MP3/Ipod vs. C.D.?

[sam_b03 10+ year member]

if your really want quality install a turn-table. Some 45rpm vinyl. there are still some bands that produce it. Alot of home studios have goneto digital recordings becasue is it cheaper to have a good mic and speakers and record it on a computer. It is easier to miss aswell. Since it is starts as a digital recording the vinyl option is lost on them. The old records have an indefinite sampling rate.

 

[asianinvasion21 10+ year member]

CD,mps,ipod

Playing Vinyl records on a good source is the best SQ you can get in my book.

 

[VWBobby 10+ year member]

Almost everyone above is spot on with their conclusions about MP3 verses CD.

For all practical purposes, CDs, WMA Lossless, or 320Kbps MP3s (straight from the artist/iTunes) on SD/USB is going to be your best bet for car audio reproduction while being reasonably portable.

 

[esmokah 10+ year member]

Vinyl all the way..



I made this for fun, nothing serious a while back. my car is back together too, no wires or amps showing, and my new sub is in.

Also, My laptop has a box that it interfaces with A/V that I can have piped into my headunit. I installed it under the driver's seat next to my x-over, wired it into my car's electrical for power. worked great till it blew up, and no aux cable! i'll get another one one of these days.

 

[Stonecold12321 10+ year member]

I listen to Electronica, Dubstep, House and various other genres. I like everything music wise, except current Hip-Hop. Finding vinyl for "techo" is hard, really near impossible since I get most of my music from up and coming artists. Its a good point however. I like vinyl, I don't have anything against it, it just seems way too old-school. Nothing wrong with that in some ways, but I don't want to be held back in terms of progress in the music industry.

If I can't use a vinyl recording I will probably switch over to a usb. I use cds now but like somebody mentioned before, it is a major pain in the arse if I have a sudden mood swing and want to listen to something else.

 

[esmokah 10+ year member]

Changing records while driving can be a chore. bumpy roads and bass will mess with the player too //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/frown.gif.a3531fa0534503350665a1e957861287.gif How about 8-track? //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

 

[zako 10+ year member]

I ripped all of my CDs into lossless flac files with EAC (Exact Audio Copy) and then imported them into Foobar2000 music library. When necessary, I export them in mp3 format. For the car I use 320CBR mp3s. I honestly have no idea if there is audible difference in sound quality, but it sure is great to have a couple hundred albums on a small SDHC card. Once the head units play lossless AND can access filesystems bigger than 32GB, then I will consider playing lossless in car.

 

[04murdalanche]

I ripped all of my CDs into lossless flac files with EAC (Exact Audio Copy) and then imported them into Foobar2000 music library. When necessary, I export them in mp3 format. For the car I use 320CBR mp3s. I honestly have no idea if there is audible difference in sound quality, but it sure is great to have a couple hundred albums on a small SDHC card. Once the head units play lossless AND can access filesystems bigger than 32GB, then I will consider playing lossless in car.

Lossless=CDQ

 

[husker77 10+ year member]

I listen to Electronica, Dubstep, House

I don't want to be held back in terms of progress in the music industry.

These two statements contradict each other.//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

 

[Stonecold12321 10+ year member]

Yeah yeah I know its just beeps and thumps to some but I enjoy it and I find it to be a fresh look on what music really is.

 

[Bass911 10+ year member]

This might go right over some of your heads, other people who have an understanding of electronics or physics will get it. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif
Anytime you have to convert from analog (sound, vibration) to digital (on/off, 1 or 0), YOU ARE TAKING A LOSS.

Digital to Analog conversion, or D/A is a loss.

This means that anything "Digital" is going to sound worse from the time it was recorded. Unless, somehow, every detail of sound was converted to 1's and 0's and stored perfectly, which is impossible. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif Sound is analog. Storage on computers, CD's, Mp3's is digital.

This is why some people prefer 1980's or high end Analog sound gear for "audiophile" listening experiences.

The more times you convert from analog to digital, the more loss you have. The recording was most likely done on an analog tape machine at the studio or digital recording studio operating at a lot higher rate than your 44Khz CD (referring to bandwidth)....more likely 192Khz or so bandwidth in the studio. More ability to capture sounds.

