which mp3?

markgar

We are considering transfering our cd collection to an mp3 player.
We want to then use the player as our main source of music at home.
Which would be a good choice to get with a compatible speaker docking station. Thanks for any advice

amcluesent

Has to be 80Gb iPod, rip your CD using AAC encoding rather than mp3 format for better quality if your are playing back via the hi-fi.

woo

iPod here too.. with a bose sounddock for me.
Know others (wolfman ) don't like the bose, but i love mine

wolfman

- git.

It's actually probably the best solution to recommend for the situation. Depends what you want in terms of listening. Spent around £1,000 on mine, which I'm happy to (if I close my eyes it's virtually like I'm there) but not everyone wants to spend anywhere near that.

Aiadi

amcluesent wrote:

Has to be 80Gb iPod, rip your CD using AAC encoding rather than mp3 format for better quality if your are playing back via the hi-fi.

I would strongly recommend that you Rip your music using EAC and Encode the tracks with LAME as MP3s and not AAC. Careful testing (see Hydrogen Audio) showed no difference in quality between MP3s and AAC at bitrates higher than 192 and MP3s are more flexible and future-proof as you won't need to be tied up to iPods but can use any MP3 player.

wolfman

Aiadi wrote:

I would strongly recommend that you Rip your music using EAC and Encode the tracks with LAME as MP3s and not AAC. Careful testing (see Hydrogen Audio) showed no difference in quality between MP3s and AAC at bitrates higher than 192 and MP3s are more flexible and future-proof as you won't need to be tied up to iPods but can use any MP3 player.

Good point, although from the ABX tests I've seen it really depends upon the music and the tester. I personally would prefer AAC, and given the right track can usually spot the mp3 (at bit rates of around 225Kbps).

I wouldn't necessarily say Mp3 is more future proof. It's currently more widely supported, but AAC has a firm grounding which will no doubt only increase over the years.

If you're going to pick a lossy codec, Ogg Vorbis is the best with regards to quality, or at least always scores top or close, in any tests. It's a completely free, open source codec, usually more at home with the Linux community or audiophiles.

Only problem is it limits your choice of hardware (ie no iPods unless you fancy using Rockbox firmware, which I do). It's a movement I like to support though, an open source and royalty free format.

amcluesent

I guess the 'golden eared' can debate the AAC/MP3 question; IMHO for classical music MP3 always (even with LAME Insane) sounds 'closed' and has heavyness of tone that is fatiguing to listen too for any period of time. AAC at VBR 256 never sounds processed or tired. And rips you do yourself in iTunes don't carry DRM that prevents replaying on other devices that support the AAC codec.