SQ questions

snake1

Well guys let me explain whats going on. I have, what I think is, above average Music/HT equipment now and something is happening. My equipment is 'telling on' my music files basically. I can hear inconsistent stuff throughout tracks and albums, sound fades in and out, music quality issues that I'm lead to believe have to do with the format they are saved as.

I guess what I'm asking is this. Is there a better place to download better quality music? Is there a better way to rip my CDs? What other options are there? I'm not prepared however to go to SACDs or big investments like that, but I feel I can get more out of what I have maybe? I'm also thinking that recording problems are also partly due to how they were recorded in the first place. What are y'alls thoughts? Hope this makes sense!

Thorton

There are good recordings and there are bad recordings. What format are u currently downloading in? What format and bitrate are u currently ripping in? What is your source for CD's and digital files?

There are many threads on the digital topic that cover this excellently. I've compared WMA's, MP3's and FLAC. I personally would not rip with less than 320 MP3. However since I went to MediaMonkey for ripping and filing, I will stay with FLAC for my 2 channel and MP3 320 for the phone, car and boat. I don't download anymore and only buy CD's and rip to FLAC. Someone will chime in about downloading sites for higher resolution. With your system using FLAC and a decent source, you should be getting good results. I'm very pleased with the quality I'm at. I know it could be better but it doesn't display the signs you have listed. Also as you keep making the improvements, you will start hearing more detail and the music will also sound different. Based on the recording, this can be positive or negative. Some recordings just do not sound too good. However with my current set-up I'd say that at least 90% of my music is very good for SQ.

snake1

Thorton wrote: »

There are good recordings and there are bad recordings. What format are u currently downloading in? What format and bitrate are u currently ripping in? What is your source for CD's and digital files?

There are many threads on the digital topic that cover this excellently. I've compared WMA's, MP3's and FLAC. I personally would not rip with less than 320 MP3. However since I went to MediaMonkey for ripping and filing, I will stay with FLAC for my 2 channel and MP3 320 for the phone, car and boat. I don't download anymore and only buy CD's and rip to FLAC. Someone will chime in about downloading sites for higher resolution. With your system using FLAC and a decent source, you should be getting good results. I'm very pleased with the quality I'm at. I know it could be better but it doesn't display the signs you have listed. Also as you keep making the improvements, you will start hearing more detail and the music will also sound different. Based on the recording, this can be positive or negative. Some recordings just do not sound too good. However with my current set-up I'd say that at least 90% of my music is very good for SQ.

Format is MP3 probably. I turned up the bitrate (I think). However, I've heard of Mediamonkey before so I'm installing it now and I believe I'll start re-ripping some of the albums I notice stuff in the most and go from there and see if I can tell a difference. I can def hear more details since I got the Onkyo and even better still after I got the Parasound. We'll see what these changes do on a few songs and I'll post some results. Any other ideas are welcome.

Thorton

I believe someone stated on another thread about digital compression that crap in equals crap out. So upgrading your files would be a good start and it's an inexpensive upgrade. First, the source. Are you streaming from a computer to the Onk. or PS3, or downloading directly on the PS3? Whichever route, make sure the source supports the format you select before ripping all the CD's. Usually the lossless format is prefered (FLAC, Apple lossless, etc.) and requires more hard drive space. However if your source doesn't support this I would use MP3 320 bitrate and as stated before I have compared this. Try it yourself and select CD's that sound good and CD's that sound just OK in the test.

tonyb

Good points made, except if your problem is music fading in and out, it should have nothing to do with the bit rates. I may look into your connections/cables. Make sure you set up the input on the receiver too that your using.

Thorton

tonyb wrote: »

Good points made, except if your problem is music fading in and out, it should have nothing to do with the bit rates. I may look into your connections/cables. Make sure you set up the input on the receiver too that your using.

Yep, I agree. The SQ of the recording is one thing. The fading in and out probably has to be something in the pipeline/components which you gents are more experienced in resolving.

snake1

I'd agree Tonyb, but my Itunes mp3s sound fine, movies and games do as well. It tends to be an issue on the files I've ripped. Last night a re-ripped an album, that I knew had issue, to FLAC. I'm gonna test it out when I have time and see for sure but I believe it already sounds a bit better.

I would like to know if there is somewhere you can download higher quality music files, like Itunes only better.

tonyb

What are you using to rip your files, a mac or a PC ? Make sure you have the settings correctly setup in Itunes for ripping your own music. Are you going straight from the computer to the receiver or to the PS3 first ? Again, you have to go over the settings in the playstation too. Sounds like something in the chain isn't communicating well, or could be just a bad cable. If your ripping to Apple lossless, some receivers will only do MP3. Take one file you've ripped and using Itunes convert to mp3 and see if you get the same drop outs.

jumpindick

Good info guys. Other problem is if the source is not of that quality then the rip version is going to suffer.

Guys may I ask one question in this post.. sorry if this is not a good idea, but thought to ask since it may be related to the sound quality. Is DAC needed for better quality sound and details? Or is it really going to make a huge difference?

Sorry if it is not a good idea to ask that question here, but it has been bothering me a lot lately.

tonyb

Basically, yes...a seperate dac of quality will make a huge difference when playing back computer files. That said, you could use the dacs built into a receiver lets say if your receiver is of higher quality. The better receivers usually have better dacs and analog output stages than the entry level ones. Still, most would prefer a seperate dac regardless.