+1 for the Cowon J3. Best audio quality I've ever heard on a portable device, though the interface is quite clunky. Excellent video codec support as well. Whatever you do don't go for an iPod - it has the worst, most lifeless audio quality out of any MP3 player I've ever owned, even with lossless encoded tracks.
How do you go about calibrating DBPowerAmp? Do I need some sort of technical knowledge to do this or is it a simple auto calibrate within the software? Thanks. Z
The software will do it for you. You'll need a "mainstream" CD in perfect condition and a really, really scratched CD too. If you don't have any scratched CD's send me your Phil Collins and I'll take care of that for you Click on "options" at the top of the DBPowerAmp main screen The first set of options are the reading mode - Burst, Secure or Defective By Design. Choose "secure" then click "secure settings" to the right. Now scroll down to the section which starts "drive read cache" and click "detect" - the program will auto calibrate Then click "test FUA support" - the program will auto calibrate Then click "detect c2 support" - the program will auto calibrate For a laugh, rip something you've already ripped, but with these new settings applied then take a listen. It blew me away. I also use the "level 0" FLAC compression. This results in the largest filesize but, theoretically, stresses playback devices the least...
Thanks for that. Will have a go when I get home this evening. Think there might be a Spandau Ballet CD lying about somewhere that could do with a few scratches. I have been encoding in FLAC 8 for a Cowon j3 to try and keep hold of a few MBs. I have faith it can handle it!!
ripping lame at 192 isn't bad if your going to compress (you won't notice much after that).. best is flac
Clegg, can you seriously tell the difference? I can't distinguish between the original FLAC rips and the V0 MP3 encode!!
Well, from my experience, 'the best', in terms of the reduction in size from lossless compression, is ape (Monkey's Audio), but flac is usable by far more devices so... Otherwise, just a little note about MP3 encoding - lame is pretty shonky at CBR (where Fraunhofer wins out), whereas LAME is much better at ABR. The problem being that Fraunhofer isn't open source so doesn't appear in the free/cheap software, so most people really should be only using ABR encoding - though that's not always usable either d.t. the playback device or the task (ie lots of pod casting needs to be CBR, SoundCloud uses it, ummmm... ...there was a better list in my head when i started typing this sentence but it's vanished). Whilst i can't say that i've tried all of these choices, i agree 100% that the ripping technique 'can' have a dramatic effect upon quality. &, similarly, we're in agreement about playback devices as i'd previously written "assuming the hardware is capable of the playing at the chosen compression level in real time"... Personally, as i'm using the machines i am (not attempting to play flacs on low spec things) & have 1000s of TB of bootleg (ie live, demo, etc rather than illegitimately copied CDs) recordings, then i always use the max compression... ...but as with anything else (including the MP3 codec note at the top), it's about choosing the right thing for the job you're after.
Absolutely, with the caveat that your equipment can resolve the extra information. Your ears certainly can. A challenge to you as I see you're in the planet's finest city, come along to House of Linn on Tuesday 28th and see what you make of some serious digital gear. They're based in Prestwich and I'll be hosting a show there. Bring some friends and some music, we'll supply the beverages!
For non-specific general uses (ie something like a mp3 player) then certainly there will be advantages d.t. quality vs file size with VBR but, as said, there are some where you need to use CBR & using lame then isn't the best option. tbh, it was simply a note as thehippoz had specified a defined bitrate so it was just to provide the info that, unless you've access to the Fraunhofer codec, this really isn't the best option.
Not heard the recent fraunhofer releases but in the past lame has generally been better, and the VBR algorithm from lame 3.98 and above is much improved from the CBR and ABR, leaves a lot more of the frequencies in and can deal with a lot of problem tracks that the previous versions couldn't quite handle. Not had any issues with VBR playback myself, except when one codec pack couldn't decode them properly, so I switched it's MP3 decoding off and it went back to default, played fine after that.
I see you have some seriously high-end Linn gear. In that case, fair do's. In my world, £200-£300 speakers count as high-end audio!
This. Basically the Sansa Clip + with any amp will be a winner. For the price this thing is unbeatable.
I think he means from CD, re-encoding from MP3 to lossless will give you the same quality as the MP3 you encoded, just with a larger filesize. Just as a note, with the Sony NW A3000 and MDR EX300/500 combo, you don't need a headphone amp to get amazing sounds, and both can be obtained for around £80. Can't be sure if their later models are the same but I doubt they would take a step back when they were already onto a winner. Edit, not sure how it would handle phones that require more power to run but they work well with the EX300's which you can get for under £40. You'd have to pay nearly £200 to get better sounding earphones, especially IEM's.
Got to be a Cowon. I had one which was lost in my luggage in Heathrow's terminal 5, never to be seen again. I carried it and an iPod and the difference in sound quality at the same bit rate was very noticable - same as you through a pair of Sennheisers. British Airways being the outstanding company that they are refused my insurance claim so I didn't replace it.
He said "re-encode", not "transcode". For those who want the ultimate quality, this is the best option. I've pussied out and stayed with my existing 320CBRs for stuff from years ago, but everything I've bought in the last 3 or 4yrs has been FLACd.
