Best music quality USB/iPhone/CD ?

[JonnyCJ]

Whilst I await the delivery of all my gubbins to allow me to compete the Premium Audio system, I thought it worth investigating the various options for playing music when I'm not listening to the exhaust.

My 09 V8V has the USB input as well as iPhone integration and of course the 6 CD changer, however, which gives the best sound quality ? I'm thinking CD as I believe that MP3s are compressed, but would be interested in hearing from those more knowledgeable than I.

If it is CD, can I copy a CD to my Mac and then burn a copy CD, or even multiple albums onto a CD/DVD, or will this convert them to a compressed format and then lose sound quality ?

It's not like the old days where you had a load of cassettes rattling round the car....

[NDA]

JonnyCJ said:

Whilst I await the delivery of all my gubbins to allow me to compete the Premium Audio system, I thought it worth investigating the various options for playing music when I'm not listening to the exhaust.
My 09 V8V has the USB input as well as iPhone integration and of course the 6 CD changer, however, which gives the best sound quality ? I'm thinking CD as I believe that MP3s are compressed, but would be interested in hearing from those more knowledgeable than I.

MP3's are compressed - but to be honest, most people can't tell. The next level would be to rip your CD's to 'lossless' and have them on a USB thumb drive - this would be CD quality to all intents and purposes.

You could also try FLAC formats with 24bit High Res Audio. Huge files- but I am not sure if your premium audio system would play them... maybe, you'd have to check.

Bluetooth connections will limit quality, so any direct connection (wired) or a USB drive is going to deliver dividends.

[AdamV12V]

The AM audio systems (right up to AMi III) will not play uncompressed FLAC or WAV files - I have tried, so sadly that is a dead end.

The best combo for quality and convenience is a USB stick with 320kbs MP3 files. You will struggle to tell them apart from CD's and considerably better than low quality MP3 file rips. They are a little bigger but with the size of memory sticks you can still gets several thousand tracks on a typical stick.

If you have the CD then rip it to a 320kbs MP3 file using Media player or equiv, depending on your o/s.

In the latest AMi II and AMi III cars the infotainment reads the tags in MP3 files too, which is nice as it means you can search on it and get to see the album artwork on the screen - but only if you embed this data into the MP3, with something like mp3tag. Unforunatly this funationality is not supported in AMi I, so you will jsut have to name the files on the USB stick correctly.

I suggest the following folder and track naming convention works best with AMi I to aid easy navigation of tracks..

/Artist1/Album1/Track Name1.mp3
/Artist1/Album1/Track Name2.mp3
/Artist1/Album1/Track Name3.mp3
/Artist1/Album2/Track Name1.mp3
/Artist1/Album2/Track Name2.mp3
/Artist2/Album1/Track Name1.mp3

etc....

Edited by AdamV12V on Tuesday 18th May 11:11

[JonnyCJ]

Thanks Adam - will have a go at that and see how I get on. That's very useful info to know.

Cheers

Jonny

[AdamV12V]

Ohhh - one more thing while I remember. If you have any problems at all reading the USB stick try an older USB2 stick. We had a post recently where a chap was trying to use a USB3 stick and it didnt work in his AMi I car, but an older stick solved the problem.

[JonnyCJ]

Thought that may be the case and USB2 stick on order. At least I know something !

[BiggaJ]

AdamV12V said:

Ohhh - one more thing while I remember. If you have any problems at all reading the USB stick try an older USB2 stick. We had a post recently where a chap was trying to use a USB3 stick and it didnt work in his AMi I car, but an older stick solved the problem.

Think that may have been me. All sorted now with a USB2, seems to work fine and while CD will be a better quality sound even with the premium Hi-Fi in the Vantage, the other noises going on within the cabin, exhaust and road etc. will negate any gains in sound quality that you thought you may hear between MP3 and CD.

[LTP]

AdamV12V said:

The AM audio systems (right up to AMi III) will not play uncompressed FLAC or WAV files - I have tried, so sadly that is a dead end.

