MP3 player through my system

madmax

I finally tried out my Creative Labs Vision M player though my reference system. First thoughts were that it sounded pretty damn good. It has a quietness to it which I like somewhat. The soundstage is not quite what I'm used to but it is adequate.

The real difference as far as I can tell between this little $150 toy and my vinyl or CD system? Midrange, voices, depth and micro detail. Tom Pettys voice is in the center by itself. Although he sounds correct he is not full bodied and is between the speakers, not standing out in front like he should be. And why is he there by himself? The sounds on the left and right side stage should be spread out behind him.

I could actually be somewhat happy with the sound if I didn't know what it really sounded like. Not bad for a toy!

madmax

phipiper10

I find increasing the source volume to max on my mp3 player and keeping the pre volume lower makes an important difference.

Are you playing back wavs or mp3 files?

I have a Creative Zen Touch 40gb which Is great for bringing music with me in the car. It ocassionally gets plugged in at home too.

Enjoy the new toy.

cfrizz

I played mine all day long last Sunday & intend to do it again tomorrow. It's great to have music all day long playing & not have to change a cd.

janmike

cfrizz wrote: »

I played mine all day long last Sunday & intend to do it again tomorrow.

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

cfrizz

Whats so funny? I'm not doing any critical listening, but I'm still able to have music playing through out my apartment while I'm in here on my PC!

It's all about convenience, which is why they sell like crazy!

janmike

Sorry, the cold night air must have created my humor. You had to be here.

phipiper10

I was there. Pay silly boys no attention cfizz.

Yashu

Now that you have caught the bug of having a huge collection of music at your fingertips... you should consider PC audio. Uncompressed music ripped to a hard-drive, and using a USB DAC to connect to your reference system.

cfrizz

That won't work for me. My system is in my livingroom & my pc is in my bedroom.:)

Yashu wrote: »

Now that you have caught the bug of having a huge collection of music at your fingertips... you should consider PC audio. Uncompressed music ripped to a hard-drive, and using a USB DAC to connect to your reference system.

hypertone

Get a Squeezebox.

cfrizz

Nah, my San Disk Sansa gets the job done just fine.

zingo

If you have an iPod, they also make an input connection for it that goes through the bottom port, not the 1/8" jack. If you load up your iPod with uncompressed audio, that's a great sounding system from an mp3 player!

madmax

phipiper10 wrote: »

I find increasing the source volume to max on my mp3 player and keeping the pre volume lower makes an important difference.

Are you playing back wavs or mp3 files?

I tried both wavs and mp3. I made several recordings at the highest quality level then compared. I also ended up at the highest output on the player which seemed the best.

I'm sorry but I don't see where this is any more convenient than records. Took me forever to dry the thing out after running through the vacuum cleaner. Then it lost its mind and I had to reset after I hit it with the zerostat gun...

beardog03

madmax wrote: »

Then it lost its mind and I had to reset after I hit it with the zerostat gun...

wwwwwwwwwwwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa







I have a new maxtor outboard hard drive....totaly empty (380 gb)

would i get the mp3/ipod sound if I put a library on it and used it for a source ?

Yashu

Mp3s can sound surprisingly good depending on how they were encoded and what kind of software and hardware you have. I know on a portable player you do not have the luxury of messing around with software and decoders...

However, if you were to use the highest quality setting on the lame MP3 encoder, it's 320k, but also there are different options for the type of encoding at a certain bitrate... LAME's max quality is at 320k but with the switch of -insane in the command line.

The Fraunhoffer codec is also good, but it is not free and you cannot buy it directly, so you can't get the latest version if you happen to get a licensed version with some software (sound editing programs, for instance).

mp4 sound even better than mp3... mp4 is basically like AAC... I think even itunes can output to mp4 (it calls it m4a, but it is the same thing). I don't use itunes because it is an utter piece of junk, but I have some mp4 encoded files and I find that they do better bitrate for bitrate against mp3.

Lossless WAV files are going to be the best, of course, and there are lossless formats that compress the file the old fashioned way (like how a .zip works) like FLAC... don't know if your player supports those, but they save a lot of space over wav.

Yashu

beardog03:

check into this: http://www.slimdevices.com/pi_squeezebox.html I understand that you just hook this thing into your DAC and you have instant access to the music over your network.

beardog03

Yashu wrote: »

beardog03:

check into this: http://www.slimdevices.com/pi_squeezebox.html I understand that you just hook this thing into your DAC and you have instant access to the music over your network.

cool !

Thanks...:cool:

Face

Lasareath wrote: »

How Exactly is the Music "Ripped".

I use windows media player.
Go to Tools, Options, Rip, Format, then select Lossless. The bit rate averages around 1,000 kb, opposed to 128-320 kb.
I use Winamp for playback though. WMP sounds slightly clearer, but for some reason low frequencies sound like crap.

reeltrouble1

waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

RT1

Yashu

The MP3's from my iPod sound like total crap on my system.

