[SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Re: Upgrade Advice
totoro;174623 Wrote: It's a decent amp. Doesn't seem like the weakest thing in the system to me. If you haven't heard a really good, music-oriented (as opposed to home-theater-oriented) sub, I think you'll probably be pretty amazed when you hear one. I used to have triangle celius speakers, which don't have much bass. I added a cheapish sub, and it was better. A friend of mine got the rel to use with his, and the results were spectacular. For years, I had a pair of Rogers LS3/5a (15 ohm variety) which were great, but simply did not have a bass (well, actually, when I measured them, they had a suprising amount, but that's not what it sounded like). I put them on a pair of first class stands, and positioned them properly. Bass improved significantly. Obviously, with 733s, the new stand is not an option. Adding a REL Strata 5: dramatic improvement - huge difference, the sort that leaves you wishing you'd done it years ago. This is all sorts of music, from Bach on a harpsichord to Wagner to Black Sabbath, Queen and Genesis. It can shake the room on the last four, but it's not just noise. It is wonderful, clear, bass which works particularly well with the little BBC monitors because they are so, so accurate in the mid/top rangeThe harpsichord (and human voices, and string quartets, and everything in between) sound much, much more natural. If you're in the room with a quartet, you can easily feel the cello. One can with this combination. One can also hear every nuance down low. One couldn't before. Measurement (not particularly precise - compensated Radio Shack pressure meter plus tone bursts) showed the combined system was flat down to about 18Hz, well up into the normal LS3/5a's normal range. Previously, it had been flat down to about 50-60Hz, then tailed off. You could audition both. I'd just buy the sub anyway if I were you. I'd go over budget if I needed to, to do it, if I were you. I'm not, of course, but I don't think you'd regret it, and you could always add a DAC in a year or two. (I'm sure you will anyway, if the bug has bitten!) Geraint. -- geraint smith geraint smith's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=625 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=32128 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
[SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Apple to allow music with Fairplay DRM to be streamed?
www.tech.co.uk (and MacRumors is carrying it) is reporting that Apple is to announce in the coming week that it is 1. licensing Fairplay DRM to the company's Made for iPod licence and 2. Allowing streaming of Fairplay protected music via USB (whatever that means). Maybe we'll get to play that iTunes music store crud through a Squeezebox soon (or waste a Transporter on it.) http://www.tech.co.uk/home-entertainment/hi-fi-and-audio/hi-fi-amps-and-receivers/news/apple-to-open-up-fairplay-drm;jsessionid=D9E83C25DF4C124EF06F8439516E78C2?articleid=394429162 http://www.macrumors.com/pages/2007/01/20070117025248.shtml -- geraint smith geraint smith's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=625 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=31881 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
[SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Re: Interesting article on CD loudness
Mark Lanctot;171659 Wrote: Yes, it used to be that music was produced for listening over a car radio, now it's probably produced for how it plays back in 128 kbps AAC form in an iPod. Which is doubly sad - and apologies because this is probably off topic, but it does bug me - because if one uses an iPod to play back lossless or uncompressed files at max. bitrate/sample rate (1411kbps/44.1kHz for uncompressed), through a pair of really good headphones or something like the Shure e5c and the sound quality is pretty good, considering it's a pocket package. They are not, inherently, bad machines. They seem to me much, much more competent than Sony Walkman cassette players used to be, for instance. These I always found them completely unlistenable - horrible things, except for the one Professional model that no-one in their right mind would carry except for professional purposes. From imperfect memory, they also seem to me to be at least as good as any of the mini-disc Walkmans I heard. I've just had a go, though, at listening to a Shuffle (old style white one) playing 128kbps, using a pair of little Koss folders - not wonderful, but better than the supplied earbuds by some way - and it was truly ghastly. The internals of the Shuffle are - I imagine - nothing like as competent as those of the top of range video iPod, but even so - well, what a complete waste to use an iPod to play iTunes Music Store crud. -- geraint smith geraint smith's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=625 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=31801 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
[SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Re: Lossless Downloads
mikeruss;170213 Wrote: I buy all 99% of my music from www.cd-wow.com Cheap as chips!! Plus it often works out quicker (delivery and ripping ;-)) than downloading large FLAC files. There is also the added benifit of having a hard copy of your tunes. I can't see a reason why I would download, apart from maybe a listen to a track or two of an album then I will decide to buy. Perhaps because there are only one or two tracks on an album to which you'd want to listen? I'm in exactly that position at the moment, having about two tracks from each of half a dozen albums that rank among my top favourites, but also knowing that I really do not want the rest of the albums. Downloading is lots cheaper in those circumstances. However, I'm still never going back to any downloading poor quality lossy, as in iTunes music store. Most of these single tracks were originally bought from iTunes, and I've decided that I can put up with them no longer. Either I download lossless files (preferably AIFF or ALAC) or else I grit the teeth and return, wailing, to haunt Amazon again. Geraint. -- geraint smith geraint smith's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=625 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=31616 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
[SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Re: Need to brighten sound of new SB3 -- Transporter or DAC?
