Do you listen to .WAVs or MP3s and why?

Here is another attempt at a "fun" thread.

My preference goes for CDs with lossless .wav files. My somewhat trained ears find the difference between .WAVs and .MP3s to be like night an day. Obviously the intent here is quality rather than a greater, more mobile library of music.

Having gotten my iPod stolen certainly did not help, though I bought a new one. I guess CDs are not "cool" anymore and if one disappears, it can be recreated for a whopping 10 cents!

For those that have the upgraded Logic stereo, listen to MP3s, and think it sounds great. Please make a point of trying a traditional CD, you may never go back to MP3s!

MP3, usually 250kbps or higher. Also, VBR if possible.

I think with a good MP3 encoder (i.e. LAME) and enough bits (~192kbps VBR) I find the sound is fairly transparent to uncompressed. Add in the extraneous noise in the car and it's even more of a non-issue. When I was primarily targeting my 2GB MP3 player I would often encode at 128kbps and even those sounded surprisingly good for what they were.

That said, I still buy about 99% of my music in CD form. Many MP3s I've bought simply don't sound good because they chose to use a bad encoder. CD is more future proof. I buy an MP3 and I'm stuck with MP3. I take my CDs and save them to my media server in FLAC (it's a lossless audio compression format). Now I can reencode those files every X years to meet the format that is currently in style. Plus I have a backup in the form of the CD.

A 320 bit rate mp3 copy from a good source it pretty hard to tell from a CD .
Most people use the low bit rate pushed by Apple and Pandora which is defiantly low fidelity.
There was a program about this on NPR where they found that people raised on the low
bit rate stuff actually prefer it to Hi Fidelity sources.
Quantity over quality has been the rule when people load up there storage devices.
There is so much space on usb sticks now you can use any format you want.

http://www.sciencefriday.com/playlis...y/segment/8733

MP3s because of storage space limits. I can hear differences in the car when the compression rate is below 192k bps, but with the background noise in the car (and the fact that I am there to drive, not listen), I don't notice it if the quality is there or above. Certainly prefer .wav if I'm using my system at home in a quiet room.

My iDrive is full of MP3s encoded at 320k bps or equivalent. In a noisy auto environment, that's more than adequate.

Mp3s because my LP's skip when I go over bumps....

Mp3s, generally coded at 192-320k bps. With an E93, running top down, I'm not too worried about the fidelity of the music; running top up, I don't expect concert hall acoustics.

320 bit not bad, but CD's are still cool. I would love my logic 7 could play SACDs or DVD -A (dead format, I know). Only Acura does it unfortunately.
People are not demanding these day, so manufactures don't bother.

Sent from my GT-N7000 using Bimmer App

Originally Posted by 55

320 bit not bad, but CD's are still cool. I would love my logic 7 could play SACDs or DVD -A (dead format, I know). Only Acura does it unfortunately.
People are not demanding these day, so manufactures don't bother.

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I agree. I store all my music in Apple lossless on my ipod and listen at home on Apple TV (digital optical to stereo). I recently put in one of my older DVD Audio Cd's. Quality is MUCH improved. Not sure I would go back to dealing with CD's in the car though.

Would be nice if future Ipods had even more storage and could actually store DVD quality surround sound music.

I had my music at 192kps MP3 and could easily hear the sound degradation. Drove me nuts actually. I gave up on MP3's. Even in the car it doesn't sound good enough for me. At home, forget it!! Like one post said, seems most get used to the "compression noise". Perhaps in a few years Cd's will go the way of LP's and compressed music will be hallmark of sound. If people can say Lp's sound better than Cd's, why not. Noise must make the music.

Originally Posted by mossman35

I agree. I store all my music in Apple lossless on my ipod and listen at home on Apple TV (digital optical to stereo). I recently put in one of my older DVD Audio Cd's. Quality is MUCH improved. Not sure I would go back to dealing with CD's in the car though.

Would be nice if future Ipods had even more storage and could actually store DVD quality surround sound music.

I had my music at 192kps MP3 and could easily hear the sound degradation. Drove me nuts actually. I gave up on MP3's. Even in the car it doesn't sound good enough for me. At home, forget it!! Like one post said, seems most get used to the "compression noise". Perhaps in a few years Cd's will go the way of LP's and compressed music will be hallmark of sound. If people can say Lp's sound better than Cd's, why not. Noise must make the music.

No! The society won't fall THAT low.

Why MP3? Our cars can read AAC, much better coding algorithm. I encode AAC @ 250kbps. The equivalent quality will be better than 320 MP3, but i highly doubt anyone will know the difference.

i burn my mp3s onto cd as wav...

Originally Posted by 55

320 bit not bad, but CD's are still cool. I would love my logic 7 could play SACDs or DVD -A (dead format, I know). Only Acura does it unfortunately.
People are not demanding these day, so manufactures don't bother.

Sent from my GT-N7000 using Bimmer App

I wonder why Acura still promotes this. There is practically zero content for it. Other than the demo disc that Acura gives you why a bunch of lame songs on it.

I am not sure why they do it now, but some people have DVD-As from old times and they don't mind to have such capabilities.
SACDs would be more relevant off course.
I personally like when manufactures do something different and seemingly irrational.

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MP3's all the way - I have a good ear for music and have played many instruments over the years, but I am definitely not the one in a thousand that can tell the difference between a good quality 192kbps MP3 and something higher quality or not compressed (but then again, I am getting old and can't hear as much range as when I was 20!

I tried MP3s again but hate the quality even of the ones encoded @320. I must have demanding/spoiled ears and am determined to carry on with CDs.