Unfortunately, what's done is done. You threw away some good stuff which your new headphones would have reproduced for you. We all tend to learn the hard way.

Why are you not doing redbook quality wav files rather than mp3 quality? You have obviously spent good money on some very nice ear phones.
File format info
Codec info
Conversion software

I have used NCH wav pad and their switch programs with great success and find them excellent and very affordable in bundles. I have other more expensive software that I do not believe sounds any better.

There are other members who are now using DiscWelder for doing DVD audio at 24/96. The Bronze package is only $99 and with a DVD burner the sky is the limit on quality.

Good luck.

Jim,

You know Jim you keep harping on how old you are but for such an "old" guy you sure know your stuff. and when you don't know you sure as heck learn about it in a hurry. You're right up to speed when it comes to digital audio and compressed file formats and the like. I'm very impressed.

Now tell me something. Don't you think that we (by "we" I mean some of us members here on the forum) should be on JA's case about him getting a hold of Red Rose's Burwen Bobcat and doing a full review of the product. The claims the product is making are rather outrageous and JA has had no problems in the past at pulling aside the curtain on the Wizard of Oz, so to speak. For example, he blew a big hole in Creative Lab's wacky claims with the X-Fi sound card 24 bit crystalizer nonsense. Why is Red Rose getting a free pass?

I will repeat this in a new thread because I think the time has come to make some waves around here.

Anyway, keep up the good work "old man" and you'll be young for quite some time.

I know what you mean, but I do not think the JA is giving him a free pass yet.

John has made it clear the ...so far...usb devices are not up to the outstanding jitter numbers he wants and is used to seeing. I would like for him to review it, as you are right, the claims might be over the top. I have not heard it so I am careful to dis it so fast. It may sound good, but...

What are you using to playback your hi-bit-rate files from DiscWelder? I have just read a piece from WP on an article he found about +R being the recommended format. Have you found a preference in DVD burners?

I am looking at an external from Sony that I could use on both my wife's desktop and my laptop when needed. I saw an internal for $36 that seemed too good to be true.

Supermediastore

Regards,

What I can't understand, Jim, is why, given the price of the Mac Mini, you PC guys don't just get one and make the whole business of working with music easy. If it's good enough for JA, well.......

Guys like Mrdeadfox, for example could be operating in Apple Lossless for less than the cost of his fine headphones. Instead he winds up with iPod output so bad that he might as well use the earbuds that came with it.

Basing what any music lover might want to do on a PC asks you to do too much and gives you back too little.

It DOES support wav and AIFF full format files. You just have to select it in your ITunes software that THAT is what you want. Do not feel bad about not being totally up to speed on this. There is a lot to know and the purpose of this forum is to share info. I have learned much coming here.

I have a IPod U2 model that has 17 gigs+ of only wav files loaded that sound very good for portable audio through my Grado 80s. I just gave my son, Nick 13, my Grado 60s which he loves. I hope to own some AKG 601s in Jan. I can see a MF headphone amp in my future as well.

And, YES Cheapskate, my next computer will be the larger MacMini. I doubt a Metric Halo is in my future (a JA fav) as it is hard for me to dump both my Windows based desktop and Dell laptop recording rigs...at this time. For the recording quality I do they have worked decently. I know my future will be Mac, but that is 2007. I will do some affordable firewire dual-mic preamp interface. I keep looking at the Apogee MIni Me mic pre/dac, but just wish it wasn't usb.
Apogee Mini ME

I to made the mistake of ripping my cd collection using a sub par bitrate. Even at 320k, you still lose a fair amount of quality. I have learned from my mistake and ripping with the new Apple Lossless Encoder available in Itunes. The quality is a duplicate of your cd and plays on any version of IPOD. Hope that helps.

"Redbook" is simply the list of specifications that set out how audio CDs are put together. The Redbook standards specifiy an audio file with 16 bit resolution at a sampling rate of 44.1kHz.

Lossless encoding is a way to store such a file in a smaller amount of space without any loss of information. It is a like a computer "zip" file.

Quote:
So are can wav files truly be Redbook quality then?

A wav file is Redbook quality if it is 16 bit/44.1kHz sampling rate. However a wav file can also be 8 bit/6kHz, 24 bit/ 96KHz or any other bit rate and sampling rate. Wav is just one way to store audio data. A wav file can be high or low quality.

High quality audio files are huge unfortunately. Lossless compression schemes are a way to make the files smaller on disk without loss of information.

Yeah, you have to remember that the actual data content on a 70-minute CD is about 5.6 Gigabits; no free lunch.

(16 bits X 2ch X 42k samples x 60 sec x 70 min...)

Quote:
Yeah, you have to remember that the actual data content on a 70-minute CD is about 5.6 Gigabits; no free lunch.

(16 bits X 2ch X 42k samples x 60 sec x 70 min...)

Actually a CD stores about 700 MB; a DVD, 4.7GB (single layer).

It's still a lot!

I SAID 5.6 GigaBITS...

There are 8 bits in one BYTE.

5.6 Gigabits is the same as 700 MegaBYTES

(If you check the math, in the original post, you will see that it is correct...)

Quote:
I SAID 5.6 GigaBITS...)

You did indeed! Ooooops!