tomjtx;169590 Wrote: I wholeheartedly agree with you, Adam. This guy is a (insert description of your choice, mine is unprintable). To ask for advice and then respond so rudely is behavior I wouldn't want to reward. Without in any way wishing to defend such behaviour, I would observe, in the mildest possible way, that he is not entirely alone, and that at least the desert rat has had the good grace (and pragmatic wisdom) to apologise. ;^) -- geraint smith geraint smith's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=625 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=31533 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
[SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Re: AppleTV
Robin Bowes;169007 Wrote: geraint smith wrote: If only FLAC worked with iTunes (or vice versa), or else that there were another music ripping/tagging/labelling all-in-one product for Mac OSX that was as easy, and worked as well as, iTunes. But it doesn't, and there isn't - or if there is one, I'd very much like to know about it (although only if it reads tags attached by iTunes. The thought of doing all that again...ugh!). So Aiff it is, then. The only practical thing against Aiff (apart from the space it takes on your disc, which is not much against it given how cheap disc space is now) is that programmes for PCs don't seem to like it much. There there, very sad, never mind. But tagging is not an issue with Aiff. You can - and I do, using iTunes - tag Aiff as easily, comprehensively and well as one can tag FLAC, and a darned site better than one can tag WAV. So, would you be interested in a script that converts your AIFF files to FLAC, including all tags? Also, if you're tied to formats supported by iTunes then ALAC will take up less space than AIFF and support the same tags. R. Not really, Robin, no. What gave you that idea? I don't think I suggested that at all! If, however, a programme existed that did everything that iTunes does, but which handled Flac (and, preferably, which could rip SACDs and DVD-A in 24 bit, too) in addition, then I would (be interested, that is). I can quite see the desirability of open source/non-proprietary software, and thoroughly approve of the philosphy. But one doesn't (to my knowledge) so I'm not. ALAC has various disadvantages on the Squeezebox - no ff or rew, needs to be converted on the fly - that, for me, heavily outweigh the advantage of compaction. I still have some files in ALAC, and using them on the SB is a pain on my setup - I'm sure, for instance, that there are a lot more dropouts when I'm using it - so I'm continuing to convert them to AIFF. -- geraint smith geraint smith's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=625 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=31480 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
[SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Re: AppleTV
lafayette;169093 Wrote: I am an attorney, and...logic matters to me. Are you sure you're a lawyer? I've never heard one say that before. The ones I know say logic can go hang provided that they win. -- geraint smith geraint smith's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=625 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=31480 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
[SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Re: AppleTV
tomjtx;169270 Wrote: Yes , I have OS 10.4 Thanks for the info. I'll look at the links, Tom A me too, I'm afraid, but I really do want to thank Robin for that Max link. Now I can have a little play with FLAC and find out for myself what can and can't be done on the Mac with it. Thank you, Robin! -- geraint smith geraint smith's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=625 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=31480 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
[SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Re: AppleTV
Pat Farrell;168809 Wrote: tomjtx wrote: benthos;168790 Wrote: That's where you and I part paths: it's about my property, not Apple's, or anyone else's. I completely agree with you that it's my property once I buy it. This whole DRM thing should be a major consumer concern...but most people seem to be unaware of the limitations DRM puts on our purchase. Sadly, this thread is going off topic. And it gets complicated quickly. IANAL... The legal terms on a CD are not what people think. You do not own the CD's music. You only own the right to listen to it. Buying a CD gives you only limited rights to use the music, you can not, for example, put the wave files up on the internet. Sony, last year put out a number of CDs with DRM on them, which is fairly bad, but much worse was that Sony put them out without labeling that the CDs were not really CDs, per the RedBook spec. Video licensing is even less well understood that music, as bandwidth to share videos has not been around and commonplace as long as bandwidth to share music. It is correct that today, neither Microsoft nor Apple include DRM in their mainline products. But Microsoft's Play-for-sure was a DRM. And Apple is in bed with Disney, a major creator of movies. So one should be careful extrapolating from today's Apple and Microsoft products. It is impossible to tell, but if the Sony CD DRM had