hi-rez and iTunes (Mac)

[ronfint]

Yesterday in another thread it was asserted (although not with certainty) that iTunes truncates 24 bit information to 16 bit during playback. I hope that this is not so. Does anyone have the equipment to check this definitively?

 

There have been many negative comments in this forum about iTunes playback, but I have so far found no problems with it. In fact, it sounds quite good to me, but maybe that's because I haven't listened using expensive software.

 

Ron

 

[The Computer Audiophile]

Hi Ron - No need to worry. I can say with 100% certainty that iTunes does not truncate 24 bit content to 16 bit. The dCS Paganini DAC I have right now has a bit meter and it clearly shows 16, 20, 24 bit content.

 

Don't worry about iTunes :~)

 

[ronfint]

Because computer audio is a very new field, there are a lot of pseudo-facts being passed around that are masquerading as truths. One role of this forum should (and often has been) to set the record straight.

 

Amarra may indeed be a better player than iTunes. (I wouldn't know, however.) But degrading other players is not a good way to promote it.

 

Ron

 

 

 

 

[ryan_d]

Ron,

 

not sure what you are getting at when you state that degrading other players is not a good way to promote. I agree with this statement, but can't see anywhere in this thread where this has happened.

 

Ryan

 

[ronfint]

This was in another thread where the following comments were made:

 

"Not sure iTunes was ever designed with the audiophile in mind, nor do they care much about us IMO."

 

" iTunes does not play 24bit audio files very well. ... I haven't been able to confirm this, but I have heard from a few people that iTunes truncates the word length from 24 to 16bits."

 

for example.

 

Ron

 

[souptin]

Unless I'm wildly mistaken, in the same thread where that comment was made, they were also discussing dacs from $4,000 up to $20,000, and amplifier and speaker systems costing at least as much again...

 

I'm not trying to say that price always = sound quality, more something about keeping your audiophile paranoia within your current spending budget.

 

I currently listen to a small number of 24 bit 88 & 96khz files through plain old iTunes with a sub $1000 dac and sub $1000 headphones / amp / speakers and it sounds pretty darn sweet.

 

Your mileage may vary, as they say... and from what I read on different audio forums, some people's mileage varies considerably.

 

[glt]

I think you can truncate to 16 and even 8 bit if you set it to that mode in the quicktime control panel for windows, likewise you can upsample (padding?) 16 to 24 bit. Curiously enough, the Mac Quicktime control panel does not have such settings.

 

[souptin]

On the mac, theres a program in the Applications/Utilities folder called Audo MIDI Setup, which allows you to change these settings.

 

[ciamara]

I am partly responsible for this. I won't say where I heard the "truncation" claims, as I don't want to throw anyone under the bus. But I did hear it from a manufacturer, and it came via email. The point of mentioning this was to see if anyone had tested this claim, not to degrade competition. Hopefully everyone will see this and the issue will be put to rest.

 

Just FYI, I believe the false assumption came from the way iTunes handles higher resolution files when converting from one format to another. If, for example, you add a 24bit/96kHz WAV file to iTunes and convert it to Apple Lossless, you will preserve the 24bits and the sample rate. If you then try to convert back to WAV or AIFF, the 24bit word length is truncated. iTunes simply does not have a setting for 24bits.

 

The easy workaround is to avoid doing this conversion in iTunes. Instead, use a program like Max (sbooth) for Mac. I'm quite sure there are others out there for the PC.

 

Happy listening!

 

 

 

[ronfint]

Thanks, this is interesting information, and easy to check. Anyone who wishes to store files in ALAC but use AIFF for playback should take heed. Don't use iTunes to make the transition.

 

Ron