MP3 Vs. Cd Tracks

[HeatSeeker 10+ year member]

Haha that's pretty vague Beans. Ipods can sound pretty good depending on the quality that is downloaded to them. I have an 880 and I have an ipod. Lossless files sound great. I also have another mp3 player that has amazing sq and format options (not many people know what it is, but it's the iaudio x5) but the ipod stays in the car because of the fact that I like to use my hu to control everything.

I was gonna get the iAudio X5 at one time, now I cant find them really anywhere ;[

Are the models they have out now just as good?

 

[BringDaBoom 10+ year member]

This is because when you play them from the iPod, it is the iPod that is doing the digital to analog conversion, or the DAC from the iPod is being used to put it another way.
When you burn the same songs to CDs, the DAC in the head unit converts the digital recording to analog.

The DAC in the CD player is much higher quality than the DAC in the iPod...unless you have a super crappy HU.

If you have a unit with a direct iPod connect (Like the Alpines) vs the aux connection, doesn't the DAC in the headunit process the signal too, even after the iPod has? Once it leaves the iPod and goes to the headunit, it would process it and send it to the speakers wouldn't it? //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/confused.gif.e820e0216602db4765798ac39d28caa9.gif

 

[cups 10+ year member]

If you have a unit with a direct iPod connect (Like the Alpines) vs the aux connection, doesn't the DAC in the headunit process the signal too, even after the iPod has? Once it leaves the iPod and goes to the headunit, it would process it and send it to the speakers wouldn't it? //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/confused.gif.e820e0216602db4765798ac39d28caa9.gif

This is just a guess, but I think if the unit supports ipod directly it will only use it as a harddisk to read the data and process it itself. Since the controls on the ipod are locked when it's connected to the headunit.

 

[OldManTod 10+ year member]

subbed for later - jacka$$

 

[BringDaBoom 10+ year member]

This is just a guess, but I think if the unit supports ipod directly it will only use it as a harddisk to read the data and process it itself. Since the controls on the ipod are locked when it's connected to the headunit.

That's what I figured since it does exactly what you just described. The head unit controls the iPod, with it just being the hardisk..pretty much like a USB drive.

 

[XanderMoser 10+ year member]

This is just a guess, but I think if the unit supports ipod directly it will only use it as a harddisk to read the data and process it itself. Since the controls on the ipod are locked when it's connected to the headunit.

Yeah, sorry I forgot to mention that. When you hook up the iPod with the headphone out the iPod uses it's DAC. But if you use one of those special iPod hookups, then the HU should use its DAC and just read data from the iPod. Much better quality.

 

[XanderMoser 10+ year member]

No such thing as lossless MP3s.

Oops, you're right. For some reason I thought that FLAC files were mp3s, but they aren't. I was mistaken.

 

[IgnoreMe 5,000+ posts]

They would sound the same or worse. Data can potentially be lost or corrupted during the conversion processThe DAC in your HU is probably better than your iPod's

No such thing as lossless MP3s.

i would agree.

if i burned mp3 files on a mp3 disc, basically as data, the quality was just fine.

if i tried to burn them as a cd, nero would do its own conversion when i was pasting them to the "to burn" area and i would get clicks and pops in the music.

if i burn to a cd, i always use EAC to decompress the files to .wav and then burn. no it doesnt increase quality, but it does take an extra step out for nero to do and screw up. since then, ive always decompressed mp3's before i burned them (if im trying to make a cd resembling a store bought one)

 

[innsanes 10+ year member]

So lets get this straight.

1. It's better to burn a mp3 file onto a cd format ?

or is it better to

2. Leave the mp3 files alone and burn as data Mp3?

3. It doesnt make a diffrence

that is my question, dont care about Ipod connection or decompress.

 

[gijoe 10+ year member]

HeatSeeker, I honestly don't know anything about the new cowon iaudio products. This x5 is pretty nice though. I'm actually not getting a lot of use out of it these days, so if you are interested I may be willing to sell or trade it. I never use it with headphones, i bought it for the sole purpose of having it in the car. Since I got an 880 with ipod adapter I'm not really gaining a lot from owning it. Let me know if you want to make a swap.

 

[innsanes 10+ year member]

thanks, nice and clear cut

 

[cups 10+ year member]

The alpine 9887 has a feature to try and re-create what was missing during compression in real-time but it doesn't really do it right IMO. Vocals sound a bit clearer but sound stage becomes in-your-face and not as wide and high without this enabled.

 

[bikinpunk 10+ year member]

The alpine 9887 has a feature to try and re-create what was missing during compression in real-time but it doesn't really do it right IMO. Vocals sound a bit clearer but sound stage becomes in-your-face and not as wide and high without this enabled.

They've had that feature for years. It's called "media xpander" and imo, makes the music even worse. All it acts as is a high/low level boost.

 

[pikers 10+ year member]

Nowadays cd's can sound pretty bad on a decent system. As I upgrade my system there are some albums that sound worse and worse. It seems that a lot of cds are produced to sound good in average systems, but when you have clear and detailed speakers you can here a lot of junk in the music that really hurts the overall sound. I believe all cd's should be produced at a high quality, but that doesn't always happen. I think ANY music should sound good in a decent sq set up. In an spl setup only big bass music sounds good. In an sq setup ALL music will sound good.
I agree with Konechewa's approach, this will yield the best results.

True. DBT testing with even a 128 AAC vs CD track reveals that (especially as we get older) the difference is borderline impossible. And really, it's irrelevant in many cases in a mobile environment anyhow with extra noise.

Truth is, unless you listen to Chesky classical disks, most stuff is mixed like crap anyhoo.

 

[Side Show 10+ year member]

CD.... pritty much always sounds 10x better at a decent volume than any mp3 or burnt audio track.