The best combo for quality and convenience is a USB stick with 320kbs MP3 files. You will struggle to tell them apart from CD's and considerably better than low quality MP3 file rips. They are a little bigger but with the size of memory sticks you can still gets several thousand tracks on a typical stick.

If you have the CD then rip it to a 320kbs MP3 file using Media player or equiv, depending on your o/s.

In the latest AMi II and AMi III cars the infotainment reads the tags in MP3 files too, which is nice as it means you can search on it and get to see the album artwork on the screen - but only if you embed this data into the MP3, with something like mp3tag. Unforunatly this funationality is not supported in AMi I, so you will jsut have to name the files on the USB stick correctly.

I suggest the following folder and track naming convention works best with AMi I to aid easy navigation of tracks..

/Artist1/Album1/Track Name1.mp3
/Artist1/Album1/Track Name2.mp3
/Artist1/Album1/Track Name3.mp3
/Artist1/Album2/Track Name1.mp3
/Artist1/Album2/Track Name2.mp3
/Artist2/Album1/Track Name1.mp3

etc....

Adam,

I hope you might be able to help me, as you seem to have done some work

I've already ripped all my CD's into FLAC files using EAC and transferred them to a USB stick for my Volvo V60, as it can read FLAC files directly (and display the album artwork on the centre stack screen as it plays - neat) so I already have all my music ripped onto my PC. They are in a single folder and named asper the EAC convention - image of the file structure of one album below




I was going to try using a free program (something like Fre:ac, or FlacSquisher) to bulk convert them to MP3, unless you have any other suggestions. I have heard that iTunes could also do this directly. Will I have to tag them separately? Any other advice? My car is a 2015 Vantage with Premium audio which is, I believe, AMi II

Apologies to JonnyCJ for the hijack, but it is (sort of) on topic

[AdamV12V]

LTP said:

Adam,

I hope you might be able to help me, as you seem to have done some work

I've already ripped all my CD's into FLAC files using EAC and transferred them to a USB stick for my Volvo V60, as it can read FLAC files directly (and display the album artwork on the centre stack screen as it plays - neat) so I already have all my music ripped onto my PC. They are in a single folder and named asper the EAC convention - image of the file structure of one album below




I was going to try using a free program (something like Fre:ac, or FlacSquisher) to bulk convert them to MP3, unless you have any other suggestions. I have heard that iTunes could also do this directly. Will I have to tag them separately? Any other advice? My car is a 2015 Vantage with Premium audio which is, I believe, AMi II

Apologies to JonnyCJ for the hijack, but it is (sort of) on topic

Hmmm, interesting, I have always ripped my CD's directly to MP3, never converted from FLAC to MP3. The FLAC files I have are where I have bought HD music instead of buying the CD, for my home HiFi system, otherwise I prefer to play the CD in the HiFi at home than stream.

This thread seems to cover off a few options for you, although I have no reason to suggest what you are already thinking wouldnt work too.
https://www.reddit.com/r/headphones/comments/2k3ja.... I expect the issue will be ensuring that the metatags are written correctly in the MP3 files, along with it getting the embedded artwork too!

If you struggle with that you can use MP3tag https://www.mp3tag.de/en/ which is free and a great for adding both metatags and artwork, and can be done a whole album at a time. If you have ripped hundreds of albums it may still seem like a tedious task, albeit probably slightly quicker than re-ripping them. Getting the artwork in is usually the tricky bit I have found as many of the std ripping tools seem to omit looking this up.

As for which system you have, your car should be AMi II yes at MY16. The easiest way to tell is if you have the newer haptic (vanquish style) waterfall then it will be AMi II, if however your car has the older waterfall then it is AMi I. AMi III was introduced at MY17 and also has the haptic waterfall.

[JonnyCJ]

BiggaJ said:

Think that may have been me. All sorted now with a USB2, seems to work fine and while CD will be a better quality sound even with the premium Hi-Fi in the Vantage, the other noises going on within the cabin, exhaust and road etc. will negate any gains in sound quality that you thought you may hear between MP3 and CD.

