audio questions..

[iffy 0]

hey all i'm just a newbie to all audio stuff n would like to know more pls bear with my many questions..thanx in advance to anyone who would care to enlighten me on these issue ...

 

firstly i am using my com as the main source to listen to music ... mostly mp3's dl from kazaa... n recently have been more interested in audio quality.

 

1.if i use dbpoweramp to convert mp3files to wav files will there be an improved sound quality? how abt converting a lower bitrate file to a higher bitrate? if i cant improve the sound of mp3's dl from kazaa, anyone knows where to get high quality uncompressed music?cos i was thinking if you dont have high quality sound files even you have good hardware the sound will still be sucky?

 

2.thinking of buying an audigy2 platinum card,will that be a good choice for music?and also to record music digitally to my mdplayer.

 

3.can recommend any site or book that teaches all about audio stuff from ground up?? i really need some education..hehe ..

[lekguan 0]

1.if i use dbpoweramp to convert mp3files to wav files will there be an improved sound quality? how abt converting a lower bitrate file to a higher bitrate? if i cant improve the sound of mp3's dl from kazaa, anyone knows where to get high quality uncompressed music?

No. Take it like a video file. At first its quality is 352x288. VCD quality. Make that equivalent to wave. You compress it to half of that image size. 176x144 It is then distributed over Kazaa. If someone else downloads it, he reconverts it, will that video file get back its VCD quality? No. Just a 352x288 video, where 2 pixels horizontally and 2 pixels vertically are exactly the same. I.e. just a 176x144 sized up to be bigger, and of course pixellated. So in the end, you will get something which has not improved in quality. In fact, due to the compression and recompressions, quality might have actually dropped if you convert to a higher bitrate MP3.

 

cos i was thinking if you dont have high quality sound files even you have good hardware the sound will still be sucky?

Yes. Garbage in garbe out. In fact, your listening experience might be worse because you start to hear distortions of your poor quality MP3s.

 

2.thinking of buying an audigy2 platinum card,will that be a good choice for music?and also to record music digitally to my mdplayer.

 

If you can stretch your budget, and you don't game, look at the RME and M-audio range. Don't forget though, getting an amp to connect from your line out of your current decent soundcard will bring more improvements as opposed to buying a new card. Maybe you would want to grab a cheaper amp, before you get a card upgrade in future, and finally a good amp.

 

The bottom line: get a CD player, and pay for your CDs.

Your conscience will then feel good, but your wallet hurts.

Edited January 6, 2004 by lekguan

[Musica 0]

when you wallet hurts, wouldn't your conscience as well? heh haha... usually 192kbps is good enough for my noob ears, when you're converting em from a CD, la. i guess the audigy2 is the best soundcard at the mo? lek- regarding the rme, m-audio; those are soundcards for the com?

[iffy 0]

1.so the best way to listen to good quality music is to buy cds n not dl mp3's?

2.if a song is sampled at 44.1khz n is 16bit , even if u convert it to 24bit/96khz it will still sound the same?

3.the mp3s from kazaa were also ripped from a cd n converted to mp3 format, suppose i want to get it back to the cd quality after i dl the mp3 ,is it possible?

4.where to get rme soundcards in singapore?

5.can i use coaxial spdif out from soundcard to record to my md which has only a optical/line in jack? or must it be optical spdif?

6.is there a difference in sound quality if i plug speakers to digital out and analog out?

7.Is there records i can buy that is higher quality than cd and can be played on com?

 

btw,thanks for the reply .

[Blues 0]

I will try and answer ..

1. CD will give you the original sound and not the compressed formats like mp3..

192 kbps is fine if you're on budget and want decent sound.

3. No way to get back the cd quality from those mp3. You can only buy the same album and rip it in wave yourself

 

[Musica 0]

4. sim lim square- fuwell, superpet.

6. supposedly, digital's better than analog.

7. dvds? i think cds are the highest quality medium in the market now?

