i purchased an 80gb ipod video last week{i already have a 2gb nano} and i'm at my witts end as to the best way of importing my cd collection. i dont care about storage space, i just want to get the best sound quality possible. so first off should i import using AAC or MP3?, ive heard AAC is better. Then what about bit rates? ive compared apple lossless with 256 kbps and to my ears there's not THAT much of a diffence{does apple lossless only come into its own when you use with a idock connected to a hifi system?} any feedback would be much appreciated. cheers.
Best way to import my cd collection to 80 gb ipod?
- Thread starter gooner26
- Start date
AAC is better than MP3, and Apple Lossless is your best option if sound quality's the priority - either via headphones or a hi-fi. The difference it makes will be more apparant on some tracks that others - typically more complex music where the increased compression of the lower bit-rate file will be more evident.
Decent headphones are also a must to make the most of both your Pods - if you're listening via the bundled Apple buds, there's little point worrying about the sound quality of your files, as your enjoyment is being seriously compromised from the off.
Decent headphones are also a must to make the most of both your Pods - if you're listening via the bundled Apple buds, there's little point worrying about the sound quality of your files, as your enjoyment is being seriously compromised from the off.
i'm using igrado headphones. ive also tryed using a pair of beyerdynamic DTX900, but the igrado's seem to go louder so i think i'll stick with them. thanks for the reply.
iGrados are superb - you should really hear the benefit of Lossless tracks on those. As will everyone sitting/standing beside you! (Lovely headphones,but they don't half leak...)
i read the review in your mag so i had to plump for them. i also have the sennheiser PX100. cant tell which one is better. but the igrado's are superb your right. thanks for the advice. ive settled on apple lossless, and ive imported The Who Ultimate collection, and it sounds astounding.
[quote user="Clare Newsome"]
Decent headphones are also a must to make the most of both your Pods - if you're listening via the bundled Apple buds, there's little point worrying about the sound quality of your files, as your enjoyment is being seriously compromised from the off.[/quote]
Just on the headphones note, I purchased a pair of Sony MDR-EX90LP headphones last week. Not overly expensive ($160 NZ) but good for what I want them for. Has anyone used these? They seem to be pretty decent in bass/midrange detail, but the highs seem... cut short, and not "bright" enough. Seems like they are missing the very highs that even cheaper phones reveal. They sounded like this through iPod and through Naim CD5x/HK 970
Maybe im just to used to my slightly bright Paradigm Moniters
Decent headphones are also a must to make the most of both your Pods - if you're listening via the bundled Apple buds, there's little point worrying about the sound quality of your files, as your enjoyment is being seriously compromised from the off.[/quote]
Just on the headphones note, I purchased a pair of Sony MDR-EX90LP headphones last week. Not overly expensive ($160 NZ) but good for what I want them for. Has anyone used these? They seem to be pretty decent in bass/midrange detail, but the highs seem... cut short, and not "bright" enough. Seems like they are missing the very highs that even cheaper phones reveal. They sounded like this through iPod and through Naim CD5x/HK 970
Maybe im just to used to my slightly bright Paradigm Moniters
Think you may have picked a below-par pair of headphones there, Jonno. We haven't tested that particular model, but we did give a mere two stars to another pair in that range. For every five-star pair Sony make, they make a shocking two or three others, it seems....
I hope this helps. If you don't have an headphone amp, then I strongly recommend that you buy one, as the drifferance it makes to your headphones is amazing. I have 40gb ipod that I use with my Grados60s that are pluged into my QED45 headphone amp, this amp can be used with the mains or batteries. I also use a small Compaq headphone amp which works with batteries only but is excellent, you should be able to find something on that well known auction site, that is where I bought mine. Regarding transfare of you cds I use Lossless and am very happy with the results. Hpoe this helps.
Em
Em
Sorry I may have confused you. The QED is mains only. Also I forgot to say that the other headphone amp I use is an Total Airhead which is mains and battery.
Em
Em
funnily enough i do have a headphone amp. the project headbox 11. iuse this plugged into my toshiba 32 lcd, for dvd and blu-ray viewing on my ps3. not sure how i could configure it for the ipod though!
Dear Gooner,
I was appalled reading all the answers to your question. There is even, in the October issue of What hifi, a recommendation to use classy headphones to listen to Lossless files.
I recently bought an 80Gig pod and promptly flled it with Lossless files. They sounded OK at first, but when i did an A B comparison with my hifi I had a shock. There was no life, the music sounded flat, it was nothing like good reproduction. I never before purchased an iPod, because I had always assumed you could only use compressed files in them. it's not true. I have now thrown out all the so-called 'lossless' files, and (using the 'advanced' window of iTunes preferences) replaced them with WAV files - of course, far fewer CDs go in, but what a difference! Night and day. if you want real quality, there's no substitute. i can play my iPod through the hifi (either Rotel RA04/RCD6/ pair Rega R3's here in Sri Lanka or Naim 102/180/Flatcap2/pair Sonus Faber Cremonas at home in Switzerland) and enjoy almost perfect performance, up to CD deck quality, and i have bought myself a pair of Sennheiser PXC 300 cans (half the price of those Grados recommended by the mag), which go down to 8Hertz, we are led to believe, and do indeed sound marvellous.
Please believe, me, you have been conned by the whole MP3/AAC thing - these are total rubbish, and all the fuss about them and attention to these crappy media - they are not music at all - is killing real interest in music. You have not heard an iPod yet. it can be sublime, and even high end American hifi mags love them when they are used properly with WAV or AIFF encoding.