not been badly implemented, and had not been labeled a rootkit by folks strongly against all DRM, perhaps all CDs sold today would have the same sorts of protection as Sony tried to sell. Be careful with broad statements about its my property because the law is not as clear or settled as people think. It is possible that Apple and/or Microsoft will add DRM to their formats. It is not possible that FLAC will ever add it, as the goal of FLAC precludes it. Just as there is nothing to prevent someone from making a package that has better compression than FLAC and calls it something like AlmostFree lossless audio codec. -- Pat http://www.pfarrell.com/music/slimserver/slimsoftware.html If only FLAC worked with iTunes (or vice versa), or else that there were another music ripping/tagging/labelling all-in-one product for Mac OSX that was as easy, and worked as well as, iTunes. But it doesn't, and there isn't - or if there is one, I'd very much like to know about it (although only if it reads tags attached by iTunes. The thought of doing all that again...ugh!). So Aiff it is, then. The only practical thing against Aiff (apart from the space it takes on your disc, which is not much against it given how cheap disc space is now) is that programmes for PCs don't seem to like it much. There there, very sad, never mind. But tagging is not an issue with Aiff. You can - and I do, using iTunes - tag Aiff as easily, comprehensively and well as one can tag FLAC, and a darned site better than one can tag WAV. -- geraint smith geraint smith's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=625 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=31480 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
[SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Re: AppleTV
Robin Bowes;168860 Wrote: lafayette wrote: [color=blue] One point people seem to be missing is this: Apple has moved forward with 802.11n. All these problems with Squeezebox/Transporter drop-outs? History. Nope. The microwave/phone/xmas tree will still affect the signal. R. Just think, folks, now this new improved flavour brings you drop outs at five times the speed. Unless, of course, you plug your Squeezebox into your Airport Express, when you will get none at all (saving the cordless phone next door, your honour). -- geraint smith geraint smith's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=625 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=31480 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
[SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Re: AppleTV
CardinalFang;168872 Wrote: Apologies for jumping into your discussion, but how does that affect audio quality? It's more of a personal issue whether you care or not about open source vs proprietary and it doesn't make either technically superior to the other. They are both lossless and take up less file space. I like choice too, but I'm not a zealot either way. I've never used FLAC because the tools take too long to use, if it were as slick as iTunes, I might switch, but then I like the to being able to use iTunes for playback on a PC as well. That is a good reason, but so does Apple Lossless and with disk space so cheap, it's probably the tagging aspect that is more relevant. Quite - save that tagging not an issue either. Aiff tags as well as FLAC. Is that another Apple convergence device? It cooks your brain and pokes tinsel in your eyes at the same time when you are calling home at Christmas? :-) Aaargh! Don't! Jobs has ears everywhere! It'll be in production in time for Q4! Geraint. -- geraint smith geraint smith's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=625 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=31480 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
[SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Re: sound stage width
lafayette;166146 Wrote: ..in my experience, and from what i have learned, the rule and not the exception is that good stereo imaging pretty much happens between the speakers. The stuff you beyond that is artifice (as above) or reflection. But (to augment SnarlyDwarf's and Pat Farell's responses still further), it is all artifice - every bit of it, the whole shebang, from musician to speakers. What is music, if not artifice? And that's before you go anywhere near the Black Stereophonic Arts. This is no more artifice than any of the other tricks practised in the attempt to create perfection in an imperfect world, to restore Nature to what it was as somebody wrote 400 years ago. If we all wanted to eschew artifice, we'd be sitting in fields and listening to blackbirds, not in padded cells to loud amplified noises. (Although one might be drawn while there to reflect that even that isn't such certain advice as would have been thought a few years ago, given all we've found out in the last few years about the individuality and practiced skills inherent in birdsong). Anyway, enough of the metaphysical ramblings. A Happy and prosperous New Year to all! -- geraint smith geraint smith's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=625 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=31050 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
[SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Re: 320kbps -- too much?
