Hi,
Doctor Jeep said:
Don't understand that at all mate,
I actually do.
Doctor Jeep said:
I know it's one opinion versus another but I tried ripping at different qualities in order to test out just what was acceptable and found there to be no perceived difference between WAV at 1411kbps and Atrac at 64kbps! That's a hell of a difference in file size and I wasn't listening on the tube either! I was in a totally quiet room and listening through Sennheiser PX100 headphones (not the greatest quality but much better than the supplied earbuds) - if I noticed zero difference in sound
Which suggests that you are either:
a) Not sensitive to the aberations introduced by perceptual coding (I am)
b) Listen(ed) to music which is not sensitive to the aberations introduced by perceptual coding
c) Sufficiently convinced by Sony's propaganda (or hope sufficiently that it is true) that your perception rejects the actual difference
d) Have a device whose audio stages are so bad they obscure the differences
As said, listening to pretty generic, if somewhat demanding pop on my wives Walkmen Phone (BTW, it does not sound as good as using my Pocket PC) revealed the usual artifacts (especially around vocal intelligibility and wherever stuff got complex), except to a degree that made normal MP3 at 192KHz (I normally use this as my own use, 192KHz via Lame using maximum encoding quality settings) seem quite clean by comparison.
Doctor Jeep said:
I'm amazed that you thought it was "atrocious" when ripped at 64kbps. Were you definitely using Atrac 64kbps or just plain old 64 kbps?
This was Sony's own file format via Sony's software and is supposed to be "Advanced" Atrac3 64k. Music ripped via Sony's software directly from CD.
Comparison same tracks @ 192KHz via Lame, ripping via EAC.
I did this when I was disgusted with how bad things sounded when hearing what my wife had ripped into her phone (alos compared to the FM radio, which is pretty bad too), I just got her the darn thing (she loves it) and expected it all to work without trouble. I had to teach her how to use EAC/Lame and how to copy files onto her memory stick plus get a reader for the memory stick after she heard the difference as well.
Doctor Jeep said:
Isn't it amazing how people interpret different things?
Not at all. It is rather expected. Peoples hearing and the following interpretative process differ rather greatly. Many other variables are added on top.
As said, I find MP3 @ 192KHz (via Lame, most other encoders are worde) acceptable for listening on public transport in terms of quality. Anything below that datarate is just too obviously compromised, be it MP4 or Atrac or anything else I have tried so far. My wife cannot tell 192K MP3 from CD, or at least so she says (that is on the big rig, not walkmen), I can easily.
Ciao T