Thanks, all these comments have been helpful. I ripped over 1,200 songs using iTunes AAC at 192kps/VBR and loaded on my iPod... now, I've come across something that is driving me nuts.
I first noticed it after my girlfriend asked me to throw some of her tunes (ripped/copied from various sources, mp3 format at various kps) onto my iPod, and she commented that her songs "sounded better." At first I thought she was trying to tell me my taste in music sucks; but after listening to some of her songs, they obviously play back "louder" and "crisper". My next thought was this was because most of my songs were ripped from older CD's, but I then noticed that even recent releases from my library sounded dull compared to her songs.
I then made several copies from a CD of the same song and loaded on the iPod:
1) using iTunes, AAC format at 192 kps/VBR
2) using iTunes, mp3 format at 192 kps
3) using MusicMatch, mp3 format at 192 kps
Both selections #1 and #2 sounded comparable to eachother in loudness (slight edge to #1 in quality), and dull compared to #3, which sounded more consistent with the quality of the other songs created outside of iTunes. It wasn't even close. I looked at my settings in iTunes, but couldn't recognize any settings that would account for this. Am I missing something? Should I be using an app other than iTunes to rip my CD's? I'm not looking forward to ripping all these songs over, but will gladly put in the time to get it right.
Has anyone else experienced what I've described above?