I know what you are saying, however there are ways to encode mp3s to where they do not sound BAD. I am not saying they sound just the same as uncompressed, I am saying that you can encode them to where you can enjoy the music without thinking "this is an f'ing mp3, this sucks".

I have tried so many things to make mp3s sound better as I have some music that I cannot find on CD that I only have on mp3. There are many things that can make it a better experience. One is doing it on a computer where you can control the software, decoder, type of output, ect... the ipod, you are right, in that the ipod does not make the best mp3 playback device.

Winamp, using the updated MAD mpeg decoder, through ASIO output plugin to bit-perfect USB digital out then through a monarchy DIP for reduction of jitter and then to a non-oversampling DAC with a tubed buffer... they can sound pretty good. Soundstaging and depth is not the same as uncompressed, of course, but it doesn't grate on your ears either.

The only real way to seriously consider mp3 is using a computer for playback. (and yes, LAME encoded at 320k -insane sounds rather good... there is a whole huge discussion on AudioAsylum about it... there are many people there that actually use LAME to encode at the highest setting and then convert back to wav to burn on CD just to get the benefits of LAME encoder)

bdaley6509

I use my PS3 to rip my music and play it directly from the game system. There are plenty of encoding options, and the convenience is 2nd to none. Also, obtaining the CD information from the Internet database is a snap.

reeltrouble1

This is 2-channel???

waaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

RT1

cfrizz

What's the problem Ted? Where do you think he should have posted it? Does it really matter?

reeltrouble1

waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa, still rolling on floor..............hehehehehhe, waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa, chuckle chuckle chuckle, snort snort snort,

I dunno maybe Video Games:eek: ..........waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa, someday it will be good, but today is not someday................hehehehehe, waaaaaaaaaa, oops, hiccup.:D

RT1

madmax

Well it is technically 2 channel, just not audiophile in nature.

At least I didn't say it "Totally blew away my reference system".

madmax

bdaley6509

"...ok, the next thing you do is press the 'Surround' button"...oh ****, wait. Wrong thread. Thank you, RT1...you saved me from a lifetime of embarrassment by nearly posting something non-2-channel as deemed by you...
I owe you one.

cfrizz

:rolleyes: Nobody is saying that it is the be all to end all. We are simply saying if you want to hear some music & don't want the inconvenience of changing cd's it is a very viable alternative!

This is the reason why I NEVER call myself an audiophile. Most have thier noses so high in the air, they need a space shuttle to go up & retrieve it!:rolleyes:

reeltrouble1 wrote: »

waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa, still rolling on floor..............hehehehehhe, waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa, chuckle chuckle chuckle, snort snort snort,

I dunno maybe Video Games:eek: ..........waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa, someday it will be good, but today is not someday................hehehehehe, waaaaaaaaaa, oops, hiccup.:D

RT1

sucks2beme

Pc or other sources can sound very good if done right. Blakeh's thread on
his music server has inspired my to start building a system. A small pc
or a NAS network storage disk can serve as the heart of a very good
audio system. With hard drive prices falling fast, you can get a 500 g drive for $99!!!.
That would hold over a 1000 flac(lossless compression) cd's.
Add a Squeezebox, you've got a decent music system. Add an outboard DAC,
a great music system.
I understand why people do this. I use an XM receiver in my truck.
Very good to have on long drives. The real question is..Do you want
just convenience, or a truly good source? And there is nothing wrong with
either pick.

cfrizz

I have BOTH. When I'm sitting in my living room, I have my system going with cd's. If I'm in my bedroom, I will use my mp3 player through my system so I don't have to keep getting up to change cd's.

And it doesn't sound half bad. I didn't even know that it was possible to hook it up to my receiver until my brother had his ipod hooked up to his. I was shocked when I heard how good it sounds, especially coming through some LSI 7's!

Sometimes it just isn't necessary to have all the top of the line stuff, if you can find a work around for convenience sake. It will NEVER replace my system, but it's nice to know that it is a workable alternative.

reeltrouble1

madmax wrote: »

The real difference as far as I can tell between this little $150 toy and my vinyl or CD system? Midrange, voices, depth and micro detail.

waaaaaaaaaa...........damm I am going to pee myself......Well if its only the Midrange, the Voices, the Depth and the Detail, I mean who needs that junk........:rolleyes:

Max, stop teasing, I know you are sitting there LYAO.......I am too.;)

RT1

sucks2beme

Lasareath wrote: »

Is the CD information ripped down to 320K? or is it a full CD source with no loss.

I download torrents all the time but nobody has full ripped lossless CD's. they just don't exist.

Everyone has 320K or less ripped mp3's.


Are the ones you get Lossless?

Las

Very few places support Lossless download due to the large size.
There also isn't much demand as of yet.
The online info is just a reference. When using EAC(a very good ripping program)
It finds a database with the artist and track info. It also can
compare your rip to a known good rip to assure it's right.
Right now, You have to roll your own when it comes to lossless.
It's almost alchemy. And I'm sure RICA treats it as thus, to be stamped out
along with the heretics doing it.
Finding info online can be a chore. Start by searching on keywords flac and
EAC