Grannyring

4est. What would you suggest instead of the 2009 Mac mini? Steve at Empirical Audio says it is the best for sound quality? Love to hear your alternatives....thanks

I have no doubt most others would quickly come to the same conclusion as I have ...... On my system and in my room. No doubt this is both system and room dependent. Listen on!

With both wav and aiff versions of the same album played off my SSD drive with Amarra playlist the WAV maintains all the SQ improvements outlined in my past posts. I don't know why as the data is the same, both lossless, but the end result is better with WAV. Go figure?

John, the easy answer seems to be just to rip into aiff in xld. Once ripped, then convert to wav in iTunes and all is good. All of my SQ comparisons have been from aiff files converted to wav in iTunes. All the art and album order stays in tact this way.

On Holly Cole's .... One Trick Pony..... The WAV version is more refined with her voice smoother and the tune just more naturally rendered. More analog if you like. When I convert to wav from aiff in iTunes all the album art and organization remains. No downside it seems. Problem that remains is when I rip from xld on my Mac to WAV. When I do this the file does not automatically go into iTunes and the result is a series of individual song files. I want one total cd file....any ideas? I suppose I can use xld to rip into aiff and then convert to wav in iTunes, but I am not sure this is ideal?

Ya, I understand the data is the same, but the finished sound is different. For clarification these comparisons are not based on fresh xld rips...no all I did was convert aiff to wav right in iTunes to existing files! I would think fresh from a rip the WAV file may be even better. Don't know, but over time I will throw that into the comparison mix.

Steve the WAV files I am playing are coming from outside storage which in the past has not sounded quite as good as music played directly from my Mac Mini large SSD drive. So the fact that WAV files are sounding better in outside storage compared to aiff on my SSD tells me WAV really rocks! Some may find aiff has more treble extension and detail. I find this is really a result of less body thus giving the perception of increased highs. After longer listening WAV has all the highs, but teamed with more body and weight and less forced highs. As to why some don't hear this I am at a loss? Very complex stuff this computer audio......

This is a great site and you folks have been a huge help. Thanks to all! As I listen I want to recap what I am hearing. WAV files play with more body, bloom and weight. The aiff file plays a little more threadbare sounding with some of the body missing. The tone is more natural in WAV. Instrument resonance is more apparent in WAV. Bass foundation and stage scale and size are also slightly improved in WAV.

Ok I figured it out. No problem finding my wav files now and playing thru Amarra. The new files are going into outside storage not my SSD drive. I am learning! I am listening more and wav files simply sound less forced and more at ease. Less digital glare and more refined. I will keep at this and report back....

Thanks Steve. Sorry about the more resolving comment as it was not intended to all as your system is wonderful. I am not the only to find this true. Plenty of aphiles have said the same and Positive Feedback reviewed this topic and came to the same conclusion on a Mac system. Who knows? I will work at at this more, but right now the updates are not being reflected in my music under finder.........

The new wav files also don't show up in finder under my music? Only way to find them is under iTunes? I would think my music under finder would also be updated with the new wav files?

My system must be more resolving. Really don't want to ague the fact it sounds better folks, it just does in my system. Quite obvious really. It just sounds better, but right now the question I have is why can I not see the new wav files in Amarra? I created new wav versions in iTunes on three different CDs. Each Cd now has double the songs as both aiff and wav on in the file. They both show up in iTunes, but not in Amarra when I call it up? Strange..... Let's not go into how they sound please as I am trying to deal with the issue at hand. Personal preference may be all in terms of sound quality. I am sure you understand....

Thanks guys. Ok working on this right now. I used iTunes and created wav versions of the songs on a particular cd. That cd file in iTunes now has both the aiff and wav versions. Problem is when I use Amarra, as I never play out of iTunes, Amarra does not find these new wav files? I create a playlist in Amarra and choose the cd with both the aiff and wav versions of the songs. Amarra only loads the aiff version so I can't compare? I want to compare these two versions to the same xld ripped straight to wav of the same cd. I wonder if simply converting aiff to wav in iTunes is as good sounding a ripping to wav in xld from the start. This may be why some of you don't hear the difference between aiff and wav?

Sure. First I am slow on all things computer and the above fix did not take and seems to only impact future rips. I need step by step instructions on how to convert all my files to wav as changing the preferences in xld was not enough it seems. Or I am not fully understanding which is possible. I had a Aphile friend tell me wav files sound best. I tried it last night by re-ripping a couple of my favorite CDs and changing nothing but choosing wav in xld preferences. He is right and the difference was immediate and obvious to me. More natural, less digital sounding. More at ease and refined. I am a long time Aphile and very active on AudiogoN under my username Grannyring. Here is my system. I don't know why it is not coming up here as I did enter all that info... Coincident TV III speakers Thor TPA 30 monoblock tube amps I modified Tube Research Labs Dude tubed preamp Lampizator 4/4 dac Apple 2009 mini with Mojo Audio power supply, SSD Wywires USB cable Empirical Audio offramp 4 with Turboclock, Hynes USB regulator and special Bnc to Bnc cable Assorted silver cables........ Amarra 2.6 various accoustic room treatments ya, wav files sound better in this system and my ears. Just need help getting it done! Computers are frustrating to me and I am not that good with them. But the music sounds so much better than a cd spinning transport! I will learn....

Yes the wav file sounds more relaxed and refined. It is more natural sounding than the aiff in my system and my ears. Just need help converting the files. I did change the xld preference as noted above, but my files are still all aiff, not wav? Must need to do more?