A lot of the time in the car is spent sat in traffic, waiting to pick my son up from cubs, just sat in it for the sheer joy of being in it etc etc

The amount of time the gates of hell are opened are relatively few comparatively.

I've also ordered some sound deadening whilst the interior is apart to try and dampen down some resonance.

[LTP]

AdamV12V said:

Hmmm, interesting, I have always ripped my CD's directly to MP3, never converted from FLAC to MP3. The FLAC files I have are where I have bought HD music instead of buying the CD, for my home HiFi system, otherwise I prefer to play the CD in the HiFi at home than stream.

This thread seems to cover off a few options for you, although I have no reason to suggest what you are already thinking wouldnt work too.
https://www.reddit.com/r/headphones/comments/2k3ja.... I expect the issue will be ensuring that the metatags are written correctly in the MP3 files, along with it getting the embedded artwork too!

If you struggle with that you can use MP3tag https://www.mp3tag.de/en/ which is free and a great for adding both metatags and artwork, and can be done a whole album at a time. If you have ripped hundreds of albums it may still seem like a tedious task, albeit probably slightly quicker than re-ripping them. Getting the artwork in is usually the tricky bit I have found as many of the std ripping tools seem to omit looking this up.

As for which system you have, your car should be AMi II yes at MY16. The easiest way to tell is if you have the newer haptic (vanquish style) waterfall then it will be AMi II, if however your car has the older waterfall then it is AMi I. AMi III was introduced at MY17 and also has the haptic waterfall.

Thanks Adam.

From what you've written I have AMi I as I don't have the haptic waterfall - I have real, clicky buttons

I'm not bothered about the artwork for the Vantage (and I doubt it could cope), just want a searchable list of albums on MP3 that plays an album track by track sequentially, remembers where it was when I key off and then hopefully moves on to the next album in the list when it gets to the end of the current one; a bit like the 6-stack CD player.

When I get around to doing this I'll make a post to report findings. Need to buy a USB2 stick first.

[AdamV12V]

LTP said:

Thanks Adam.

From what you've written I have AMi I as I don't have the haptic waterfall - I have real, clicky buttons

I'm not bothered about the artwork for the Vantage (and I doubt it could cope), just want a searchable list of albums on MP3 that plays an album track by track sequentially, remembers where it was when I key off and then hopefully moves on to the next album in the list when it gets to the end of the current one; a bit like the 6-stack CD player.

When I get around to doing this I'll make a post to report findings. Need to buy a USB2 stick first.

Ok, if you have AMi I - then your best best it to put all the MP3 files into sub folders of Artist / Album / Track as per above. The AMi only reads folder names and file names, so no meta tags information and certainly no artwork. On the plus side this will make your conversions a little less complicated.

I think this means your car is MY15 too, as MY16 was indeed the haptic AMi II waterfall setup. The model years are somewhat out of sync with real years.

FWIW - Lots of info here on my AMi III setup thread, plus some screenshots of the audio settings and more... Much of this applies to AMi II also, but not the Carplay, Andriod Auto and a few of the other settings.

Edited by AdamV12V on Tuesday 18th May 16:59

[JonnyCJ]

LTP said:

Thanks Adam.

From what you've written I have AMi I as I don't have the haptic waterfall - I have real, clicky buttons

I'm not bothered about the artwork for the Vantage (and I doubt it could cope), just want a searchable list of albums on MP3 that plays an album track by track sequentially, remembers where it was when I key off and then hopefully moves on to the next album in the list when it gets to the end of the current one; a bit like the 6-stack CD player.

When I get around to doing this I'll make a post to report findings. Need to buy a USB2 stick first.

We're in the same boat !

[LTP]

AdamV12V said:

Ok, if you have AMi I - then your best best it to put all the MP3 files into sub folders of Artist / Album / Track as per above. The AMi only reads folder names and file names, so no meta tags information and certainly no artwork. On the plus side this will make your conversions a little less complicated.

I think this means your car is MY15 too, as MY16 was indeed the haptic AMi II waterfall setup. The model years are somewhat out of sync with real years.

