Anything sound better than this Alpine combo?

[adam71 5,000+ posts]

Funny, double blind tests would disagree with you. It's been done, MP3 at 192kbps vs. original source CD, none of the participants could identify if it were an mp3 or CD at a rate better than that of pure chance.

I can hear the difference. I did a test like that in my home setup and in my car when I had my 860 which played mp3s. The dynamic range gives it away every time. Not to mention you can hear it in the cymbals.

 

[nineball 10+ year member]

and there is no such thing as true lossless conversion, the conversion drops repetitive bits of the info which is how it compresses it.

With Apple Lossless you don't set a bitrate. It takes the full quality audio file and compresses it, but returns it to full quality when playing it back. It works similar to MLP or Packed Pulse Code Modulation in that nothing is removed.

 

[adam71 5,000+ posts]

With Apple Lossless you don't set a bitrate. It takes the full quality audio file and compresses it, but returns it to full quality when playing it back. It works similar to MLP or Packed Pulse Code Modulation in that nothing is removed.

Yes, MLP is the shit. It's the technology DVD-Audio uses created by Meridian (Boothroyd Stuart). It's sort of like a zip file.