Please help me find better than itunes...
Discussion
A few years ago I bought a macbook, and then itunes for it so I could have an ipod and all that gubbins.
Over the years I've got around 10,000 tracks by various means - downloading via itunes, bunging mates CD's on it etc.
But the quality is crap. I used to listen to a lot of music but it struck me recently that there is no depth to any of the music stored on my lappy, and so I don't listen to or enjoy it so much. Tracks sound rubbish on my ipod and never loud enough - i tried a crack thing to up the volume on the ipod and it just distorted.
I generally play via my ipod in the TVR, and I spent some decent money on speakers and it all seems a bit of a waste. I'd also like to get a half decent sound at home too.
I understand this is due to file compression, but what's open to me if I want some real clarity and depth back in my music without going back to vinyl or shelves full of CD's...
I don't mind starting again almost from scratch - there is a lot of old cack on my itunes.
So what do you guys do? It's peeing me off!
Over the years I've got around 10,000 tracks by various means - downloading via itunes, bunging mates CD's on it etc.
But the quality is crap. I used to listen to a lot of music but it struck me recently that there is no depth to any of the music stored on my lappy, and so I don't listen to or enjoy it so much. Tracks sound rubbish on my ipod and never loud enough - i tried a crack thing to up the volume on the ipod and it just distorted.
I generally play via my ipod in the TVR, and I spent some decent money on speakers and it all seems a bit of a waste. I'd also like to get a half decent sound at home too.
I understand this is due to file compression, but what's open to me if I want some real clarity and depth back in my music without going back to vinyl or shelves full of CD's...
I don't mind starting again almost from scratch - there is a lot of old cack on my itunes.
So what do you guys do? It's peeing me off!
Do you have all the copy settings right when you import? I use iTunes exclusively and it delivers good sound quality, either thorugh the headphones, the car, Sound dock or AppleTV.
My daughter uses it too on her machine and quite frankly it sounds bloody awful, tinny and shallow and generally crap - it's got to be a setting thing.
My daughter uses it too on her machine and quite frankly it sounds bloody awful, tinny and shallow and generally crap - it's got to be a setting thing.
I use Winamp = far less clunky than itunes - and you can take music off ipods ( apart from the touch models, which needs a plug in ).
The 'depth' of sound you're after isn't so easy.
If you've ripped CD's into itunes then, by default they'll be compressed MP3 files
You can set ripping preferences in Winamp, lossless is ideal, but means lots of file space - I tend to rip at 320 - good enough for me.
But - it sounds like what you have is a library of compressed music, and short of ripping it all again, your stuffed, sorry.
I will of course be corrected by the next techno head who actually understands these matters better than I.
The 'depth' of sound you're after isn't so easy.
If you've ripped CD's into itunes then, by default they'll be compressed MP3 files
You can set ripping preferences in Winamp, lossless is ideal, but means lots of file space - I tend to rip at 320 - good enough for me.
But - it sounds like what you have is a library of compressed music, and short of ripping it all again, your stuffed, sorry.
I will of course be corrected by the next techno head who actually understands these matters better than I.
nogsk said:
You can set ripping preferences in Winamp, lossless is ideal, but means lots of file space - I tend to rip at 320 - good enough for me.
But - it sounds like what you have is a library of compressed music, and short of ripping it all again, your stuffed, sorry.
I will of course be corrected by the next techno head who actually understands these matters better than I.
Cheers for the winamp recommendation...But - it sounds like what you have is a library of compressed music, and short of ripping it all again, your stuffed, sorry.
I will of course be corrected by the next techno head who actually understands these matters better than I.
I understand that what I have is low quality, but isn't 320 the maximum you can get on a CD? Or are you saying that you can rip it from a CD in a higher quality?
Obviously that would take file space, but I'm thinking of building a media PC anyway, and bung a few TB Hard Drives in it for storage. My mate has some solid state drives he reckons would work well.
Where2Guv said:
Cheers for the winamp recommendation...
I understand that what I have is low quality, but isn't 320 the maximum you can get on a CD? Or are you saying that you can rip it from a CD in a higher quality?
Obviously that would take file space, but I'm thinking of building a media PC anyway, and bung a few TB Hard Drives in it for storage. My mate has some solid state drives he reckons would work well.
If you're ripping to MP3 (which is the most common format for non-Apple devices) the highest bitrate you can encode at is 320kbps. I normally set my encoding to 320 VBR (Variable Bit Rate) as it's a good compromise between quality and space for most (badly-manufactured) music these days. Anything awesome or really high quality I'll encode in FLAC (Full Lossless Audio Codec) but this won't be compatible with many portable music players. I normally recode FLACs to MP3 when I want to take them with me on my phone or put them in the car on an MP3 CD.I understand that what I have is low quality, but isn't 320 the maximum you can get on a CD? Or are you saying that you can rip it from a CD in a higher quality?