[lekguan 0]

1.so the best way to listen to good quality music is to buy cds n not dl mp3's?

Definitely. Do note though that quality depends from CD to CD.

 

2.if a song is sampled at 44.1khz n is 16bit , even if u convert it to 24bit/96khz it will still sound the same?

This is upsampling. Many claim that upsampling will provide more details.

 

3.the mp3s from kazaa were also ripped from a cd n converted to mp3 format, suppose i want to get it back to the cd quality after i dl the mp3 ,is it possible?

Nope. Note that MP3 is a lossy compression, where it loses not-so audible data to achieve its compression. When you go below 160kbps, the loses are real great.

 

6.is there a difference in sound quality if i plug speakers to digital out and analog out?

Yes indeed. analogue out uses the DAC in the soundcard. optical out uses the DAC out in the speaker. Which sounds better depends on which DAC is better.

 

7.Is there records i can buy that is higher quality than cd and can be played on com?

You can rip from CDs.

[Musica 0]

lekguan- when i burn-in my cans/buds, how do i know if they've been ruined? i've ran them at moderate-high vol before the first 50 hr mark and they sound pretty alright...

[Blues 0]

musica: that's if you can't hear any sound coming off them...

or they screech when you play songs

 

edit: grammar

Edited January 6, 2004 by Blues

[Musica 0]

ah then i'm safe! haha

[N3w_Typ3 0]

Woo you have a lot of questions..

 

for upsampling yes it does provide a lot of details but bear in mind that it may not sound nice at all ! to certain kinds of music and low quality music may sound even worst !

Lekguan recommended you to get a amp but i remind you that if you cannot hear the different of the amp better not buy !! ( please try b4 any purchase )

 

for sound cards .. i think you ask better Ablaze .. he have tired tonns if them so he should have a better say in this ( he even modded his cards )

 

the rest wait for more people to answer ... ( i not too sure so better not crape and make you blur )

[Huma Dragonbane 0]

1.so the best way to listen to good quality music is to buy cds n not dl mp3's?

2.if a song is sampled at 44.1khz n is 16bit , even if u convert it to 24bit/96khz it will still sound the same?

3.the mp3s from kazaa were also ripped from a cd n converted to mp3 format, suppose i want to get it back to the cd quality after i dl the mp3 ,is it possible?

4.where to get rme soundcards in singapore?

5.can i use coaxial spdif out from soundcard to record to my md which has only a optical/line in jack? or must it be optical spdif?

6.is there a difference in sound quality if i plug speakers to digital out and analog out?

7.Is there records i can buy that is higher quality than cd and can be played on com?

 

btw,thanks for the reply .

Yeah don't download. You're ripping off so many people. That aside, I don't think it's worth it to spend much on any set-up if your source would be mainly mp3s. Specially those illegally downloaded ones.

 

As for higher quality there are 2 other formats I personally feel sound much much better than cds. SACDs and DVD-AUDIO. Personally I prefer the latter. Provides much higher resolution, better sound quality and surround sound (5.1).

[Tenson 0]

I think you can download non-lossy compression in the form of FLAC from ceirten IRC channels. But don't ask me what ones! My brother does it most. I am good and buy CD's

 

I used to download lots but the quality is SOO poor its just not worth it! Besides that no matter what soundcard you have, it will not compare to a dedicated CD player of equal price.

 

I was under the impression that SACD offerd higher resolution??? Will the standard PowerDVD 4 make use of DVD-Audio? I have a DVD that has audio on it and I belive it is in 96Khz... but.. I dunno.. do DVD-Audio discs have menus and so on?

[Gahman 0]

4. sim lim square- fuwell, superpet.

6. supposedly, digital's better than analog.

7. dvds? i think cds are the highest quality medium in the market now?

Actually, Dvds use compressed sound and video. Mpeg 2 or 4 I think.

[lekguan 0]

And I think the audio for DVD is in AC3.