highdudgeon;162526 Wrote: I know, it is awful. Thankfully, I keep my collection in nice boxes, alphabetized by genre. I've be rescanning some stuff and it hit me that I can actually zero in on some thing faster with my eyes and fingers than with a remote control. Go figure. At some point I would like to back up my entire CD collection, in Apple Lossless or AIFF, to DVDs. Every last CD (not FLAC because I am an Macintosh user). Yes, as another one, I'd gathered. My discs are in ring binders, (less space) and in chronological order either by date of birth of composer or by date of release of first album, depending on genre, which makes life more interesting. Now, was Tallis born before Byrd or after? And where's Praetorius gone? Bother. I was sure he was round here somewhere. It's a sort of DIY musicology course every time I fumble for a disc. After all, for Machaut next to Meatloaf, Wizzard mixed up with Warlock, and the Beach Boys jostling with Beethoven, there's always the remote - and yes, I agree about the remote. It is painfully slow. Have you solved your drop out problem? -- geraint smith geraint smith's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=625 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=30594 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
[SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Re: 320kbps -- too much?
highdudgeon;162262 Wrote: As far as I know, it does.snip.. What should be the ideal conversion for aac? As far as I know, too, it does, and as a fellow Mac-head, I use iTunes and have problems with dropouts only when 't' folk next door are using their cordless phone or their microwave, so that doesn't sound likely to me. But I do get them (I think, although it's a while since I had one) with ALAC, and certainly with AAC. I suspect it is because my eMac, burdened as it is with other tasks and hamstrung by limited memory and processing power (rather like its owner) can't cope smoothly with the transcoding. Might that be the problem? I'd be interested to know why you choose to rip to AAC, with all its Slimserver disadvantages (no fast forward/rewind and transcoding being the ones that spring to mind) rather than to a format that just works without needing transcoding, which in our case would be AIFF. In other words, I wouldn't start from here, if I were you..but as I'm not, I'd like to understand your reasoning. It may well be better than mine. Geraint. -- geraint smith geraint smith's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=625 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=30594 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
[SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Re: 320kbps -- too much?
