axiom speakers.

Them be great speakers scurveydog!!

Anyone had any opinions on ripping the music to FLAC or unprotected AAC? I am leaning towards AAC currently.

No, there's no opinions about that around here at all...

Assuming you really mean Apple Lossless, you could go either way, really, as far as I'm concerned. It depends on what devices you're going to be using it with.

If you really mean AAC, FLAC is going to have better sound since it is lossless. Even at high bitrates, AAC is still a lossy scheme.

You will definitely want a lossless format for use on your Axioms. The difference becomes quiet noticeable.

AAC is probably the worst choice unless you absolutely need it to play on an iPod. I maintain a parallel library of FLAC for my home theater and 256 MP3 for my portable. it's really not that much extra work if you have to re-rip all your CDs anyways.

I don't think AAC is necessarily the worst choice; at the same bitrates, it's generally better than mp3.

Sorry, I didn't word that properly. I meant worst between his two choices. FLAC or AAC.

Thanks for the clarification.

Talk Like a Pirate Day is September 19, this year and every year.

I've always wanted to chair a meeting on that day so that I could have "everyone in favor say 'Arrrr!'"

I use the same scheme as Murph - a library of FLAC files and a separate library of MP3's for portable devices. I understand, however, that the pay version of Media Monkey can do the conversion on-the-fly if you are synching non-iPod devices.

I'm pretty sure that Alan has commented here a few times that to his ears, even MP3s at 320 kbps are transparent (i.e. they sound the same as the source). I could be misquoting this, but if so, it's not intentional. Some folks certainly disagree that these files are transparent, and I truly believe they can tell the difference. Unfortunately for me though, I cannot, so I went with all 320kbps MP3s for ripping my CD collection. ( more about that here if you're interested, this was a related but broader discussion).

I'm completely in the minority I realize, but at least run an ABX test for yourself before committing one way or the other. MP3s are a great compromise of storage space, compatibility (more key for me than anything), and great sound. One good way to do an ABX test is to set up an iTunes (or any music player) playlist and include 3 songs. Two of the songs are the exact same song, ripped in either MP3 320kbps or in FLAC (or another lossless format). The third is the same song, but ripped in the opposite format. Then click shuffle on your playlist, hit play, and challenge yourself to pick the song that is different. When I did this, I failed every time (even luck would indicate I should have guessed right after a while, but I didn't!)

If your ears can pick up the difference, then definitely go with the big lossless files and be proud that you are indeed such a discerning listener. If not, MP3s might work alright for you too.

I can only say for sure that my older MP3 library, where everything was only 128 kbps, was very noticeably lacking in quality. Some songs took the hit much more than others. When first experimenting with FLAC, my totally 'audio unconcerned' wife could tell me she preferred the flac over the MP3s when played on the Axioms in a simple blind test. I tried to trick her a couple of times by playing the same version twice and she still picked it up.

I re-ripped all my MP3s to 256 kbps when I did the flac conversion. I experimented with 320 but couldn't tell the difference between 128, 256 or 320 on my Creative Zen player with original earphones. (I'd like to try again with my much improved Shure phones.) Deciding up on 256 for my MP3 player was really just a mental compromise between space and the paranoia my speakers had created.

I never seriously A-B tested 320 on my Axioms. I tried but I didn't trust my ears as I was doing my own switching. For those of you lucky enough to sometimes visit each other in person, I'd like to suggest that when you are comparing speakers (as I know you will be doing) that also you have some MP3 vs flac testing fun and report back to us. Maybe even compare two or three bitrates in MP3. It would make for an interesting review.

As is often mentioned though, whatever makes you happy is always the correct choice.

Completely agree on 128 kbps versus 256 or 320.. it's night & day and worth the amount of time to rerip everything if the majority of your music is in 128 kbps MP3 (which mine was as well).

Seems like I am in the same boat as some people. Most of my MP3 library is 128/192 MP3 and I am not going back to rip 60GB of music. I think I will just pick the CDs I am going to listen to on my stereo and rip those to FLAC in a separate library. At least now days storage is not an issue.

Thanks for the advice!