FWIW - Lots of info here on my AMi III setup thread, plus some screenshots of the audio settings and more... Much of this applies to AMi II also, but not the Carplay, Andriod Auto and a few of the other settings.

Thanks again. One more dumb question. If the AMi I uses artist/album/track format how does it know the track order? Do I need to preface the track name with a number like artist/album/01 track1name; artist/album/02 track2name or does it just move through the tracks sequentially from the first?

[JonnyCJ]

And following on from that dumb question with another !

Does the artist/album name get automatically uploaded to the USB and we rename on the USB file, or do we need to rename/number them in Media Player before they go over ?

[AdamV12V]

LTP said:

Thanks again. One more dumb question. If the AMi I uses artist/album/track format how does it know the track order? Do I need to preface the track name with a number like artist/album/01 track1name; artist/album/02 track2name or does it just move through the tracks sequentially from the first?

It is purely alphabetic in the folder names, so if you want the tracks to play in the order on the album start them named numberically e.g. "01 - Track one.mp3" and "02 - Track two.mp3". If you have 10 or more tracks the preceeding "0" is important otherwise alpha sort will mess it up for you with 10 coming before 2.

AMi II and AMi III read the "track number" metatag from the MP3 file and sorts by this. By AMi only reads the file names.

Edited by AdamV12V on Tuesday 18th May 18:34

[AdamV12V]

JonnyCJ said:

And following on from that dumb question with another !

Does the artist/album name get automatically uploaded to the USB and we rename on the USB file, or do we need to rename/number them in Media Player before they go over ?

The Artist Name and Album Name dont get uploaded at all in AMi I, again only AMi II and AMi III can read this from the metatags.

However, if you use the folder names I suggested then it really becomes very obvious when you navigate through the tracks and the names are displayed.

I found the best way was to prepare a folder on my PC first, called say "USB-Carmusic" - then in the root directory, drop all the Artist root directories with files...

Then with one mass copy, take the whole of /USB-Carmusic/*.* and copy it to the root directory of a freshly formatted USB stick.

Then you can progressively make changes at home to the /USB-Carmusic folder, and every once in a while bring the USB stick into the house to reformat and recopy your latest choice of music.

Hope all that makes sense.

[LTP]

AdamV12V said:

It is purely alphabetic in the folder names, so if you want the tracks to play in the order on the album start them named numberically e.g. "01 - Track one.mp3" and "02 - Track two.mp3". If you have 10 or more tracks the preceeding "0" is important otherwise alpha sort will mess it up for you with 10 coming before 2.

AMi II and AMi III read the "track number" metatag from the MP3 file and sorts by this. By AMi only reads the file names.

And the stupid just keeps on coming!

So are we talking actual folders, or just named files? And by this I mean:
Top level folders - artists
Under each artist, a separate named folder for each album
In each individual album folder, tracks, named with prefaces with 01 - ; 02 - etc

[AdamV12V]

LTP said:

So are we talking actual folders, or just named files? And by this I mean:
Top level folders - artists
Under each artist, a separate named folder for each album
In each individual album folder, tracks, named with prefaces with 01 - ; 02 - etc

Yes - exactly that!


So for instance:

/Pink Floyd/Wish You Were Here/01 - Shine On You Crazy Diamond.mp3
/Pink Floyd/Wish You Were Here/02 - Welcome To The Machine.mp3
/Pink Floyd/Wish You Were Here/03 - Have A Cigar.mp3
/Pink Floyd/Wish You Were Here/04 - Wish You Were Here.mp3
/Pink Floyd/Wish You Were Here/05 - Shine On You Crazy Diamond.mp3
/Pink Floyd/Dark Side of the Moon/....
/Depeche Mode/...


Or whatever is your musical taste.....

NB - Just to add Pink Floyd wouldnt be my first choice, although I do like them, but I just thought it may be reasonably well recieved here as a choice

[LTP]

AdamV12V said:

Yes - exactly that!

Many thanks for clarifying. And Pink Floyd is a good choice.

So once this is done, there's all that vinyl that I haven't re-bought on CDs that I'd also like to listen to....