Best audio medium for sound quality

(wake_upppp) · (wake_upppp) **Join Date: Nov 2003** 03-20-2011, 8:20 PM

Reading some of the recent threads with people saying that iTunes and well as other types of compressed music files are not the greatest for sound quality, I was wondering what are the better options?

(Shooter) · (Shooter) **Join Date: Apr 2010** 03-20-2011, 8:25 PM

Records? I don't know if a turntable will work in the boat. Second would be CDs. You could rip CDs as lossless, but it takes a lot of memory.

(shawndoggy) · (shawndoggy) **Join Date: Nov 2009** 03-20-2011, 9:02 PM

FLAC (good luck finding a HU that will play it tho)
WAV (but no id3 tagging)
apple lossless (some HUs will support this)
AAC
MP3 320 kps
MP3 192 kps
MP3 128 kps (this is about where my tin ear can start to hear a difference on my car system)

(UNvisible) · (UNvisible) **Join Date: May 2010** 03-20-2011, 9:15 PM

shawndoggy has it down pretty well.

FLAC and lossless FTW.

(packrat) · (packrat) **Join Date: Mar 2005** 03-20-2011, 11:41 PM

How about a laptop or netbook using a wireless card with streaming audio ie Sirius and or Pandora?

How would the sound quality be for that medium say vs a Sirius tuner in your boat stereo?

(882001) · (882001) **Join Date: Nov 2003** 03-21-2011, 4:50 AM

who wants to babysit a laptop all day? 99.913% of people will not be able to tell the difference. have a few of your favorite songs that you turn up all the way saved as wav files

(david_e_m) · (david_e_m) **Join Date: Jul 2008** 03-21-2011, 6:46 AM

99.913%?? Generalizations can be so misleading. Would you mind narrowing that down a bit?

(Shooter) · (Shooter) **Join Date: Apr 2010** 03-21-2011, 7:32 AM

Why do you need a laptop? A smart phone can stream Pandora and the Iphone has a 32Gig model (more than enough storage for music). Pandora quality is surprisingly good, but I doubt it's better than 320 kps.

Unrelated to boat, has anyone tried the new Blu-ray music disk? I know there is a very limited selection, but I was wondering if its just the same music with some extras put on a Blu-ray.

(shawndoggy) · (shawndoggy) **Join Date: Nov 2009** 03-21-2011, 8:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shooter

Why do you need a laptop? A smart phone can stream Pandora and the Iphone has a 32Gig model (more than enough storage for music). Pandora quality is surprisingly good, but I doubt it's better than 320 kps.

Unrelated to boat, has anyone tried the new Blu-ray music disk? I know there is a very limited selection, but I was wondering if its just the same music with some extras put on a Blu-ray.

"free" pandora is actually 64 kps AAC. If you upgrade to Pandora One ($36 annual subscription) you get 192 kps mp3.

(brucemac) · (brucemac) **Join Date: Dec 2005** 03-21-2011, 10:12 AM

any other advantages to pandora one? i think i'm going to spring for the membership. you get unlimited skip right?

(882001) · (882001) **Join Date: Nov 2003** 03-21-2011, 10:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by david_e_m

99.913%?? Generalizations can be so misleading. Would you mind narrowing that down a bit?

i run vbr @192kbs and no has ever said this sounds like an mp3? most of the people have not a clue or any idea where the indescrepencies came from even if you did point it out to them. in a silent room with some good equipment, is different than on the creek with motor, exhaust, water swooshing, wind, birds, other boats etc, etc. my calculations were off its more like 99.931

(Shooter) · (Shooter) **Join Date: Apr 2010** 03-21-2011, 10:16 AM

Free pandora limits how much you can listen (40 hours I think). The pay subscription is unlimited and has no advertisements. Not sure about the skips.

(shawndoggy) · (shawndoggy) **Join Date: Nov 2009** 03-21-2011, 10:32 AM

You get more skips on pandora one, but not unlimited (5 or 6). Also the play-before-timeout period is longer.

Note that per the pandora FAQ, pandora one doesn't stream to mobile devices at any higher bitrate than std pandora. So to realize the benefit you need to listen on your computer and/or use something like stationripper or pandorajam to record pandora and then use the recoded files via usb/ipod/burned cd/etc.

(razzman) · (razzman) **Join Date: Dec 2006** 03-21-2011, 10:55 AM

I have to agree that most people (no percentage

) wouldn't even notice the difference unless the quality to begin with is so bad that a format change is super noticeable. I can't stand messing with stuff like that on the boat so I go with AAC or the highest quailty MP3 I can get and call it a day. Cd's are a pain to me and skip when moving so why use them? Laptop/Netbook? One drop of water in the right place and that thing is toast, not worth it. I've been using large gigabyte capacity flash drives recently and they work well with no hassles oher than navigation on the HU.

(brucemac) · (brucemac) **Join Date: Dec 2005** 03-21-2011, 11:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shawndoggy

You get more skips on pandora one, but not unlimited (5 or 6). Also the play-before-timeout period is longer.

Note that per the pandora FAQ, pandora one doesn't stream to mobile devices at any higher bitrate than std pandora. So to realize the benefit you need to listen on your computer and/or use something like stationripper or pandorajam to record pandora and then use the recoded files via usb/ipod/burned cd/etc.

cool, thanks for that. back on the fence

(hatepain) · (hatepain) **Join Date: Aug 2006** 03-21-2011, 11:54 AM

In the settings on your phone (free version) you can step to high quality which goes up to 128kbps.

(bingbing) · (bingbing) **Join Date: Oct 2008** 03-21-2011, 9:53 PM

I found the perfect solution at C.E.S. It's a digital-to-analog converter (DAC) device that converts a digital code to an analog signal DAC. The iStreamer is a high performance audio interface that allows an Apple iPad™, iPhone® or iPod® to really sound musical. It blew me away when I heard the demostration.The problem was the product was developed for home use. After several conversations with the CEO of HRT www.highresolutiontechnologies.com/ they have decided to convert the power supply and give the12 volt market a try.
Not sure if they will have 2 units, one marine and another for auto. It's plug and play, works through RCA jacks, I assume the unit should be transferable. Not real expensive $199.00.
I have a couple on order. Can hardly wait, No more CD's

(hatepain) · (hatepain) **Join Date: Aug 2006** 03-23-2011, 9:51 AM

That sounds awesome but why are they limited to Apple products?

(heath) · (heath) **Join Date: Feb 2008** 03-23-2011, 10:56 AM

I went to HRT website and do not see a 12v version. Am i missing something.

(wake_upppp) · (wake_upppp) **Join Date: Nov 2003** 03-23-2011, 8:21 PM

^^^I dont think they are out just yet? I looked as well. I assume from bingbing's post they are coming out soon?

(bingbing) · (bingbing) **Join Date: Oct 2008** 03-24-2011, 10:22 PM

hatepain
Don't know but, I will find out.
heath
I will see if they have lauch date.