iPod Apple Lossless - HiFi sound?

[admin_exported]

sorry guys for being a noob, however, does this format give HiFi sound, and will i be able to tell the difference when using say the B&W speakers? Is this format std pretty much the same as MP3's are? I ask because i've heard about a format called FLAC but itunes/ipod does't play this.

 

[gpi]

Same quality as red book CD as it's a bit for bit copy (hence the lossless). The Dac, amplification and speaker choice is more important.

 

[mattc76]

All lossless formats are lossless so contain the exact audio information that the original CD had. Therefore they will give hifi sound - as long as the CD was ripped accurately and there were no errors etc, and you are playing them from decent equipment etc

 

[fatboyslimfast]

I'll second that. With a decent outboard soundcard or DAC, the results can rival quite an expensive CD player...

 

[mattc76]

For example, I rip my CD's with EAC, encode to FLAC and then stream to a squeezebox which is plugged into a Beresford DAC plugged into my NAD amp! - Sounds amazing!

 

[Anonymous]

Ive started playing Apple Lossless files through a Cyrus DAC, power amps and Dynaudios and it sounds magnificent.

Edit: I'm unable to differentiate between the lossless files into the DAC-X and a £1k CD transport (into same DAC)

 

[Anonymous]

I've being doing some similar experiments with my DAC X and my brother's computer. I ran the following comparison:- CD6 player as the transport vs. 96kHz optical digital output from computer sound card. An identical track (but different formats) was played using each setup:- conventional CD vs Linn records high bit rate download, FLAC 24bit 88.2kHz. My impression was that vocals in high bit rate track sounded more natural - the soprano's voice seemed life-like and seemed to be more separated from the orchestra. However, overall I preferred the presentation of the CD6 playing the CD - there was more warmth and the mid-range had more definition than the FLAC track. However, it was a very close call and more listening is definitely required to confirm my findings. In retrospect, a more scientific approach would have been to compare the CD format + CD transport combination to a CD track ripped to 44.1kHz + soundcard combination, both into the DAC X as a control. Very interesting experiment though. Has anyone had different experiences?

 

[Anonymous]

[quote user="jon_jh"] compare the CD format + CD transport combination to a CD track ripped to 44.1kHz + soundcard combination, both into the DAC X as a control. Very interesting experiment though. Has anyone had different experiences? [/quote]

Exactly what I did. I used a Cyrus CDXT transport, with decent chord digital coax interconnect into the DAC-X (wonderful piece of kit). I ripped this cd into iTunes, Apple Lossless format and played through soundcard optical out, again to DAC-X. I was able to quickly flick through the inputs on the DAC-X and really didnt notice too much difference.

I too preferred the slightly more detailed presentation and ever so slightly crisper timing from the CDXT, but no way is it nigh on 1k's worth.

 

[Anonymous]

[quote user="thfcwestlower"]
Exactly what I did. I used a Cyrus CDXT transport, with decent chord digital coax interconnect into the DAC-X (wonderful piece of kit). I ripped this cd into iTunes, Apple Lossless format and played through soundcard optical out, again to DAC-X. I was able to quickly flick through the inputs on the DAC-X and really didnt notice too much difference.

I too preferred the slightly more detailed presentation and ever so slightly crisper timing from the CDXT, but no way is it nigh on 1k's worth.
[/quote]

Try using EAC to rip to see if you get a better result than ripping with iTunes. iTunes ripping will not be that accurate as it does it very quickly and with little correction so the inferior quality of the CD-ROM compared to the CDXT transport could really affect the end result and the DAC X will not be able to compensate (and saving garbage in lossless will not make a difference if the underlying PCM signal is already degraded). EAC does a lot of rereading to ensure it gets as good a copy of the CD as possible and verifies this with a database of info from other users who also ripped their CDs. It takes a while to configure but once done it works like a dream.