Obviously that would take file space, but I'm thinking of building a media PC anyway, and bung a few TB Hard Drives in it for storage. My mate has some solid state drives he reckons would work well.
I have everything in FLAC but I understand Apple lossless is also good.
Many portable devices won't play FLAC but I have a 3rd party app on my Android that works and I stream round the house using a Squeezebox which handles FLAC natively. I also use media monkey on the PC, I understand you could synch the ipod to this and tell it to convert to mp3 during transfer.
Round the house streamed audio will be as good or better than CD through the same DAC/Amp/Speakers. Sonos and Squeezebox are the two big names here.
I don't think storage is much of an issue these days, nearly 10k tracks in FLAC is only 200gb taking up a tiny amount of cheap disk space (£60ish for 2TB)
Many portable devices won't play FLAC but I have a 3rd party app on my Android that works and I stream round the house using a Squeezebox which handles FLAC natively. I also use media monkey on the PC, I understand you could synch the ipod to this and tell it to convert to mp3 during transfer.
Round the house streamed audio will be as good or better than CD through the same DAC/Amp/Speakers. Sonos and Squeezebox are the two big names here.
I don't think storage is much of an issue these days, nearly 10k tracks in FLAC is only 200gb taking up a tiny amount of cheap disk space (£60ish for 2TB)
Bullett said:
I have everything in FLAC but I understand Apple lossless is also good.
Many portable devices won't play FLAC but I have a 3rd party app on my Android that works and I stream round the house using a Squeezebox which handles FLAC natively. I also use media monkey on the PC, I understand you could synch the ipod to this and tell it to convert to mp3 during transfer.
Round the house streamed audio will be as good or better than CD through the same DAC/Amp/Speakers. Sonos and Squeezebox are the two big names here.
I don't think storage is much of an issue these days, nearly 10k tracks in FLAC is only 200gb taking up a tiny amount of cheap disk space (£60ish for 2TB)
I like the idea of having FLAC on my Android, but the file size is excessive given the final output quality (earphones or Bluetooth connection to the car). What's the app though out of interest?Many portable devices won't play FLAC but I have a 3rd party app on my Android that works and I stream round the house using a Squeezebox which handles FLAC natively. I also use media monkey on the PC, I understand you could synch the ipod to this and tell it to convert to mp3 during transfer.
Round the house streamed audio will be as good or better than CD through the same DAC/Amp/Speakers. Sonos and Squeezebox are the two big names here.
I don't think storage is much of an issue these days, nearly 10k tracks in FLAC is only 200gb taking up a tiny amount of cheap disk space (£60ish for 2TB)
I also stream stuff around my home and it's not an issue; as you say, most streaming devices will handle most formats nowadays, it's only portable players that don't seem to be as format-friendly.
iTunes is just a player.
I use iTunes for holding/storing all my music now, but I still buy CD's and rip at very high MP3 settings to non-iTunes controlled folders.
The ripping part is important. I ripped loads of old CD's years ago to 192 joint stereo thinking that was a compromise for space/quality that would stand the test of time. Hmmm, no.
I've considered ripping to WAV these days as HDD space is so cheap!
Dave
I use iTunes for holding/storing all my music now, but I still buy CD's and rip at very high MP3 settings to non-iTunes controlled folders.
The ripping part is important. I ripped loads of old CD's years ago to 192 joint stereo thinking that was a compromise for space/quality that would stand the test of time. Hmmm, no.
I've considered ripping to WAV these days as HDD space is so cheap!
Dave
Finlandia said:
Funk said:
Finlandia, need to say thanks to you for your recommendation of a pair of Sennheiser earphones on your review thread. I bought a pair on the basis of your thoughts and am very pleased with them.
Thank you, nice to hear 
Finlandia said:
Rockbox handles FLAC files and as an added bonus it plays gapless too. Many ipods can be rockboxed and there is a port on its way for android as well.
I've been running a rockboxed original iPod nano into some Westone UM2s for a long while now and it's great No need for FLAC for me though as I can't tell the difference between them and LAME MP3s at -V 2!
Funk said:
It made choosing easier. I normally like to listen to things before I buy them (old habit from my 'audiophile' days) but it's not possible with earphones. It's quite an expensive gamble to take 'blind'... Your input was invaluable.
Thanks again, fiver is in the post 
Out of interest, which Senn did you go for?
Finlandia said:
Thanks again, fiver is in the post
Out of interest, which Senn did you go for?
You reviewed the CX-400 which I couldn't find in the shops. However, that put me on to the CX 400-II Precisions which is what I ultimately ended up getting.Out of interest, which Senn did you go for?
http://www.sennheiser.co.uk/uk/home_en.nsf/root/pr...
They're a little splashy at the top end until they've settled a bit, but the bass is phenomenal for such small earphones. Lovely and deep, but tight and not over-bearing.
Gassing Station | Home Cinema & Hi-Fi | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff