Lossless (ALAC) iTunes downloads?

I haven't bought any vinyl in recent years: one would like to think that pressings were done to a consistently hgh standard, but that was never the case in the past. There was always a wide variation in quality; and there are so many variables. Cuttng discs is an art in itself and can introduce a lot of problems: and the pressing process (master, matrix, mother, stamper) has every opportunity to bring more issues. I have a number of LPs which still sound really very good; but also a lot with unacceptable distortion, noise and pitch instability.

Roger wasn't the pitch instability really being addressed toward the end of the consumer turntables in the early 1990s?

Best records I ever heard were a friend's half speed master's collection. He had all professional playback (also an audio engineer). I think he might be a tiny bit younger than you and he's 10 year or so older than me. I've been into this stuff since I was a small child and have been mixing live mostly, and to a more limited extent in the studio for 29 years.

My earbuds are future sonics and I can hear a difference in quality, but it's ever so slight. I did buy the latest Daft Punk from HD Tracks just because of the difference in the samples between iTunes and HD Tracks. Not sure if there is a real difference there, but it did sound different and I really didn't want it to. I can't put my finger on it. Which was better may be subjective and would reqire double blind testing, but the difference I heard I would not dispute. I've learned not to trust my ears and brain 100% because the power of suggestion is so strong. I have listened to sample of the rush albums they have and I could not hear a difference between those and what I already have either imported or purchased through the iTunes store.

Decent turntables are fine: the problem was always off-centre centre holes. These are located manually using a microscope during the pressing process (you'd think they would be derived from the acetate master but apparently not) and I have to say some manufacturers were not as careful as them might be. (I once had a row with Decca over this very thing, in 'Gotterdmmerung' of all things. I wrote to the MD and in the end they re-pressed!)

A lot of late pressings were much thinner than earlier LPs and this renders them more liable to warping (which doesn't have to be very much to cause problems).

What was interesting was the advent of digital recording towards the end of the era. I've got several LPs cut from digital masters and there is a distinct improvement in transients: tape inherently smudges transients because the repro head can 'see them coming' whereas a well cut disk is capable of good results. CDs however handle them much better - I actually had to upgrade my amplifier because piano recordings needed more power for the same perceived volume because of the higher level of the transients.

I can tell all of you right now that I can hear not only a difference but an OBVIOUS and BLATANT one between a 128-256kb bit rate song and the 1000kb bit rate counterpart from a CD rip. To say that there is no difference between 5 to 6 times the resolution is asinine and unsubstantiated. Firstly, your output capability must match your source data. For example, youre not going to hear a clear difference between anything playing it through your experimental paper cup speaker you made in physics class.

Saying that, youre not going to hear any difference between any input if your output is sub-par. And by sub-par I mean your $3 ear bud headphones or your old sony boom box, most stock car stereos, or any of these minute speaker systems that are very popular these days. Get your hands on a high quality home or car audio system and do your A-B-X test and hear the difference. I once did an ABX test for one of my school professors and scored a 100% I could tell him which was which within 2-3 seconds of the sample. He was not amazed either. He played and prepared the test through a computer system WMP and a set of klipsch speakers.

Legend for the lamen: input=song,music,sound sample

output= speaker, sound amplification system

Thanks to Alice, best explanation of lossless vs lossy that I've read. I recently re-ripped all of my CDs to lossless and after months of listening and comparing to my 256 AAC tracks, I converted them all to 320 mp3. I simply couldn't hear any difference, and I am picky when it comes to sound reproduction. The only people who ever tell me that cd or lp is better than lossy are those trying to sell me more equipment like dacs!

That said, the 128 AAC tracks were a rip-off.

Thanks to Alice, best explanation of lossless vs lossy that I've read. I recently re-ripped all of my CDs to lossless and after months of listening and comparing to my 256 AAC tracks, I converted them all to 320 mp3. I simply couldn't hear any difference, and I am picky when it comes to sound reproduction. The only people who ever tell me that cd or lp is better than lossy are those trying to sell me more equipment like dacs!

It's very dependent on various factors: the type of material, how good your equpiment is, how sharp your ears are. If you are using small bookshelf or even computer speakers you are unlikely to hear any difference. I have expensive Bowers and Wilkins speakers, and I'm a retired sound engineer and mixer, so I'm fussy - and I can hear the improvement from CD to SACD (even though my top frequency of hearing is now 11 kHz, which actually is pretty good for 71), never mind the improvement from AAC to CD. Lack of distortion and odd 'underwater' artefacts on compressed recordings, and smoothness and clarity of midrange; internal detail, precise stereo location - these are all things which improve as you move up, provided you are using a commensurate playback system.

It all boils down to trying things out and settling on the setting that suits you.

I was hired to tune a new system in an old theater (first band after i was there was vampire weekend) and I have to say that with approx 175,000 watts of Crown power behind the system I can hear a difference. Ymmv.

We all know how fussy vampires are about audio 🙂

Roger Wilmut1 wrote:

We all know how fussy vampires are about audio 🙂

They are also very picky about punctuation. 🙂

Punctures rather than punctuation, I would have thought...

No need to insult CA dude!

I have purchased several hundred tracks at HDTracks and they do sound much better than the 256 files from iTunes, especially if you have the HiFi equipment that brings out the differences. Hopefully the rumors are true and Apple will be offering high resolution audio files this fall. I hope there is someway I can upgrade my 8,900 iTunes tracks without having to repurchase all of them at full price!

2Tahoebum wrote:

I have purchased several hundred tracks at HDTracks and they do sound much better than the 256 files from iTunes, especially if you have the HiFi equipment that brings out the differences. Hopefully the rumors are true and Apple will be offering high resolution audio files this fall. I hope there is someway I can upgrade my 8,900 iTunes tracks without having to repurchase all of them at full price!

I might reword that "especially" to "only." 🙂

I hadn't heard that particular rumor that you report, but it is certainly interesting, and let's hope it comes to pass.

I love music and I like apple, BUT as long as i cannot buy lossless music in iTunes, I buy my music somewhere else!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes. Click the little X at the upper right of iTunes, and buy from one of the online music download stores that sell in lossless format.

Simply the best answer!