As a child of the mp3 age, I've never really gotten too far into the world of audiophilia. Recently however, after investing in some high quality headphones, and having to a certain extent gotten bored with my music , I've decided to try to replace all of the music in my collection with lossless files. I had always previously prided myself on being a "musicophile" and not an audiophile and thus prioritized saving space above sound quality, as it seemed audiophiles are typically much more interested in the technical aspect of sound than music itself and also didn't seem to necessarily have as good or sophisticated tastes in music as they did in equipment and format. However, after downloading a few albums as lossless I've been converted. Lossless audio doesn't make the music better, but it makes listening to it more enjoyable, like the difference between watching a movie in high definition (keeping in my mind all of my music had previously been the bare minimum 128 mp3s).

SO, in light of that, does anyone have any advice in regards to downloading lossless audio files through bit torrent sites. So far the stuff I've downloaded in my quest to replace everything sounds markedly better but I'm wondering if A. there's a reliable program that can determine if a file is truly lossless (just in case some stuff I have doesn't sound quite as good as it should. B. If I should just trust P2p as there really isn't any real motivation for someone to create fake FLAC, APE etc. torrents.

Also in general, anybody else have any advice on good equipment to invest in etc.

traders little helper will help determine if a file is lossless or not

but the source material is only the start of true audiophillia, it sounds like you are playing music through your computer, thus your soundcard, amplifier, speakers and cabling are your next items of importance. of course you need a decent source, but you also need decent amplification and chain

outputting digitally to an amp with a decent DAC and good speakers is essential if playing through a pc unless you have a particularly good soundcard on your pc with fantastic DAC and good quality RCA connections

unique said:

actually I mostly listen to music through headphones on my ipod. I have a pair of shure se530 in-ear headphones, and a pair of denon AH-D2000 over-ear headphones with a pre-amp. thanks for your advice though. It looks like trader's little helper is exclusively for windows. Is there an equivalent for mac?

As a sound recordist and designer, I am very sensitive to quality sound and must have it! I invested in some good quality headphones a couple of years ago. I'm that way about movies too. I only see movies in the theater now, preferably in 35mm, which is getting harder and harder to find.

So which is the best way to rip cd's to itunes, in terms of sound quality?

NDRU said:

It depends. If you're an audiophile, Apple Lossless works well. It maximizes space without sacrificing any quality (and you can always convert it to something else later). Personally, I want as many songs on my iPhone as possible, so AAC is fine for me.

jacktheimprovident said:

NDRU said:

There's great info at these sites:

http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums

http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums

NDRU said:

Look for EAC http://www.exactaudiocopy.de/ (Exact Audio Copy). It rips audio from a CD into wav format perfectly.

You can then compress it to a FLAC or APE format as they allow for tagging which wav does not support. You can also leave it in a wav format, but I suggest that you keep your music indexed properly. Such as an Artist folder, with sub directories of each album for that artist. Compellation/Soundtracks are a bit tricker.

You can use WMA or AAC lossless too.

I use high quality MP3 for my iPod, but have everything in wav format on my PC which is connected to my components and speakers.

jacktheimprovident said:

This is all subjective imo. You need go to a higher end shop and listen to some equipment and decide what you like. When it comes to this hobby, one persons crap is another persons.....you know the rest.

I am partial to Martin Logan speakers myself.

Later
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jacktheimprovident said:

I won a pair of these...



...SHURE SCL5 headphones at a trade show earlier this year.


Just using them on a cheapo portable CD player the difference was very noticeable.
They better sound good as they normally sell for between $300 - $400!

And your comment about the priorities of a certain percentage of the audiophile crowd is right on the money.
I'm headed to one of those trade shows in a few hours and, well, I can't wait...


tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...dID=182431

jacktheimprovident said:

My best advice to you would be to invest in a decent record player and some good speakers. As much as I like the convenience of MP3s and CDs, they don't really sound anywhere near as good as vinyl. I used to think it was bullshit (and I actually grew up with vinyl) but the proof is in the pudding. Plus, with all the overmastering that goes on these days, you'll probably save your ears a lot of fatigue listening to vinyl too.

Thanks again for all the advice.

Has anyone heard of the program audio identifier? It's supposed to be able to help determine if an audio file is truly the type or bitrate it's advertised to be. Anyone know if it is a reliable program or not?