iPod Whats The Highest Quality A 7G Classic Can Play?

[jakesaunders27]

Hi All,
Just wondering whats the highest possible sample rate and file type the iPod Classic 7th Gen can play?

Thanks

 

[deluxeshredder]

ALAC (Apple's take on lossless compressed audio format) is.

 

[jakesaunders27]

Alac.

Awesome, thats apple lossless right?

 

[macs4nw]

Hi All, Just wondering whats the highest possible sample rate and file type the iPod Classic 7th Gen can play? Thanks

It can store and play various 'lossy' formats with sample rates from 8 to 320 Kbps, some with VBR, but at the top of the quality 'heap' are AIFF files, which are the highest quality supported.

These are uncompressed, bit-accurate copies of the original file, but Apple lossless, ALAC for short, creates as the name implies, lossless, but compressed, files which are naturally smaller in size, but for all intents and purposes the sound they produce upon playback on good equipment is just as good for any, but the most discriminating listeners; you know, those with 'golden' ears and the most esoteric equipment, some of whom who claim to be able to hear the difference.

 

[jakesaunders27]

It can store and play various 'lossy' formats with sample rates from 8 to 320 Kbps, some with VBR, but at the top of the quality 'heap' are AIFF files, which are the highest quality supported.

These are uncompressed, bit-accurate copies of the original file, but Apple lossless, ALAC for short, creates as the name implies, lossless, but compressed, files which are naturally smaller in size, but for all intents and purposes the sound they produce upon playback on good equipment is just as good for any, but the most discriminating listeners; you know, those with 'golden' ears and the most esoteric equipment, some of whom who claim to be able to hear the difference.

Thanks, so for maximum listening experience I should be listening to AIFF?

 

[macs4nw]

Thanks, so for maximum listening experience I should be listening to AIFF?

Before going any further, I want to just remind you of the obvious that none of this applies to content downloaded from the iTunes Store, or similar music download services, as their maximum bitrates are relatively low, at 256Kb/s in the case of the iTS.

If however you are talking about HiRes files such as those from HDtracks and the like, or even encoding your own CDs, I would suggest to do some comparison sound tests on your own. Try encoding some HiRes source material using AIFF as well as ALAC, and see if you on your equipment can hear the difference, and then decide if AIFF is your best option or if you can safely preserve your content with ALAC.

Personally, I can not hear the difference between ALAC and AIFF, and I have fairly good equipment, but ymmv. In fact many people get more than satisfactory results with AAC-320Kb/s, with or without Variable Bit Rate (VBR, which saves storage space, by creating smaller files). It just seems that with the low cost of storage, ALAC would be a bit of future-proofing.

Feel free to check out a few other posts I have done on this subject.

https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=17766062#post17766062
https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=18938023#post18938023

 

[Nermal]

but for all intents and purposes the sound they produce upon playback on good equipment is just as good for any, but the most discriminating listeners

Apple Lossless is bit-perfect; there is no difference in quality between ALAC and AIFF, no matter how good your equipment is.

 

[jakesaunders27]

Apple Lossless is bit-perfect; there is no difference in quality between ALAC and AIFF, no matter how good your equipment is.

cool cheers