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Quasiperfectto

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 13, 2009
66
0
I have converted all my iTunes library mp3 to Apple Lossless to get rid of the slight distortion sound at 128 bit. But the problem is that I still can detect a very minor distortion in the highs. Is there another way I can further enhance the sound via apple Itunes etc... Thanks
 
If you converted to lossless from the mp3 file, then no. You'd have to reimport all the music from CD.
 
Your problem is that converting MP3 to lossless simply re-encodes the artifacts from the MP3.

Re-rip your CD's to get the best from lossless.

No format can repair the damage MP3's encoded artifacts cause to music.
 
SuperAudio CD is a format that is pitched at the high-end. One can find discs online & at Harrods etc.

If this turns out to be the problem, that you're not even happy with the quality of high frequencies on the original CD, then good luck.... :p No rip format will help with that, and SACDs are not exactly widely available for every song you like.
 
in future you'd probably be better off downloading becuase you can get it in much better quality files. Just make sure they are what they say they are and not just a cd rip or something or mp3 converted etc...
 
Cd Rip Quality

So the Apple Lossless preference is the best format to CD rips or there is a better quality way? I still hear slight distortion on highs for CD recording to iTunes library even after re-ripping
 
You could try ripping as AIFF, which is uncompressed, to see if there is a difference in the highs, but the files will be huge.
 
So the Apple Lossless preference is the best format to CD rips or there is a better quality way? I still hear slight distortion on highs for CD recording to iTunes library even after re-ripping
This is while hearing them with the same headphones from CD and from iTunes? Just checking that this is not a hardware- or setup-related problem.
 
People have tested and the "lossless" aspect of the Apple Lossless format is legitimate. If you are hearing a difference in the audio, I would point to...

- Is the iTunes EQ enabled?
- Are you listening to the iTunes copy and the CD copy on the same speakers and DAC'd / amplified by the same source?
 
With Bose, iPhone and car stereo.

The distortion is heard wherever is played, only on CD rips. So do you also recommended AIFF rip? Thanks. EQ is enabled according to the type of music I'm ripping. Mostly POP. Most of the music is heard on iPod or iPhone on my Bose, but also in my car stereo.
 
If you hear the distortion on Apple Lossless, then you should also hear it on AIFF, but you can give it a shot.
 
Please don't forget that these are CDs. They are NOT the best format for audio available. Yes, the most popular and widely available, but there literally is a better format called Blu-ray Disc. If you have a Bose system, check out some concert BDs or just movies with very good soundtracks (The Dark Knight). If you use my Dark Knight experiment, then go buy the soundtrack on CD. I haven't done this personally, but I would bet a lot that the BD sound will knock you out.

OK, it's really just a rant, but I'm not a big believer in lossless formats for music. The only way to do it is what you're trying with CD to computer, which as I said isn't all that great IMO. I'll take the slight audio hit for all the space I save. Even when I have used Apple TV to listen to audio on a Dolby sound system with Bose speakers, I can't tell that I'm missing anything.

If Apple would start selling music in the DTS Audio format that I bought a couple of albums on, then we might start talking about lossless files. Until then, AAC is pretty darn good.
 
CD quality transfers not exactly kept that way when iTuned

I always thought that the CD quality was duplicated exactly onto iTunes. I guess not. I converted all my songs to AIFF, even though it takes more space. So far this format is pretty close to the CD and the distortion on the highs are minimized a little better.
 
Please don't forget that these are CDs. They are NOT the best format for audio available. Yes, the most popular and widely available, but there literally is a better format called Blu-ray Disc. If you have a Bose system, check out some concert BDs or just movies with very good soundtracks (The Dark Knight). If you use my Dark Knight experiment, then go buy the soundtrack on CD. I haven't done this personally, but I would bet a lot that the BD sound will knock you out.

OK, it's really just a rant, but I'm not a big believer in lossless formats for music. The only way to do it is what you're trying with CD to computer, which as I said isn't all that great IMO. I'll take the slight audio hit for all the space I save. Even when I have used Apple TV to listen to audio on a Dolby sound system with Bose speakers, I can't tell that I'm missing anything.

If Apple would start selling music in the DTS Audio format that I bought a couple of albums on, then we might start talking about lossless files. Until then, AAC is pretty darn good.

The only benefit you will get from Blu-ray is more uncompressed song capacity because of their large storage space. Won't make your music any better than regular CD.

BOSE needs a thread of its own.
 
I always thought that the CD quality was duplicated exactly onto iTunes. I guess not. I converted all my songs to AIFF, even though it takes more space. So far this format is pretty close to the CD and the distortion on the highs are minimized a little better.

Unless something is going wrong in the playback/decoding process, hearing a difference between Apple Lossless and AIFF is impossible. It's either that or the placebo effect.

Apple Lossless is Lossless. It puts out exactly what you put into it. Apple Lossless stores the same information as AIFF, just losslessly compressed. AIFF is lossless and uncompressed.
 
The distortion is heard wherever is played, only on CD rips. So do you also recommended AIFF rip? Thanks. EQ is enabled according to the type of music I'm ripping. Mostly POP. Most of the music is heard on iPod or iPhone on my Bose, but also in my car stereo.

Good sound system do not need equalizer.

So earlier you said there is problem with Mp3. Then you are not saying "only cd rips"?
Which is which?

AIFF = Loseless = Apple loseless
unless your computer is 10 years old and cannot decompress the file.
 
What are you listening on? Your speakers/headphones might not be rendering the extra info in the highs in a way you would like. Also if your listening critically you should be listening with a dedicated DAC. Look along the chain before blaming the source.

edit: I'm no audiophile but Apple Lossless is very good imo. Not a huge difference to my ear anyways between a Apple Lossless file and a 24/96 FLAC file.
 
I always thought that the CD quality was duplicated exactly onto iTunes. I guess not. I converted all my songs to AIFF, even though it takes more space. So far this format is pretty close to the CD and the distortion on the highs are minimized a little better.
CD to AIFF isn't really converting, it's just copying the file that's on the CD. Any difference in distortion is due to your equipment or witchcraft.

The same is probably true for any difference you hear in the Lossless file.
 
Converting

I will, once again, convert all my iTunes music library to Lossless. Deleting all the songs and re-ripping in Lossless format. I need the space and it appears there isn't much of a difference with AIFF. The music that I buy at iTunes do not have the problem at all, only the rip CDs in the highs. So there is nothing wrong with my computer, headphones, Bose or car stereo.
 
I will, once again, convert all my iTunes music library to Lossless. Deleting all the songs and re-ripping in Lossless format. I need the space and it appears there isn't much of a difference with AIFF. The music that I buy at iTunes do not have the problem at all, only the rip CDs in the highs. So there is nothing wrong with my computer, headphones, Bose or car stereo.

If you've already got the AIFF files that were ripped from the CD, you don't need to re-rip. You can just convert them straight to Apple Lossless. It will result in exactly the same file.

If you're having trouble with the sound of AIFF/Apple Lossless files, it's possible something's going wrong in the playback.
 
Your probably not having the "problem" with downloaded music because of the way compression works. Compressing to an mp3 sacrifices the highs and lows favoring the mids (where vocals are). There is more to it obviously but basically the compressed file cuts the top and bottoms off.

Any of the distortion that you seem to be hearing in the lossless files and not in the mp3's is probably because the musical info that is distorting is not present in the mp3's. So it could indeed still be somewhere in the system.

Can you describe more what you mean by distortion? That's a pretty vague term.
 
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