highdudgeon;162445 Wrote: Got it. Back to FLAC: I have 2 external drives, one 320gb and one 500gb. Needless to say, I can fit a lot of music on there (and home huge photoshop files). Still, I've tried and tried, but I can't hear any difference between FLAC and Apple Lossless. So, why not save the space? That's my view of things, anyway. But Apple Lossless is not AAC. AAC is a lossy codec. Apple Lossless is ALAC, which takes up the same space (roughly) as FLAC, (as Snarlydwarf says, I've just noticed) but, like AAC, needs to be transcoded to play on a Squeezebox - and that's the main reason I don't use it much myself. But never AAC. Once the bits are gone, they're gone. FLAC would be the obvious answer (lossless, doesn't need transcoding, plays nicely with Slimserver) - but not with iTunes and a Mac, (or an iPod, for that matter) which, of the lossless, compressed formats, play only with ALAC. Having ripped 600 plus CDs so far (and still counting), with at least as many LPs to digitise yet, I take your point about space, of course, but you could get 1100 or so of your 1500 CDs on your existing HDs (although that's leaving aside your non-Music files) even in Aiff. Another 500Gb (even another Tb, these days) is a lot, lot less than a Transporter, for instance, and you'd live in lossless, full CD quality, untranscoding, drop-out-free heaven, while still being able to use iTunes on your Mac. Well, you would if you manage to sort out those neighbours of yours! Don't you have an axe? -- geraint smith geraint smith's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=625 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=30594 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
[SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Re: 320kbps -- too much?
highdudgeon;162496 Wrote: The majority of my collection is in Apple Lossless, not AAC -- I've just been doing that lately, for the heck of it. Honestly, I can't tell any difference. Argh! You're throwing away bits for the heck of it? On the audiophile list?? Quick, nurse, the screens!! Slightly more seriously, at that bitrate (320kbps) I'd be fairly surprised if you could hear much difference, if any. But just think of all that lovely innocent information you're consigning to eternal oblivion.sniffI'm sorrysniff.it's just too sad... -- geraint smith geraint smith's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=625 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=30594 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
[SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Re: WMA lossless vs EAC
radish;159959 Wrote: It has the capability to carry DRM in the file format, doesn't mean it's always used (e.g. it's not if you rip the file yourself). There seems to be some confusion, or at least, the potential for it here, between AAC (Advanced Audio Codec, as used in its protected form in iTunes) and ALAC (Apple Lossless Audio Codec). ALAC does not utilize any digital rights management scheme (but see below) and is lossless. AAC (which is not lossless) utilises Fairplay DRM if purchased from iTunes, (when it is known as AAC Protected), but is not so protected if one rips it oneself. This from Wikipedia: Apple Lossless data is stored within an MP4 container with the filename extension .m4a. While Apple Lossless has the same file extension as AAC, it is not a variant of AAC, but uses linear prediction similar to other lossless codecs such as FLAC and Shorten. iPods with a dock connector (not the Shuffle) and recent firmware can play Apple Lossless-encoded files. It does not utilize any digital rights management (DRM) scheme, but by the nature of the container, it is thought that DRM can be applied to ALAC much the same way it can with other files in QuickTime containers. Geraint. -- geraint smith geraint smith's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=625 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=30325 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
[SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Re: WMA lossless vs EAC
radish;160118 Wrote: The last line there is what I was talking about: by the nature of the container, it is thought that DRM can be applied to ALAC much the same way it can with other files in QuickTime containers it's the container that does the DRM, and the container for ALAC is the same as AAC, thus DRM is possible even if it's not used right now. If iTunes ever starts selling lossless tracks, you can bet they'll be DRM'd up the wazzoo. A big if but if it ever does - yes, agreed, an odds on cert, I'd have thought. But so far, I've never come across an ALAC track with any active DRM, and the Wikipedist says ALAC's only thought to have the capability, which implies a lack of examples there, too. It seems therefore that as things currently stand, DRM is never rather than not always used on ALAC. As we know all too well, though, AAC tracks most commonly do have active DRM - but not always, eg if you rip the file yourself. -- geraint smith geraint smith's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=625 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=30325 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
[SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Re: Room correction products
