Re: New Thread: Preferred Formats

Well, I for one don't use a single format, since it depends on what the content is...

I record quite a few radio shows (spoken word). For these simple requirements, MP3 96Kbps is absolutely fine. For music, things get more complex, and I think the answer depends on your short-term and long-term use:

1. Are you archiving? Many of my CDs are reaching the end of their shelf-life (20+ years), and I'm quietly archiving them to hard disk and/or optical media. In this case, I always use a lossless format. Currently, this is WAV, buy obviously this does not compress at all. I'm looking at WMA lossless, AAC lossless, and FLAC, but have not found the ideal combination of size, portability and compatibility yet.

2. Are you playing on portable devices? Choosing MP3 320 is fine unless you start trying to load up a portable device! So you need to find (by ear, really) a sample rate that is good enough for the portable device.

IMHO there is no one single format that fits all needs. My ideal would be a music library (on my server) that stored and indexes a compressed lossless format, with on-the-fly transcoding to other formats as needed for compatibility. I've yet to find such a product.

And yes, the AT D/A converters are pretty awful for critical listening, even when fed with WAV files ripped with EAC. I use my AT digital out feeding an outboard D/A, which gives *much* better results. However, in the interests of full disclosure, this is on a high-end system. On a mid-fi system I would guess that the on-board D/A is probably adequate.

--Tim


> ------------Original Message------------
> From: Mark Jay <[email protected]>
> To: [email protected]
> Date: Fri, Dec-31-2004 10:22 PM
> Subject: [AT] New Thread: Preferred Formats
>
> All:
> 
> I was just wondering ... of those who read this list, what format / 
> sample rate etc do you use and why? Speaking for myself, I elected to rip 
> everything to WAV as I use the ATs in fairly good home audio systems; I 
> have a separate drive to which I rip the content to MP3 at 192 (which I 
> find to be a reasonable compromise between fidelity and file size as 
> well as manageable for portable devices). I elected WAV as ny de-facto 
> standard as I figured if I was going to archive my collection, given the 
> affordability of drives (and getting more so every year) I should stick 
> with the best fidelity possible.
> 
> I only ask the question because I have read with some interest comments 
> about the quality of the DACs in the AT and I wonder how much of the 
> grousing about them comes from playing back (heavily) compressed files 
> and expecting uncompressed results. I don't want to start a flame 
> war...but to my ears...playing WAV files using the on-board DACs is actually 
> very good overall.
> 
> Just wondering...
>