Now the CD has been compromised because it only holds so much sound information in its digital state. It's 44Khz instead of 192Khz or infinite (analog).

The sound has been converted at least 2 times from analog to digital at this point.

Ripping music from CD's to MP3, even at 320Khz....at least one more conversion. This time, digital to digital (usually). Another loss, especially when compressing music. Something has to be lost to convert from a 40MB WAV file to a 7MB MP3. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

Now you are playing the MP3 through your HU using an Aux cable.... Aux is analog (headphone) to analog (line in). Another loss.

The HU converts the analog signal from the Aux port back to Digital one more time. Another loss.

If you use your USB cable, at least your iPod/Mp3 player is going digital to digital to your HU....eliminating 1 loss.

Without counting the above losses, you are converting the audio from analog to digital at least 3 - 5 times just playing music from your iPod/MP3 player into your head unit. Each time is going to take a noticeable hit.

Play an original recording (master) or Download a FLAC recording from an artist or even a good quality CD. Play that through your home stereo. Now hook up your MP3 player through some RCA cables and play your average 192Kbps MP3 and listen to the cymbals any horns or high pitched instruments. Notice a huge loss of decay and detail? Now try a 320Khz MP3. Hear the difference?

If you don't, its not going to matter for you anyway. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

Here is some good reading about the subject:

"CD audio is not good enough"

CD audio is not good enough - Hydrogenaudio Forums

Why Neil Young Hates MP3

It still sounds pretty darn close with a Pure Digital i-20 or CAMBRIDGE AUDIO iD100 DIGITAL iPOD DOCK. I'm a ipod user for life until something better comes along. I hate cds because no matter what I did I couldn't keep them from getting scratched up. I like a huge selection of music with me at all times, and don't miss the days of flipping through a 150disc cd case! With an Alpine I can barely hear the difference. There is a big difference in the house if you don't use one of the fancy docks I mentioned and go straight Aux.

 

[VWBobby 10+ year member]

It might not make enough difference for you to care or notice...? I have a home theater system that I feel sounds very clean, flat, whatever you want to call it. I have a customer who has a $20K+ home theater with all brands I had never even heard of and I can say without a doubt, it makes a huge difference in CD verses MP3/Lossless WMA, etc. We did some A/B comparisons and its night and day difference, on a good system. On my home system, its barely noticeable in some recordings and others, it is very noticeable difference. In my bus, its a noticeable difference. Its built more for SQ, but I can tell a loss of bass on some MP3's verses the CD. I use a TechN9ne KOD album and a few others because I know how its supposed to sound from A/Bing it on several systems. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[orphe 10+ year member]

I've seen a lot of videos (and even my friends) using their Ipods or other MP3 players to play music through their stereo, and I always think that it could just be better. I have seen so many people just plug into an auxiliary port through a headphone jack during competitions and what not and i'm merely curious as to why that seems to be more common than a basic C.D.

Am I just going crazy here? Is there a reason behind it or am I just finding the idiots of the world?

Or am I the idiot

I see that a lot too. There's a lot of ppl who for one don't know how to use there phone or head unit. EX: For my head unit cheap android phones need to be set as a mass storage device before you can play music from it. An Audio jack is just easier (lazier).

 

[trumpet 5,000+ posts]

It might not make enough difference for you to care or notice...? I have a home theater system that I feel sounds very clean, flat, whatever you want to call it. I have a customer who has a $20K+ home theater with all brands I had never even heard of and I can say without a doubt, it makes a huge difference in CD verses MP3/Lossless WMA, etc. We did some A/B comparisons and its night and day difference, on a good system. On my home system, its barely noticeable in some recordings and others, it is very noticeable difference. In my bus, its a noticeable difference. Its built more for SQ, but I can tell a loss of bass on some MP3's verses the CD. I use a TechN9ne KOD album and a few others because I know how its supposed to sound from A/Bing it on several systems. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

That's all good in the home, but in the car while driving? Forget about it. I used to be a diehard CD only person and while I still use a CD changer, everything else is coming from my smartphone through an Alpine Versatile Link adapter. My mp3 collection varies from 192 kbps to 320 kbps, with new additions being all 256 kbps. I'd rather enjoy the music than continue worrying about the last 1% of the sound coming from a fragile disc.