tomjtx;160112 Wrote: IMO, and I have read some other's that would agree, the order of importance is: 1) Tri-corners. ideally,you need 6 2) wall corners.6 3) corner where the wall meets the ceiling.need 5 If you don't mind doing things incrementally go with adapt triangles 1st. If you want to do it at once go with the response,it will sound great and should get you a lot of improvement. The Adapt product does LOOK a LOT better, and sound better. If visuals are important you may want to go with the Adapt line. Eg. One of my friends said the response corners look like diapers :-) Does anyone here know a UK supplier for this stuff, please? Looks interesting! -- geraint smith geraint smith's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=625 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=30350 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
[SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Re: WMA lossless vs EAC
tomjtx;160134 Wrote: So maybe it's a non issue. I don't think Apple can put DRM on my ALAC files retroactively and ALAC will have DRM IF it's sold through ITunes. Since I would never buy from ITunes or any DRM site I should be safe in using ALAC to rip my CD's..right? Yes, I'd say so, and yes, it certainly looks like a non-issue to me. Even if Apple could, by some fiendish means, (like the one Radish suggests - Nightmare!) retrospectively slap DRM on stuff that's already been ripped to ALAC, they'd be mad to try it. How could they possibly know what had been legally, and what illegally, coded into it? Think of the lawsuits! ALAC works with SlimServer, iPods and Macs, (don't know about PCs because I hardly use one for music, and when I do I use FLAC); iTunes app. makes tagging it a piece of cake; it saves 50 per cent of the space you'd use on an uncompressed format like WAV or AIFF; and if Apple does ever decide to drop it, because it is lossless it should be possible to convert it into any codec that might replace it - and iTunes already converts it easily into AIFF, keeping its tags, at the touch of a mouse. All that said, I personally prefer AIFF, despite the penalty in disc space. I get the impression (although this may be wrong - I haven't analysed or checked it) that I've had more problems with ALAC on a Squeezebox than with Aiff, possibly because SlimServer has to transcode it on the fly. Aiff certainly works natively on Slimserver just as well as FLAC, (and much better than WAV because of the latter's untaggability). However, it also has all of ALAC's advantages over FLAC if one happens to be a Mac and/or iPod user, and it burns a high quality CD (although, thinking about it, I've never tried this with Flac. Does Flac play in an ordinary domestic/car CD player?) It seems silly not to have the extra versatility, even though Aiff eats iPod storage like there's no tomorrow. Which is why I use both, I suppose! -- geraint smith geraint smith's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=625 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=30325 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
[SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Re: WMA lossless vs EAC
Mitch Harding;160159 Wrote: Whenever you burn to a music CD, AFAIK the music is converted into PCM format before burning. So the source format doesn't matter much (except, of course, if you are using lossy -- then your resulting CD will only be as good as the original file). For example, I use WinAmp sometimes to burn CDs from playlists that I create. These playlists frequently have both mp3s and FLAC files in them. First WinAmp converts them all to PCM, and then it burns the CD. So I don't think any file format has an advantage in terms of CD burnability. If you're talking data CDs, though, that's different. I imagine very few CD players that can play music from data CDs can handle FLAC -- but I've never owned one, so I don't really know if this is true. [/color] De! A lacuna in the brain! Thanks Mitch. Of course, there's no reason Flac would not convert to PCM. Stupid of me. Is it my imagination, or are senior moments coming earlier this year? -- geraint smith geraint smith's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=625 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=30325 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
[SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Re: WMA lossless vs EAC
tomsi42;160177 Wrote: I woudn't bet on it. The Microsoft Zune let's you send a music fil to another user. The copy gets DRM'ed and can only be listened to three times (in three days). No matter what the original file comes from! Legal or not... And Apple is more DRM-happy than MS. Tom That last point is highly debatable - especially in the light of the very example you give! And in any case that's not retrospective. Users know (or will have had the opportunity to find out) before they do it that that is what will happen. The same would not be true of retrospectively applying DRM to existing ALAC files. There are good reasons not to (the main one being lawyers) and none that I can see that would outweigh them on the other side. I would bet against that, and I think my money would be pretty safe. I'd bet against the iTunes store selling DRM'ed ALAC as well. I think they're more likely to raise the bitrate on protected AAC, perhaps charging a premium for the better quality, if they do anything - although given the phenomenal success of crappy bitrates and lossy formats, why would they bother? -- geraint smith geraint smith's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=625 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=30325 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
[SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Re: TP changes with break in
cliveb;157992 Wrote: I seem to recall that some years back it was noted that many professional (classical) musicians in fact owned pretty low-end stereo systems, and seemed perfectly happy with them. The hypothesis was that these people's training meant that they could mentally fill in the missing bits. We often hear this argument about live music, but I'm beginning to doubt it, at least as far as rock music is concerned (which is my poison of choice). Simple fact of the matter is that the actual sound in a typical rock concert is dreadful. I mean really, really awful. I certainly don't want to replicate that in my living room. Even at my favourite venue (The Stables at Milton Keynes, which is *much* better than most), the sound is still not really that good. (Of course, live classical or acoustic jazz may very well be a different matter. It's been years since I attended either). I feel the purpose of an audio system is to create an enjoyable musical experience at home. The chances of having a similar experience to what you get at a live concert seems vanishingly small to me. That doesn't mean that it can't be just as emotionally rewarding - just in a different way. Do you really think so? Personally, I want my set up to reproduce the exact acoustic of a Deep Purple concert I went to in 1972 in Trentham Gardens, Staffordshire. I've used a PC based digital correction system to apply reverb as similar as possible to an outdoor ambience and to knock off anything over about 10kHz, and have additionally programmed it to produce random bursts of simulated wild howlround. Then I've added a couple of 18 inch drivers salvaged from a Stazi interrogation centre, and a REL Strata V, then wrapped the whole speaker array in a layer of acoustically treated sponge and the sub woofers in an additional blanket, (adding 22.73dB of gain to compensate, of course). That's in addition to the £300 a metre cryogenically treated cables and £1000 upgraded power cables, of course, and the bass traps and other acoustic treatment, there just to help the digital stuff. Well, wow, is all I can say. I mean, I could be 400 yards from the stage. Brilliant. Mind you, the Dowland sounds bloody awful. What? Did I say something wrong? -- geraint smith geraint smith's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=625 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=29025 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
[SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Re: There must be a better way for this forum to operate.
I like the idea, as long as I can make jokes. :-) Back to the drawing board, then..although they did always say that the 12 step could work miracles... (I know, I know! Cheap shot. Just couldn't resist!) -- geraint smith geraint smith's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=625 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=30039 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
[SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Re: Room Correction Hope for Mac?
LejfK;157737 Wrote: Vote three Make that four. -- geraint smith geraint smith's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=625 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=29705 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
[SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Re: Looking for advice
Mark Lanctot;154969 Wrote: You could also use passive attenuators and go from the SB3 direct to the amp. Strangely, the reports of the white noise of death appear to have ceased. Funny you should mention this. I had an occurrence a couple of days ago while attempting to play a programme recorded from BBC R3 via DTTV using EyeTV on a Mac, and converted to Apple Lossless (at least, I think it was the Apple Lossless version. I had converted one to AIFF as well as an experiment). It was playing from my iTunes library. I haven't tried to repeat it yet (and don't particularly want to!) to investigate further, but it was a nasty surprise. This is using SS 6.5 on an SB2, by the way. It's just struck me as I write that I'm not sure whether I told iTunes to switch it from 48kHz to 44.1kHz during the conversion (and haven't had time to check whether this matters). -- geraint smith geraint smith's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=625 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=29722 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
[SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Re: Looking for advice
Mark Lanctot;155255 Wrote: The WNoD appears to have changed - this isn't what was reported before. Earlier it was caused by some spontaneous failure Slim Devices was never able to reproduce. People would just come home and their Squeezebox would be putting out white noise at 100% power and doing so possibly for hours. Now it seems connected to file conversion issues. I'm not saying if it's better or worse as both occurrances would suck, but I'm just noting that it's changed. Ouch! I'd misunderstood the original WNOD issue, then. I know which I'd think worse. Mine may have hurt, but it was on one track only, and stopped immediately I hit pause. More a white noise of catnap, by comparison. -- geraint smith geraint smith's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=625 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=29722 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
