Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Technical Questions Lossy vs Lossless questions

I have been using digital music for some time now on a windows based pc. Thus far I have stuck with FLAC for use on my stero and need be converted to mp3 for use on my ipod. 256-320kpbs should should be fine for use on your ipod, if not you can also use rockbox depending on your ipod model for FLAC support. As for stero I use FLAC, for the most part above 1000kbps and some vinyl rips at nearly 4000kbps. I keep the two formats in different folders, use itunes for mp3 and VUPlayer for FLAC. I have had pretty good luck finding FLAC for download, it is not as widely used as mp3's but getting better. I would suggest testing all the options before committing to anything as it is your opinion that matters the most.

I rip everything to FLAC for listening in my home systems. At the same time, I then also rip to 320kpbs MP3s. It's a 'challenge' for people without ultra-trained ears to perceive a difference at 320 but it produces much smaller and universally acceptable files. I'd never be able to fit my 44GB of MP3 music on my 64GB portable player if I didn't compress to MP3.

Also, I run a music server at home with a single, (so far) non-exploitable port opened up so I can listen to all my music from home via my laptop and the Interweb.

Hi murph and all,

"Ultra-trained ears" signing in here, ha, ha. Actually, in the very controlled double-blind listening tests of compression codecs that took place in Ottawa (where I was on the listening panel) and which were repeated in the U.K. and Australia with similar panels of trained listeners, we found 320 kbps to be "essentially transparent" for virtually all but the most complex types of music.

The exceptions were test tracks that had castinets; also a harpsicord selection and a solo vocal a cappella by Suzanne Vega. Those anomalies were only audible with intense comparisons using headphones--we really couldn't reliably detect them with loudspeaker playback. By the way, the listening sessions went on for several days, plus a day of training, so the results, which were replicated by the Australian and UK listeners, are extremely reliable.

The harpsicord sounded a bit harder, more metallic, and Suzanne Vega's solo voice became a bit sibilant and harder sounding. The castinets took on a slightly metallic sound. The rest of the music including rock, classical and jazz, sailed through at 320 kbps with no audible anomalies.

Regards,

Alan (UTE)

Alan has regained his ute.

Maybe he found the fountain of ute.

I thought he found his Coupé utility