MP3 advice please..
Posted by: Steveandkate on 28 May 2004
Help please - As I understand MP3 is a lossy way to compress music, but as one can use different levels of comrpession, can you store the music without compressing it at all - some say that MP3 sounds rubbish, but if uncompressed is it OK ?
I want to connect my new pc to my Naim gear, and am looking at a iRiver hp140 MP3 player - can I expect reasonable quality music (soundcard is an M-Audio 24/96) from both the pc and iriver when played back through the Hi Fi?
What do you say ?
Posted on: 28 May 2004 by Steve Hall
If you want to rip your CD's to a PC, and not have the lossy issues that associate with MP3's then you need to use something like FLAC - Free lossless audio Codec.
However, there are a number of relatively high quality MP3 compression options, such as r3mix, which are probably good enough for your needs.
You do have the option, however, of ripping your CD's with FLAC and playing them into your hifi, and then transcoding from FLAC to MP3 for your portable.
Posted on: 29 May 2004 by Steveandkate
Thanks for your wise words Steve -i'll look into both FLAC and r3mix !
However, can anyone answer the question - can one store music as an mp3 without any compression, and if so, does it affect the music in any way ?
Posted on: 29 May 2004 by Peter C
I listen to MP3 Music through my PC and Naim 72/hicap/140/Intro's, without to much problem.
MP3 is not perfect, but it is more than an acceptable way to listen to music on your PC.
To say is sounds rubbish is misleading as MP3 can sound good.
If you rip at low rates below 96KBps, it can sound like a cheap radio.
At 128KBps it is more than listenable and some of the music I've downloaded off the internet means I've got to hear music and artists I probably would never have heard of. Acts like Eve Selis, BB Chung King and The Buddaheads and Rob Tognoni.
If you rip your CD at 192KBps they will be more than reasonable quality.
It is possible to rip Mp3 at the same rate as CD, .i.e 312Kbps; but the file space it takes up is very big.
An analogy would be comparing a Nait with a 282/hicap/202. Both play the music, but one is more detailed and with better timing.
Another option is using WMA files on your PC through Windows Media Player 9, which sound better than MP3 to me. You can rip at lossless rates. However ripping at 192KBps is reasonably close to CD quality, closer than MP3.
