So I download a lot of mixtapes from sites like DatPiff and so on. They sound alright. I DLed on my Game's old songs today and it was amazingly loud and clear, like hurting my ears while playing. Music usually doesn't get that loud in my ride. I believe there is too much variance in mp3s. I don't remember this with CDs. Always loud and clear. Anybody here still bump with CDs? And what are some good high quality strictly CD players, if you can still get them?

Edited March 7, 201213 yr by BlurredVision

I installed my stereo with iPod hook up well over a year ago. I haven't burned a cd since then.

I usually try to only down mp3's that are 320kbps.

While bitrate does help, all 320kbps mp3s will still not be guaranteed the same level.

The other variable is the amplitude at which the music is recordedcompressed.

This comes in 2 ways.

One, does the song have high amplitude peaks?

Two, is the song normalized in such a way to average the amplitude to match other music?

You can take songs made 40years ago that will not be at the same level as a new techno song, for example.

Using some editing, you can make this happen.

That is what these bass enhancement processors are good for but should NEVER be used on music that is recorded properly.

320kbs or go home

I know that The Carter II has some really nice bass on the cd.

I did notice with my ride and a lot of others iPods or CDs get louder than regular radio. Also you are right I have certain songs that are really loud and others that are not.

Edited March 7, 201213 yr by Fearz

I installed my stereo with iPod hook up well over a year ago. I haven't burned a cd since then.

I usually try to only down mp3's that are 320kbps.

Speaking on that, I believe iPods get a fair amount louder than regular mp3 players or cellphones. My phone thru aux doesn't get that loud, but years ago, my buddy had a radio using aux with his iPod and it was loud and clear. But i'm not sure on the bitrate of some of this stuff I DL. I feel like I should buy the CDs and burn myself or just play the CD.

While bitrate does help, all 320kbps mp3s will still not be guaranteed the same level.

The other variable is the amplitude at which the music is recordedcompressed.

This comes in 2 ways.

One, does the song have high amplitude peaks?

Two, is the song normalized in such a way to average the amplitude to match other music?

You can take songs made 40years ago that will not be at the same level as a new techno song, for example.

Using some editing, you can make this happen.

That is what these bass enhancement processors are good for but should NEVER be used on music that is recorded properly.

I wish I knew how. I heard iTunes could do it, but I've never used anything from Apple. I know a guy that had 6 12s on 3k and he played music on CDs they he said he burned on iTunes and it leveled all the music out so it was all loud. It was nasty. Call me a wimp, but it was 6 w3 12s and 3 1000/1. Did a 48 with music.

Edited March 7, 201213 yr by BlurredVision

I installed my stereo with iPod hook up well over a year ago. I haven't burned a cd since then.

I usually try to only down mp3's that are 320kbps.

Speaking on that, I believe iPods get a fair amount louder than regular mp3 players or cellphones. My phone thru aux doesn't get that loud, but years ago, my buddy had a radio using aux with his iPod and it was loud and clear. But i'm not sure on the bitrate of some of this stuff I DL. I feel like I should buy the CDs and burn myself or just play the CD.

Well the stereo in my car connects via usb and it sounds great. Gets just as loud as a cd would.

Stereo in my bed room connects via aux and sounds like shit. It doesn't get near as loud as a cd. Even using the best aux cord monoprice.com sells.

My pioneer does have that grounding problem. I had to ground the sub RCAs, but I can't ground the aux

320kbs or go home

I used to think like this, but I have 3,805 songs on my Ipod lol. There is no way in hell I'll be able to find 320's of everything.

But to the op, I tried dow...erm... obtaining an album in 320kbps mp3's and A/B testing it with the actual CD and the only thing I noticed was that the CD skipped...lol. If you have an absolute no nonsense sound quality system then I'd say maybe you'll be better off with CD quality recordings, but for people with the average ears and systems, anything above 128 should do you fine.

Some people trip me out when they say "I won't listen to any song that's not XXXkbps." Some of my favorite songs I can only find in absolute garbage quality (96kbps lol) but I jam that shit all week long.

Once you have a lower quality bit rate of a track you'll never be able to increase it's quality by raising the bit rate cause of the compression to the master your trying to copy from. What you want to do is to go from WAVE, FLAC, Apple lossless or something of higher quality and then make copies in mp3 320bit format for use in usb flash drives, there is nothing wrong with using wave in usb flash drives if your drives are large enough to hold what you want to listen to.

I still use CD's. Don't own an MP3 player/Ipod/etc myself.

