arin

I was so happy to read this forum topic! When I read the Taffel article I thought, here we are again, always the same old story: computer audio will never be so hi-end as the "real" hi-end! But TAS is not alone in that respect: every hi-fi magazine (American, English, French or Italian) I read in the last 2 or 3 years told the same big lie about computer audio. No matter what computer, what operating system and what program you use, according to them they will never ever sound as good as a hi-end CD player. A pity because it was the same TAS which more or less a year ago published an little and brave article about the superior playback of audio from a hard disk! And in that very article they started the "jitter war"... And then back to the usual articles&reviews! Ciao! Arin

Hi Gordon, could you please let us know when Apple would have "changed the library functions for iTunes" so that "now it sounds closer to AIFF"? From what version of iTunes the supposed change appeared? Thanx! Arin

Hi there! Actually the limit I reached with my iPods (Classic and Touch both latest generation) is 24bit/48KHz: and my converters make sure to me the files I transfer and play back from my iPod+Wadia combo are actually 24/48. But I was not able to transfer any file more than 24/48... I think I have to check Rockbox out myself and if I discover anything interesting I sure will let you know! Ciao! Arin

Sorry Steve, but in the last month as I kept on reading this and other CA forum, I just did some test on all my Macs comparing iTunes generated ALAC files either directly from CD and from EAC generated wav. The results in every single test proved, at least to me, that those ALAC files were absolutely bit-per-bit identical. I just don't mean to say I don't believe you, but the evidence of my tests goes against your statement that "The iTunes ripper that converts a CD to ALAC is somehow flawed." Should you have said that "to some ears iTunes ALAC files are flawed" I could agree. But your statement need some proof to support it, otherwise I just have to consider it "rumors"! Ciao! Arin

Ashley I'm with you on this one! Speaking from the other side of the fence, in the pro-audio field most sound engineers and producers always hated vinyl: poor dynamics, pops and crackles and above all distortion that was not present on the original tapes. Thanks to people like Roger Nichols, who used to work with Steely Dan, when digital multi-tracks became available most pros went for it on day one and paved the way to modern recording techniques. And when CD came along they were really really happy 'cause their hard work in the recording process was almost totally preserved. You can buy whatever medium you like, as long as you can enjoy it thoroughly. Vinyl is not for me, I'm completely sold on digital and the more bits the better!!! Ciao! Arin

Here we are again! As I told in one of my post in another forum on CA I spent quite a time comparing ALAC, WAV and Aiff files ripped with iTunes and EAC, and I don't mean by ear only but measuring with professional equipment and software and they always resulted to be IDENTICAL! Many audiophiles keep on judging by ear only and they also keep on believing "rumors" especially when the rumors are alarming or weird: I just read on a very well respected hi-fi magazine that at CES most companies chose to demonstrate their gear with a computer or an iPod+Wadia just to be sure their precious CDs were not stolen! They couldn't just accept the fact that a computer or worse (for them!) an iPod could sound the same if not better than a CD player. Recently I recorded the digital output of several CD players (from 100$ up to 8000$) and compare the files with the ALAC I got from the same CDs with iTunes: again what I got in the end was bit-perfect identical outputs. So please, stop spreading the rumors and listen to some good music. Please! Ciao! Arin

Hi Chris,<br /> I share most of your views and I do believe that aiff, if you have enough space, should be a better choice.<br /> In the pro-audio field everyone I know use aiff, apart from some people on the Window platform who use WAV for practical reasons...and they don't care about tags and things like that!<br /> <br /> BUT, just for the record, I made another test about ALAC and aiff playback: I'm currently very fond of one of my new toys, the Wadia 170iTransport and as I recently read two reviews where people wrote to hear differences between an ALAC file and an aiff one, I decided to proceed to record the digital output of the Wadia directly into LogicPro.<br /> I tried the test several times with different kind of music ripped both in ALAC and aiff and then went on to compare the two formats using the inverted phase system: in every single case the files I got from my "humble" iPod into Logic were identical, bit by bit.<br /> <br /> So as someone told in another forum on CA: if an humble iPod can do it, why a PPC or an Intel processor shouldn't?<br /> <br /> This is not meant to begin a "format war" debate again, this is just food for thoughts...<br /> <br /> Ciao!<br /> Arin<br />

