Make It Sound Great!

BigStrip said:

Beuhler?

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Did you mean "Beuller"?

Now, as for your sound system:

An optical connection will work much better, and it's your only option for true 5.1 with a Mac unless you buy an external interface (like the Griffin FireWave) or a new PCI sound card (if you have a Mac Pro).

Also, if you're re-importing, make sure you're doing it from the original CDs and not just converting the files you already made. Your post implies you know this already, but it never hurts to be sure

Apple Lossless files will sync just fine to your iPod, but they take a lot more space than 256 kbps AAC, and you probably won't be able to tell the difference on an iPod unless you're using some SERIOUS earbuds or headphones+amp. Keeping two copies is no problem; I do this, with the lossless for home listening and the AAC for iPod use.

As for SACD and DVDs, someone with more experience than I will have to provide details, but I know Macs won't even read the SACD layer of the SACD. If it's a hybrid disc, you can play the Red Book layer through iTunes, but it won't sound any better than a standard CD.

A quick Google seems to show that Apple DVD Player will read and play the DVD-A discs, but again someone with more experience than I have will need to weigh in on the 5.1 issue.

The trick with high end aaudio, if that is the goal is to make just one change at a time. live with it for a while and see if you like it.

As a first step delete a dozen out so of your CD rips from iTunes and re-rip them on Apple lossless. This alone will make a difference. And maybe enough of a difference that you will want to re-rip everything.

Lossless files are huge and fill up an iPod fast. I have two iTunes libraries one lossless and one compressed. It's a PITA to keep two but so it is.

The cable you use will not make much different in sound, but fiber S/PDIF can carry a 5.1 signal if you happen to have a 5.1 recording

However as an "audiophile in training", you need to learn to look down on people with Home theater setups. None of them are really optimized for music.

You may also want to check out these places, if you haven't already:

http://www.head-fi.org/

http://www.gearspace.com/board/

Not that we MR folk don't want to be helpful, but this is where the hard-core audiophiles hang out, and they'll have TONS of information on specific gear and setups.

Penguissimo said:

http://www.gearspace.com/board/

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good for recording / mixing / mastering, not so much for audiophile, imho.

Penguissimo said:

Apple Lossless files will sync just fine to your iPod, but they take a lot more space than 256 kbps AAC, and you probably won't be able to tell the difference on an iPod unless you're using some SERIOUS earbuds or headphones+amp. Keeping two copies is no problem; I do this, with the lossless for home listening and the AAC for iPod use.

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I know there are several threads out there dealing with this topic, but I'd be interested in your exact setup to keep both in sync.

c-Row said:

I know there are several threads out there dealing with this topic, but I'd be interested in your exact setup to keep both in sync.

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Unfortunately, there's no real trick—just lots of time spent making sure everything is good Whenever I rip a CD (or a batch of CDs) as Lossless, I then convert the files to AAC in iTunes, and tag the duplicate files with "Duplicate" in the grouping field, as well as appending "DAAC" to the album title.

Then I have two smart playlists—one "Best Quality Music" that includes the Apple Lossless files as well as the files for which there is no duplicate (MP3s and AACs I've bought from Amazon and iTunes, for example) and one "Lossy" playlist that includes the "Duplicate" files and the files without duplicates. (There is obviously some overlap between these playlists, which is intentional.)

Then I just have two separate playlist folders—one with "iPod" playlists that use files from "Lossy", and one with "iTunes" playlists that use files from "Best Quality Music". For awhile I had smart playlists set up to detect Lossless files in "iPod" and Duplicate files in "Best Quality"; if they were empty, everything was going well. Then I just set up my iPod to only sync music from playlists in the "iPod" folder.

I wish I had a quicker trick to tell you; it took a long time to get things set up this way, but it was definitely worth it!

Penguissimo said:

I wish I had a quicker trick to tell you; it took a long time to get things set up this way, but it was definitely worth it!

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Seriously, I think this is a far better approach than using two separate libraries. I keep adding and updating my lossless files with composer information and additional (manual) tags, and creating new files from the updated lossless originals would be so much easier this way.

Great idea! Thank you.