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Becoming An Audiophile Or: How I Learned To Stop Accepting Sub-320kbps Bit Rates And Love FLAC


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But it's not always just in one's head. The Inception sessions in FLAC are what set me off on this. I heard things there that I just never had before, and I need that experience with everything I can get it with.

The Inception sessions have never been posted publicly in any truly lossless format.

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I convert to Apple Lossless for the highest stuff. Never had any issue with iTunes.

I haven't had any issues with iTunes either. Not sure why a lot of people do...it's not hard to figure out if you have some tool bars viewed right away.

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I rip lossless for archival purposes only. Mainly because if you want to transcode to another future format, you always want to do it from lossless to lossy, not lossy to lossy.

Which reminds me, I crushed and shattered my Fellowship CR set. And now they're OOP, everywhere. $300-400. Christ.

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But it's not always just in one's head. The Inception sessions in FLAC are what set me off on this. I heard things there that I just never had before, and I need that experience with everything I can get it with.

The Inception sessions have never been posted publicly in any truly lossless format.

Publicly? No, you're right. They haven't.

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But what are you comparing the flac sessions to? A previously shit rip?

Turn one of the flac file into a 320k MP3 and listen to both

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Yeah, if you have the right hardware, there is a definite difference. 320 is good but it isn't the upper limit of noticeable improvement.

But what are you comparing the flac sessions to? A previously shit rip?

Turn one of the flac file into a 320k MP3 and listen to both

Comparing it to the original album, pulled from the disc. I'm sure it has something to due with differences in mixing as well.
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I convert to Apple Lossless for the highest stuff. Never had any issue with iTunes.

I haven't had any issues with iTunes either. Not sure why a lot of people do...it's not hard to figure out if you have some tool bars viewed right away.

After it started shitting the bed on my Windows system a few years back (although I've got a new PC now), I abandoned it. I don't think it plays FLAC files, either.

I liked it for the convenience. Organizing my collection was so easy in iTunes.

What are you guys converting the Apple Lossless files from? WAVs?

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I convert to Apple Lossless for the highest stuff. Never had any issue with iTunes.

I haven't had any issues with iTunes either. Not sure why a lot of people do...it's not hard to figure out if you have some tool bars viewed right away.

After it started shitting the bed on my Windows system a few years back (although I've got a new PC now), I abandoned it. I don't think it plays FLAC files, either.

I liked it for the convenience. Organizing my collection was so easy in iTunes.

What are you guys converting the Apple Lossless files from? WAVs?

I use a uhhh certain version of dbpoweramp music converter.

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About how many albums do you guys have in your collection?

I've uploaded 85 so far. Surprisingly, they only take up about 15gigs.

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I've got 116 albums, that's including the Ron Jones TNG box set, LLL sets for TNG and DS9. I also got Dennis The Menace coming from LLL right now so that'll put it to 117.

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About how many albums do you guys have in your collection?

I've uploaded 85 so far. Surprisingly, they only take up about 15gigs.

In "acceptable" quality, or in all? All told I have 725 albums, bearing in mind some of those only have possibly one track, and a few are compilations of things that don't fit anywhere else. I've barely made a scratch in that as far as upgrading goes.

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Hmmm. What is KM gonna do now? :folder:

I guess I need a pair of BW 800's for my living room, then maybe I can tell you if lossless sounds better

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http://www.mp3tag.de/en/

(Makes it easier to tag tracks, add album art, etc.)

Seconded. If you're replacing an album in your library with a new rip, you can copy/paste the tags from the old tracks to the new, all at once. Unless you simply don't bother editing tags at all, this will make your life a lot easier.

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CDs or burst. Occasionally, and when available, I will listen to vinyl as well. It's very hip too, or so I hear.

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For my mp3 player, I use 256 VBR (medium) for CD rips and 320 kbps for LP rips. For the old stuff I listen to, it's sufficient.

I never listen to music on speakers... I don't live alone, so I have to respect the music taste of my husband... and I'm happy he listen his music in his headphones too! LOL

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I'm almost finished converting all of mine. LPs to cassette, that is. (But it's lossless cassette, so. . . .)

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  • 3 years later...

If I were you I would dump the MP3's and just use the AAC files you have for both your laptop and iPod.

 

My digital collection is comprised of two formats. Apple Lossless for archival purposes and playing on my amp through my wired network, and 224 Kbps AAC files for portable audio.

If you're going compressed there really is no point in using MP3 and there hasnt been for a very long time. 

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I bought new micro SD cards to contains WAV of some important JW CDs (especially the recent Mike Matessino Expansions). Only fools don't change their minds!

 

My actual mp3 player can't read FLACS, but the next one will... The end of mp3 is near...

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My 32G microSD in my phone (main listening device) is filling up with FLAC, I'm actually starting to consider storing everything in FLAC on my HDD, but 320 MP3 on my phone, since I'll only listen to those on shitty cheap earphones on the go. A 64G is still outrageously expensive.

 

There were days when, to fit everything on an 8G card, I stored multiple things in 96kbps MP3s. I haven't listened to BttF in so long that I only noticed last week it was still that way.

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24 minutes ago, Richard said:

I wonder why?

 

They say they love how it sounds in their car. Plus, when people are "on the way" is usually the only time they can spend to music listening.

 

 

 

 

 

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I listen to FLAC at home and at work, and have some FLAC files on my phone, some mp3.  I sample new score albums I've never heard before most often via Spotify, which is probably close to like a 320kbps mp3 in sound quality; If I like it, I buy it on CD!

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4 hours ago, Richard said:

 

Is this true?

 

It's increasingly common in many musical genres, including ours, for mixing to be tailored to the expected listening medium.  Sometimes that means a more impressive result, but more often it means a pretty shitty one.  

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