And yes, high quality CD players are still available.

I tend to stick with lossless formats, such as flac, and let itunes convert it to aac (sp?) for the Ipad. Definitely better then mp3s.

I tend to stick with lossless formats, such as flac, and let itunes convert it to aac (sp?) for the Ipad. Definitely better then mp3s.

but going through AUX? .. Apple is known for not having adequate output to really support your formats(lossy) but it will still be better than most mp3... I use Cowon players if I use anything or CDs.

I tend to stick with lossless formats, such as flac, and let itunes convert it to aac (sp?) for the Ipad. Definitely better then mp3s.

but going through AUX? .. Apple is known for not having adequate output to really support your formats(lossy) but it will still be better than most mp3... I use Cowon players if I use anything or CDs.

I checked what exactly the flacs were being converted to, alac (alc), not aac.

Basically, if you want true CD quality from the files on your iPod or music server, you must use WAV or AIF encoding or FLAC, ALC, or WMA Lossless. Both MP3 and AAC introduce fairly large changes in the measured spectra, even at the highest rate of 320kbps.

http://www.stereophile.com/features/308mp3cd/

I'm not sure what you mean by output. As to using the AUX, I'm not sure what effect that would have. If I used a dock connector to the headunit, the signal is still being transferred in an analog signal through the rcas?

Do do most radios support those formats? I gonna actually check for mine later today. I have a 32 gig card in my phone and only using 2.5 with phone and music files, so I think I have room for some big files. Just hard to download music in those formats without ripping them

I tend to stick with lossless formats, such as flac, and let itunes convert it to aac (sp?) for the Ipad. Definitely better then mp3s.

but going through AUX? .. Apple is known for not having adequate output to really support your formats(lossy) but it will still be better than most mp3... I use Cowon players if I use anything or CDs.

I checked what exactly the flacs were being converted to, alac (alc), not aac.

Basically, if you want true CD quality from the files on your iPod or music server, you must use WAV or AIF encoding or FLAC, ALC, or WMA Lossless. Both MP3 and AAC introduce fairly large changes in the measured spectra, even at the highest rate of 320kbps.

http://www.stereophi...tures/308mp3cd/

I'm not sure what you mean by output. As to using the AUX, I'm not sure what effect that would have. If I used a dock connector to the headunit, the signal is still being transferred in an analog signal through the rcas?

I was commenting on the "output section" of the iPod boards... Normally just sufficient enough for the every Joe and not what you'd want/need to output the best quality it can from the lossy formats you are using... analog doesn't matter as much as the output chipset they are using ... I have all my stereo equipment hooked up through analog connections and get better sound than my optical output.... Just saying... I know the car environment won't be an easy way to notice but I know if you've listened to any lossy formats you can hear a difference in any environment as long as your equipment is decent...

One thing I am going to note is when I went out and purchased my Cowon, Apple was supposedly going to use wolfsen DAC chips, but I also HATE itunes so I never followed the ipod route....

Do do most radios support those formats? I gonna actually check for mine later today. I have a 32 gig card in my phone and only using 2.5 with phone and music files, so I think I have room for some big files. Just hard to download music in those formats without ripping them

Actually have yet to see any HU that support flac, but since most can play ipods and control them I "assume" they can read the Apple lossy format? You'd need to check on that though...

so I learnt some things this morning. I brought Black Eyed Peas albums last night and ripped them lossless. My CD player doesn't work and USB can't read them as lossless, but I'm playing thru the auxiliary. It's the clearest I've ever heard my music and this is thru the jack. I'm assuming the CD itself is clearer, but I can settle for this. Highs are singing and the bass is thumping. I'm thinking of deleting all my DLed mixtapes and just buying CDs and ripping them lossy.

Edited March 13, 201213 yr by BlurredVision

I do not recall what i was looking for when i came across this thread but it is very interesting and full of all kinds of good information regarding recordings and dynamic range of music.

http://www.diymobileaudio.com/forum/diyma-sq-forum-technical-advanced/81619-reference-quality-commercial-recordings.html

so I learnt some things this morning. I brought Black Eyed Peas albums last night and ripped them lossless. My CD player doesn't work and USB can't read them as lossless, but I'm playing thru the auxiliary. It's the clearest I've ever heard my music and this is thru the jack. I'm assuming the CD itself is clearer, but I can settle for this. Highs are singing and the bass is thumping. I'm thinking of deleting all my DLed mixtapes and just buying CDs and ripping them lossy.

16gb ipod

1$/song

Whats math?