Ipod sound vs CD ? Whats better

[matengawhat]

idc:I'm just going to be pest here matengawhat

. If you can't tell the difference between bit rates, higher bit rate could be worse as it may limit how much you can fit on your ipod/mp3 player. But I know what you mean too!

i used to use 320kbs off top of head can't remember exact setting - listen to a lot of female vocals and really thought you could tell on them one album that stands out from memory was rachel yamagata she has a really husky voice and sounded dreadful - lossless can't tell

 

[Anonymous]

Sorry guys, but I still think we are completely missing the question: he wants the best sound, from a music collection, of either itunes downloads, or CD:

"I want to start a music collection , what product will give me the best sound ?

1: Downloading tunes from itunes and listening from Ipod connected to my system ?
2: CD "

I would have to say CD - forget all the hardware shenanigens that has gone before - the source files on a CD will be far superior to any itunes download, much higher quality, and you can alweays rip to whatever format/quality you like in the future - but the answer to the question is that a CD music collection will be the best sound compared to itunes downloads. Well, that's my take on it anyway.

 

[Gerrardasnails]

Alex_UK:
Sorry guys, but I still think we are completely missing the question: he wants the best sound, from a music collection, of either itunes downloads, or CD:

"I want to start a music collection , what product will give me the best sound ?

1: Downloading tunes from itunes and listening from Ipod connected to my system ?
2: CD "

I would have to say CD - forget all the hardware shenanigens that has gone before - the source files on a CD will be far superior to any itunes download, much higher quality, and you can alweays rip to whatever format/quality you like in the future - but the answer to the question is that a CD music collection will be the best sound compared to itunes downloads. Well, that's my take on it anyway.

The original question was music through an Ipod or cd played. CD all day long. Unless you spend a lot of money on the gadget that will allow you to take the digital feed from an Ipod and send it to a DAC and you are using lossless files (which most wouldn't on an Ipod).

 

[matengawhat]

thats true cd is best format quality but its not that simple though - as for example he must have a computer to consider it in the first place i would also say from his set up that he will have a dvd/bluray player so has a transport - so best answer would prob be buy a dac use the dvd/bluray as a transport and convert all his cds to lossless and play direct from computer through same dac for ease of use

 

[Gerrardasnails]

matengawhat:thats true cd is best format quality but its not that simple though - as for example he must have a computer to consider it in the first place i would also say from his set up that he will have a dvd/bluray player so has a transport - so best answer would prob be buy a dac use the dvd/bluray as a transport and convert all his cds to lossless and play direct from computer through same dac for ease of use

I agree. I got rid of my cd player to do the same and would never go back.

 

[Anonymous]

Well, being contraversial, I would much rather have the CD in my grubby little mit - I mostly play music at the office or in the car through my ipod, and at home streamed to my Soundbridge from my laptop - but I still have the original CD. At the moment, everything is ripped to AAC lossless, but as memory prices come down, and capacities go up, it is my long term intention to rip directly to WAV, so it truly is "lossless" - try doing that with an itunes download. Also, how many of you back up your itunes to a seperate hard drive, and are you sure it will recover if your pc hard drive goes pop? Its a lot of work, but I've still got the original CDs I can rip again for free in a worse case scenario.

 

[matengawhat]

no one was saying get rid of your cds - i have only downloaded about 5 songs in my life as just wanted odd bit of music - as stated above ripping yourslef not downloading is still currently best qualitymafter cd

 

[Anonymous]

matengawhat:no because the dac in the £250 cdp player will be of a lower quality than a £250 external dac (big genralisations but in the cdp you will have display, transport ect ect) - that why dacs for the money when compared with cdp sound like more expensive cdp players

In most DAC's and CD players the DAC chip is the same type and is one of the cheapest components.

Cambridge Audio for instance uses mostly the Wolfson WM8740 available for about £3 in bulk!

 

[matengawhat]

i was just trying to genralise without getting too technical - i know what your saying but guess its also how many you use how they are wired ect - but think its fair to say that the dacs on the market at the moment sound better than the equivalently priced cdp

 

[Anonymous]

idc Thanks for very detailed answer. I have learnt a lot from this item

 

[Anonymous]

Gentlemen,

To slightly diverge from the topic - is it a cheaper and a better route to improved sound quality to:

[*]To to an existing cheapish CD Player (in a Denon micro system), add a DAC like the Beresford or Graham Slee...

or

2. Buy a more expensive CD player.

Please excuse my ignorance but could someone kindly explain how does the DAC connect to the existing CD player (which is part of a micro system).

Many thanks for your anticipated response.

 

[professorhat]

Not possible with an all-in-one unit I'm afraid - you need a separate CD player with a digital output. This then hooks into the DAC which connects into the separate amplifier via analogue connections (remember, a DAC is a Digital to Analogue Converter).

 

[Sliced Bread]

I have tried this by connecting my Ipod touch to my amp via a Russ Andrews GQ-24 lead but my CA CD player beat it in pretty much every area; it timed better, it was more detailed, instruments had better separation and vocals were clearer. The bass was probably slightly louder with the IPod, however the CD player had a better quality of bass with more definition.

I took the lead back and I now leave my IPod for mobile duties.

I cannot however comment on using external DACS as I haven't tried it.

 

[JoelSim]

I did an A/B on my old Arcam Alpha 7 and iPod. No comparison, the CDP blew it out of the water.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Professorhat,

Thanks for your reply. My micro system comprises of a seperate CD player and a stereo receiver. The CD Player has a digital (Optical) and and Line out jacks - am I in business for a DAC?.

 

[Gerrardasnails]

Stumpy21:
matengawhat:no because the dac in the £250 cdp player will be of a lower quality than a £250 external dac (big genralisations but in the cdp you will have display, transport ect ect) - that why dacs for the money when compared with cdp sound like more expensive cdp players

In most DAC's and CD players the DAC chip is the same type and is one of the cheapest components.

Cambridge Audio for instance uses mostly the Wolfson WM8740 available for about £3 in bulk!

That is not entirely accurate. Are you suggesting that inside the Beresford or DacMagic (for instance) there is just a £3 chip and that's it? And inside a more expensive DAC, there might be a £5 chip and that's it? Of course this isn't the case. Inside your cd player, you might have the same chip as another cd player. However, it's all the circuitry and other stuff that also contributes to the sound.

 

[professorhat]

john jed:Thanks for your reply. My micro system comprises of a seperate CD player and a stereo receiver. The CD Player has a digital (Optical) and and Line out jacks - am I in business for a DAC?.

Ah yes, in that case you could indeed add an external DAC to that setup - basically it would just fit in between the two components i.e. hook an optical cable out from the CD player into the DAC and then standard RCA phono leads from the DAC to the stereo amp.

Which DAC you choose is open to debate, I use the Cambride Audio DacMagic and am very happy with it, but there are a number of others at different prices / qualities.

As to your original question on which is better, a DAC or a better CD player - again, this is open to subjective debate. There's an argument that slowly migrating from the micro system to a full separates package might be a better longer term route to go rather than adding a DAC.

 

[malg]

I listen to both and have to say CD is better. I can't quote you the jargon, but there is more depth to the CD sound. I listen to mine on the MF XRay V8 CD player, with a PS Audio DAC. I have the IPod hooked up using a Onkyo DSA-3 IPod doc. I have listened to the same track on both systems and the CD wins every time. Mind you, I suppose it depends on how much you listen and what you are listening to. As with all this stuff, get down to your nearest HI-FI retailer and they will set a room up for you to listen to both. Not everyone hears the same thing, and I've found that it is always best to try before you buy (and I have learned this the hard way).