iPod testing

[Rameish 0]

First I'm not a portable kinda guy and even less so an MP3 player kinda guy.

 

But a few things happend. A few days ago (18 October) I decided to buy an iPod Photo 60 GB because apple had dropped it's price with the arrival of the new iPod Video. Why didnt I get the newer iPod Video? Price and what came with it. I bought the 60GB iPod Photo for a song at S$648 and encased it in a nice soft leather case for an additional S$53.10 (total price under S$700 and I get a charger as well). The new Gen5 iPod Video costs more than S$700 and does not come with a charger so you'll have to buy one. No brainer IMO since if you wanted to watch video the little screen will not be of much use and the quality would suck cos of the 60GB harddrive.

 

My purpose of buying the iPod was to re-evaluate the sound of MP-3 playback and other lossless encoders - form Apple lossless encoder to WAV to MP 3. Once done I'll probably sell it cos I'm not really a portable kinda guy. I'm using the latest version of iTunes (6.1 i think)

 

I used cheskey's ultimate demonstration disc for all testing purposes.

 

I will use apple's stock earbuds, Koss KSC35, Beyer DT-431 and maybe a few other phones. I'll also hook it up to my main rig (ie speaker based system to evaluate).

 

MP3 with VBR (Variable Bit Encoding) 256 bit rate medium quality: This really sucked for me low frequencies suffered and I could swere I could clearly here loss of detail (decay esp).

 

MP3 with VBR 320 bit rate highest quality: Better than the previous even with on apple earbuds. Long term listening fatigue (after about half an hour I had enough)

 

Apple lossless: Now thing stated to get interesting I couldnt tell the difference between this and WAV with stock apple earbuds, the koss KSC35 and I was guessing it wrong about 30% of the time with Beyer DT431. (this could be bec I'm getting older - 43 years old now :-) (Note the Beyer's are a bit hard to drive but then my listening volume is generally quite low). Ie I dont blast my music.

 

Apple lossless versus WAV/AIFF Encoder: I lumped AIFF with WAV cos I couldnt hear any difference. Between Apple lossless and WAV/AIFF I could only tell the difference when I hooked it up to my main speaker rig.

 

So there you go: If you want to use an iPod for both home and portable use then rip your music in Apple Lossless

 

 

I'll do a bit more listening to see if there are any changes.

 

Happy Listening

Edited October 28, 2005 by Rameish

[evil-zen 0]

Rameish,

 

Do try out the LAME mp3 encoder instead. It is supposed to be the best of the VBR encoders. http://www.rarewares.org/mp3.html Get the LAME 3.97 beta 1 version. Hmmmm I'm not sure how do you convert in Mac as I am a Windows guy. Anyway, if you managed to find out, try out the -V X commands. -V is for variable bit rate and X stands for the quality from 0-9 I think. 0 being the best and 9 the worst.

 

And lossless encoding is mathematically equivalent to the wav/aiff form so it is natural that you can't hear a difference.

Edited October 28, 2005 by evil-zen

[yaufei 0]

Ya the Mp3 encoder in iTunes is not very good.

 

You should try using AAC with iTunes.

 

Try importing at 192, 224 and 320kps.

[RB26DETT 0]

Rameish,

 

Do try out the LAME mp3 encoder instead. It is supposed to be the best of the VBR encoders. http://www.rarewares.org/mp3.html Get the LAME 3.97 beta 1 version. Hmmmm I'm not sure how do you convert in Mac as I am a Windows guy. Anyway, if you managed to find out, try out the -V X commands. -V is for variable bit rate and X stands for the quality from 0-9 I think. 0 being the best and 9 the worst.

 

And lossless encoding is mathematically equivalent to the wav/aiff form so it is natural that you can't hear a difference.

i have gotten the LAME 3.97 beta 1 version, thing is that i dunno how to start using it..

 

in the preference -> advance -> importing screent, "import using" does not have the LAME encoder...

 

can guide?

[evil-zen 0]

Have no experience with itunes so I can't help you there. If you are a windows user, try downloading a frontend for LAME. Either Multi frontend or ALL2LAME. From the program, locate the lame.exe and change the switches to -V X. -V 2 is the preferred one. Drag the wav files to the program and click encode.

[RB26DETT 0]

got it! thanks!

[Rameish 0]

Thanks for the suggestions. But I find apple's lossless encoder quite good. Anyway, the whole idea behind using iTunes and iPod is to get to the music without fuss with auto updating etc. The one thing I noticed about WAV/AIFF is that playback is a little softer in volume (ie the vol is lower for a given setting). Anyway I'm quiet please with the results of using apple lossless and it does save some harddrive space cos eventhough I got a 60GB iPod Photo, my music collection wont fit if I encoded in AIFF/WAV.

[Guest antitrust]

i've just tried ripping a CD in apple lossless with automatic settings. the files easily go up to 30++mb per 4 minute track. and because of the size, the buffer on my 20GB iPod Photo doesn't work really well. sometimes from one track to another, within the first minute, it skips abit and its annoying me quite abit lol.

 

however, i really love the sound that is reproduced through the stock earphones, it really beats the sh*t out of mp3s @ 192kbps. (which is the max i encode my stuff at)

[yaufei 0]

i've just tried ripping a CD in apple lossless with automatic settings. the files easily go up to 30++mb per 4 minute track. and because of the size, the buffer on my 20GB iPod Photo doesn't work really well. sometimes from one track to another, within the first minute, it skips abit and its annoying me quite abit lol.

 

however, i really love the sound that is reproduced through the stock earphones, it really beats the sh*t out of mp3s @ 192kbps. (which is the max i encode my stuff at)

In that case try AAC at 320? It is the next best alternative.

 

Btw, besides taking more space, the loseless formats also significantly reduces the battery life.

[Rameish 0]

Hmm...my wife has a 20GB iPod Photo and she doesnt have that problem with apple lossless. BTW is your's the iPod Photo? Maybe earlier versions have some issues.

[av98m 0]

Rameish with an ipod, never thought I'd see the day!

[Rameish 0]

Neither did I but apple stores were having a sale on the iPod Photo (the 60 GB version is now at S$648).