amateur audiophile system

What's the source?

cd, lossless, mp3?

KooBrewoP said:

mostly mp3, how much of an improvement is losless?

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i think with a good source losless is a huge improvement over mp3

KooBrewoP said:

mostly mp3, how much of an improvement is losless?

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If you're using standard mp3 encoding then forget about audiophile quality sound.

Lossless should sound like the cd.

KooBrewoP said:

im an amateur audiophile trying to set up a decent mac based system - how much will this setup actually improve the sound quality in real terms? Is the increase worth the cost? and is this the best way to go about it?

http://headphones.com.au/psingle?productID=366 + http://www.dansdata.com/images/hd280/hd280_800.jpg




tnx


P.S - 2Ghz MacBook

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I have the HD280s and I love them. I have them comming out of my m-audio profire 2626 and also loved the quality comming from my i-audio xl5
..

everyone else is right if you want quality you wont really use much mp3. Lossless is the way to go. Personally I use FLAC for lossless and if I use compressed files it will be MP3: v0 or 320.

I got the HD280s because they are closed and better for recording vocals. If you dont require your headphones to have closed backs then I'd look into the 555s

Setup is pretty good, I've got a similar setup with older amp w/ HD-595s and it sounds pretty damn amazing.

KooBrewoP said:

ok so assume i use losless, what about the setup? - is it the best way to go etc?

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MP3 @ 320 kbps will give you an indistinguishable sound most of the time. You'd only be able to tell the difference with a really really serious system.

In terms of it being 'the right way to go', if headphones are what you want, then definitely. You've ticked all the right boxes and should get a stunning sound.

I still insist that even the best headphones don't sound as good as a decent budget hifi system though.

I usually rip all my stuff at 192. You're saying that if I ripped at 320 I wouldn't be able to hear the difference on my Mac or my iPod? I have a decent speaker arrangement on my Mac and at 192 it sounds great. You think I'd gain anything by re-ripping my library at 320? Or would that just be a waste of hard drive space?

You certainly would notice a difference.

You would hear the difference between an iPod and the original CD - the output from an iPod isn't as good as that from good CD players.

KooBrewoP said:

is there a noticeable difference between the normal sound output from a macbook to a mac pro? - does a better sound card make a lot of difference? And what sound quality do you get from a DVD or a game? - CD quality?

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After using my MacBook as a desktop for a year, and having it connected to some really nice speakers and using my Mac as a stereo, I can definitely tell you that once I upgraded to a Mac Pro, the sound is 10 times better on those same speakers.