Music on storage devices Vs CD's

[West]

I was talking to a guy a few months ago and he told me how he felt about compressed music and how it cheapens everything artists have worked for. I am inclined to agree if you have sensitive enough speakers you can hear a noticible loss in clairity when you play compressed music files. I made an effort to buy CD's and then save the music as .wav files. Completely uncompessed music that I saved to a 32gb microSD card.

What I didn't know at the time was that head units that can play from storage devices (SD cards, USB, etc.) have limits on how fast the data can be retireved from the device. This transfer rate is around 1/3 slower than the transfer rate from a CD to the HU. The music sounds better than a 128kb/s mp3 but not as good as the CD.

Its disappointing that we have to juggle CD's in our cars if we want to get the best SQ out of our decks.

Click to read more...

 

[Dirtrider4eva 10+ year member]

there was a very informational video of playing CD vs compressed audio, then they removed both audios and showed the distortion that was left, incredible.

 

[trumpet 5,000+ posts]

You can have compressed music files that sound as good as the CD it was ripped from. People ought to take this a closer look into this as there's more to it than "Compression = bad, lossless = good".

I haven't done this test as I just found it and the ambient noise plus crappy speakers makes this a bad place to judge the sound quality of music, but try this out:

Music Compression Test: How Good Are Your Ears? | PCWorld

 

[MisterDeadeye 10+ year member]

What I didn't know at the time was that head units that can play from storage devices (SD cards, USB, etc.) have limits on how fast the data can be retireved from the device. This transfer rate is around 1/3 slower than the transfer rate from a CD to the HU. The music sounds better than a 128kb/s mp3 but not as good as the CD

Here's where you lost me. If the bit rate of a WAV file and track on a CD is the same, and a specific head unit has full WAV support, there's no difference. If you are noticing a difference in quality, maybe you should get a different CD ripper. And CDs' bit rates aren't much higher than v0 MP3s.

 

[SourDeez 10+ year member]

Music is good for me, and good for you

 

[husker77 10+ year member]

This is something I am needing to look into also, I don't have an mp3 player and am thinking of getting one and was wondering about the quality of the players and the music you buy(or in some cases steal).

 

[sacsking916 5,000+ posts]

i use a USB drive for all my music. no issues whatsoever. and dont worry about skipping cds

 

[keep_hope_alive Premium Member]

i rip all of my CD's (i have hundreds) into 320kbps.

i previously had them all ripped to 256kbps and 192kbps. i personally noticed a difference, deleted all of the music and re-ripped all of my CD's

Since the 9887 doesn't have USB support, I'll put albums in 320kbps on CD's so i have more albums on the same number of discs and my originals are in-tact. I would much prefer a hard drive. I'll likely get an ipod classic 160GB or two and keep music on there.

Of course, i've received music from friends as well, and a good deal of it is lower than 320kbps.

I just did a quick count in WMP.

11,420 songs in 320kbps.

11k songs at 192kbps - 319kbps (some are variable rate)

11k songs at 128kbps

2k songs at 1411kbps .wav

****. over 2400 hours. i probably listen to 1/50 of that on a regular basis. Tool 10,000 days has been a favorite lately (original CD).

I avoid music at 128kbps. I can hear a difference in my car. In the garage when working on projects - not so much. In headphones - definately.

Any "compressed music test" online is pointless. the audio is already compressed during transmission. the only true test would be with original material, not something over the internet. that's like a Bose commerical where they show the artist playing then let you "listen" to the Bose radio - and they sound the same (through your tv speakers)!!! wow.

 

[husker77 10+ year member]

Is the music you download from itunes or amazon compressed(or whatever)?

 

[MisterDeadeye 10+ year member]

i rip all of my CD's (i have hundreds) into 320kbps.
i previously had them all ripped to 256kbps and 192kbps. i personally noticed a difference, deleted all of the music and re-ripped all of my CD's

Since the 9887 doesn't have USB support, I'll put albums in 320kbps on CD's so i have more albums on the same number of discs and my originals are in-tact. I would much prefer a hard drive. I'll likely get an ipod classic 160GB or two and keep music on there.

Of course, i've received music from friends as well, and a good deal of it is lower than 320kbps.

I just did a quick count in WMP.

11,420 songs in 320kbps.

11k songs at 192kbps - 319kbps (some are variable rate)

11k songs at 128kbps

2k songs at 1411kbps .wav

****. over 2400 hours. i probably listen to 1/50 of that on a regular basis. Tool 10,000 days has been a favorite lately (original CD).

I avoid music at 128kbps. I can hear a difference in my car. In the garage when working on projects - not so much. In headphones - definately.

Any "compressed music test" online is pointless. the audio is already compressed during transmission. the only true test would be with original material, not something over the internet. that's like a Bose commerical where they show the artist playing then let you "listen" to the Bose radio - and they sound the same (through your tv speakers)!!! wow.

Lateralus is better. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/fyi.gif.9f1f679348da7204ce960cfc74bca8e0.gif

Do you prefer constant or variable bit rate?

 

---------- Post added at 09:32 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:31 PM ----------

 

Is the music you download from itunes or amazon compressed(or whatever)?

Yes.

 

[SuperSaeYoung]

I was talking to a guy a few months ago and he told me how he felt about compressed music and how it cheapens everything artists have worked for. I am inclined to agree if you have sensitive enough speakers you can hear a noticible loss in clairity when you play compressed music files. I made an effort to buy CD's and then save the music as .wav files. Completely uncompessed music that I saved to a 32gb microSD card.
What I didn't know at the time was that head units that can play from storage devices (SD cards, USB, etc.) have limits on how fast the data can be retireved from the device. This transfer rate is around 1/3 slower than the transfer rate from a CD to the HU. The music sounds better than a 128kb/s mp3 but not as good as the CD.

Its disappointing that we have to juggle CD's in our cars if we want to get the best SQ out of our decks.

You ever tried flac?

 

[keep_hope_alive Premium Member]

Lateralus is better. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/fyi.gif.9f1f679348da7204ce960cfc74bca8e0.gif
.

I used to think so. Spend more time listening to songs like Rosetta Stoned...

I also enjoy forty six & 2.

All six albums are good.

 

[West]

You ever tried flac?

**** that looks interesting... There is still gonna be some loss I bet, but maybe not as bad? The current HU can decode (mp3,.wma,.aac,.wav,H.264,MPEG4,and wmv) Would FLAC files be able to be read?

 

[MisterDeadeye 10+ year member]

I used to think so. Spend more time listening to songs like Rosetta Stoned...
I also enjoy forty six & 2.

All six albums are good.

I haven't listened to much other than the four studio albums. I can listen to all of them all of the way through without any issues. Tool's just so good, man. I haven't been able to find anything else that I like as much.

 

[MisterDeadeye 10+ year member]

**** that looks interesting... There is still gonna be some loss I bet, but maybe not as bad? The current HU can decode (mp3,.wma,.aac,.wav,H.264,MPEG4,and wmv) Would FLAC files be able to be read?

FLAC is lossless. There's no way for you to lose anything from a CD to WAV either. The reason head unit specs list max bit rates for certain file types is because of the way MP3s and WMAs are encoded. While you can technically encode MP3s to be 400+ kbps, it starts screwing with compatibility with everything, not just head units.

And no, your head unit won't be able to play FLAC. I don't know if there are any head units at all that are compatible with FLAC files.