You're welcome stuartzs! I don't think you have to update OS, as long as you have the latest Tiger, that means 10.4.11 and the latest QuickTime. As for the memory, if you are just going to use iTunes I think you can live with 512MB...but as memory nowadays is very cheap, I would do it all the same! Ciao Arin

Hi stuartzs, one of my four Mac set ups is made of a Powerbook G4 1MHz with a 1GB of RAM, Leopard 10.5.6, iTunes 8.0.2 and a Benchmark DAC 1 USB and I must say that it works almost perfectly. The only thing I'd complain about is that sometimes the Powerbook is sluggish in responding to commands, especially when changing track or when it's in save screen mode, but apart from that it really works! If I were you I'd follow Chris advice and wait before buying the Mini. Ciao Arin

Sorry, I forgot to mention that I've been a proud partner of the B&W Music Club for 5 months now and I'm really happy with their offer and music: the recording quality is to a very high standard and the music itself is quite interesting. And now their offer of 24bit FLAC is the icing on the cake! Ciao! Arin

Hi Mike, as Roseval already stated, I'm talking about resolution (bit rate) not sampling frequency. If you listen carefully at the end of a piece of music or anywhere the instruments stop playing you usually can hear some ambience or reverb decaying: that's where you can clearly hear the difference between a 16 and a 24 bit recording. The 24 bit is clearer and without any grain or distortion compared to a 16 bit recording. And as Roseval said, you have more dynamic range to play with so all the quiet passages are more defined and...resolution! Changing the sampling frequency you get much more subtle differences..if any at all! As I said, for me the resolution is much clearly evident. Ciao! Arin

Hi Mike. Some say, and most pro-audio people agree, that bit rate is much more important than sampling frequency and by that I mean the higher the better. In several tests I made myself, it was easier for me and some friend musicians and audio engineers to pick out different bit rate than sampling frequency. But I believe that different ears could react differently! Ciao! Arin

Hi Everybody! I think many of you already know the test most pro-audio people do to determine if two audio files are exactly the same and that means they sound exactly the same: import the two audio file in a professional multi-track sequencer (in my case Logic), align them exactly (and that means at the sample level), set the volume of the two audio files at the same level, invert the phase of one of the files (using a simple plug-in that does nothing else to the signal), play the files and then measure what's coming out of the master output. If you get nothing down to -144db (for 24bit audio files) or -96db (for 16bit audio files), the files ARE and SOUND exactly the same. That's because a simple law of nature says that if you sum two identical signals inverting the phase of one of them, you get null as they cancel each other. Should you get clicks or pops or worse, if you could hear part of the sound, obviously the files are not the same. I did several of these tests comparing AIFF, WAV, and ALAC prior deciding to rip my 5300 CDs in Apple Lossless. By that I don't mean to bias anyone and if you prefer AIFF or WAV to ALAC or FLAC there's absolutely nothing wrong with that by me. I just wanted to share my humble experience. Ciao Arin

Hi Matty13, both Lavry and Apogee are both audiophile and pro. I work in the pro audio business and in most recording studios I see Apogee converters. Some time ago I did a similar job to the one you're going to do and got pretty good results using my Apogee Rosetta 200 with the FireWire option installed. I also use the same Rosetta 200 as a DAC for my hi-fi system and I'm completely satisfied. Ciao Arin

Hi satkinsn, I do understand you but, as others told you before, music should be our first concern. The way we listen to it should make no difference...but I know that once the hi-fi bug bites you, it hurts. I spent most of my spare time in the last year and a half converting my CD collection (more than 5000) to ALAC for that is what I think the best hd space vs. quality compromise. Being a musician and sound engineer I made several tests at home and in some recording studios and then decided to do it. This decision made me return to one of my old passion, hi-fi, and many colleagues of mine made jokes of me as they consider hi-fi buffs like sick people! But I didn't mind and bought, after years of "only" professional audio & music gears, a true hi-fi system which made me very happy. Now, when I'm not working, I can really say that I "listen" to music again. And I also learned new way of doing it, comparing different versions of the same piece of music at the touch of a button or being able to enhance the mood I'm in by creating new playlists. Sometime the bug bites back and I think to change my amps or my DAC or my cables but then I stop and listen to some well recorded music and those ideas vanish for some time. I started in the music business for my passion for music and that will always come first. Enjoy your music, whatever the format! Arin