I was appalled reading all the answers to your question. There is even, in the October issue of What hifi, a recommendation to use classy headphones to listen to Lossless files.
I recently bought an 80Gig pod and promptly flled it with Lossless files. They sounded OK at first, but when i did an A B comparison with my hifi I had a shock. There was no life, the music sounded flat, it was nothing like good reproduction. I never before purchased an iPod, because I had always assumed you could only use compressed files in them. it's not true. I have now thrown out all the so-called 'lossless' files, and (using the 'advanced' window of iTunes preferences) replaced them with WAV files - of course, far fewer CDs go in, but what a difference! Night and day. if you want real quality, there's no substitute. i can play my iPod through the hifi (either Rotel RA04/RCD6/ pair Rega R3's here in Sri Lanka or Naim 102/180/Flatcap2/pair Sonus Faber Cremonas at home in Switzerland) and enjoy almost perfect performance, up to CD deck quality, and i have bought myself a pair of Sennheiser PXC 300 cans (half the price of those Grados recommended by the mag), which go down to 8Hertz, we are led to believe, and do indeed sound marvellous.
Please believe, me, you have been conned by the whole MP3/AAC thing - these are total rubbish, and all the fuss about them and attention to these crappy media - they are not music at all - is killing real interest in music. You have not heard an iPod yet. it can be sublime, and even high end American hifi mags love them when they are used properly with WAV or AIFF encoding.
Dear Clare,
I regularly buy copies of your mag, and thoroughly enjoy its very generalised coverage. I also buy Stereophile every month. i recently bought an iPod to carry music between out two homes in Switzerland and Sri Lanka (diplomatic family), and happily began filling the pod through my MacBook with music (lighter than carrying CDs on long flights). i had not realised that the preferences were set to Lossless, but continued after discovering this, in good faith that the music ought to sound OK. Here in SL we have a RotelRA04/RCD6/pair Rega R3s (why no review in the mag yet - they are superb?), in Switzerland Naim 102/180/Flatcap2/pair Sonus Faber Cremonas. Am I being subversive if I tell you that the lossless files are utter crap compared to either of my CD players? I was shocked that you OK-ed a query in the October issue from a chap wanting to buy Grado SR325i cans for playing his Lossless files!! I have now thrown out the 'lossless' files and re-downloaded fewer CDs using WAV encoding (found on the 'Advanced' window of iTunes preferences) and now enjoy music in a manner similar to my hifis through a pair of Sennheiser PXC 300's, a superb noise cancelling 'phone claiming to go down to 8hertz, and sounding like it too! Why are you busy propagating the myth that so-called ' lossless ' is any good at all? it may be better than the dreadful MP3, OK for people swanning around doing something else while they listen, but for real music pleasure they are absolutely not musical at all. i was horrified. and I believe that Apple are shooting themselves in the foot, killing the goose etc., because in the long run, if people are ignorant of the real joys of high end music reproduction, they will inevitable lose interest in listening to music in the end, and the hifi market dies. I also foolishly bought 'music' at CD prices from the iTunes store, only to find that I had been sold a tenth of a full file, effectively. This is an utter ripoff - they are selling AAC files for full CD money, which sound lousy even to my aged ears - I'm 59. I wrote to Apple and said I had heard better music on my windup gramophone with 78s when i was a kid - and it's true, in spite of the limited bandwidth, they were far better than this compressed rubbish! I dare you to air this in the mag!
I regularly buy copies of your mag, and thoroughly enjoy its very generalised coverage. I also buy Stereophile every month. i recently bought an iPod to carry music between out two homes in Switzerland and Sri Lanka (diplomatic family), and happily began filling the pod through my MacBook with music (lighter than carrying CDs on long flights). i had not realised that the preferences were set to Lossless, but continued after discovering this, in good faith that the music ought to sound OK. Here in SL we have a RotelRA04/RCD6/pair Rega R3s (why no review in the mag yet - they are superb?), in Switzerland Naim 102/180/Flatcap2/pair Sonus Faber Cremonas. Am I being subversive if I tell you that the lossless files are utter crap compared to either of my CD players? I was shocked that you OK-ed a query in the October issue from a chap wanting to buy Grado SR325i cans for playing his Lossless files!! I have now thrown out the 'lossless' files and re-downloaded fewer CDs using WAV encoding (found on the 'Advanced' window of iTunes preferences) and now enjoy music in a manner similar to my hifis through a pair of Sennheiser PXC 300's, a superb noise cancelling 'phone claiming to go down to 8hertz, and sounding like it too! Why are you busy propagating the myth that so-called ' lossless ' is any good at all? it may be better than the dreadful MP3, OK for people swanning around doing something else while they listen, but for real music pleasure they are absolutely not musical at all. i was horrified. and I believe that Apple are shooting themselves in the foot, killing the goose etc., because in the long run, if people are ignorant of the real joys of high end music reproduction, they will inevitable lose interest in listening to music in the end, and the hifi market dies. I also foolishly bought 'music' at CD prices from the iTunes store, only to find that I had been sold a tenth of a full file, effectively. This is an utter ripoff - they are selling AAC files for full CD money, which sound lousy even to my aged ears - I'm 59. I wrote to Apple and said I had heard better music on my windup gramophone with 78s when i was a kid - and it's true, in spite of the limited bandwidth, they were far better than this compressed rubbish! I dare you to air this in the mag!
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