Tridactyl Posted December 5, 2005 Report Share Posted December 5, 2005 (FYI, I posted this on another Sony community site but perhaps this is a better place...)Sorry if this has been answered before but I can't make any sense of the ATRAC conversion process.I have been ripping CDs to ATRAC using SS 3.1 (now upgraded to 3.3) on my laptop. Lately, I started buying music on line in WMA format (192 kbps/44.1 kHz) and converting to ATRAC on the fly. Eventually, I transfer everything to MD for playback either on my portable MZ-NF520D or MZ-S1. I've been using default values when ripping CDs and the WMA files import quickly.Weird thing is that I end up with files in various bitrates and I have no idea why. The files ripped from my CDs end up stored either at ATRAC3plus - 64 or ATRAC3 - 132 kbps (sometimes I even have both bitrates available for the same song).The WMAs convert real quick and end up stored in ATRAC3 - 132 kbps. All files (CD and WMA are sampled at 44.1 kHz).The problem is that I never know what I will end up when I transfer the tracks to my NetMD players. If I say transfer the music "as is" then I end up with a mix of LP2 and LP4 files on the player. If I want everything to be the same format then I need to down sample everything to LP4 and then the sound's not that great. I'm obviously doing something wrong here...I read about higher bitrates (like ATRAC3plus - 192 or higher) and I wonder if I can "upscale" the files I already ripped or if I need to rip everything again. Also, how can I configure SS so the higher bitrates are used as a default?I'm not offered a bitrate conversion choice when I import WMA files. They go straight to ATRAC3 - 132.By the way, I mostly use Sennheiser MX-500 earbuds or Sony MDR-G52 headphones. I'll sometimes hook one of the players up to a pair of Sony amplified speakers (SRS-37) which sound ok except for the lack of bass.I find the sound is quite acceptable with the earbuds and speakers but I'm very unhappy when I use the players in my car via cassette adapter (sound comes out quite distorted, even when I turn the player's volume way down). Same thing when I hook up the players to my Sony Receiver.I'm currently considering getting either a HiMD player (MZ-DH710 or MZNH700) or the NW-HD3 as a possible upgrade path to my NetMD players. I would like to stick to a Sony based solution due to my current investment in MD equipment. I would just like to know what I'm doing wrong with SS and how can I improve audio playback in the car and off my Receiver (am I expecting too much from the headphone jack output??).Any feedback/advice would be greatly appreciated...Sorry for the long post... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tridactyl Posted December 6, 2005 Author Report Share Posted December 6, 2005 I guess I'll reply to my own post... I've been doing a lot of digging (various Sony web sites and SonicStage help files) and I think I know what I've been doing wrong.SonicStage was configured to automatically rip CDs to Atrac3plus 64kbps so all my CDs ended up at the lowest quality and (if I understand the methodology right) saving these files to my NetMD player in LP2 format simply made matters worse (transcoding to a higher bitrate).My 192kbps WMA files were only converted to ATRAC when I saved them to my NetMD device. If I selected LP4 then I would end up with an ATRAC3plus 64kbps file on my hard drive. If LP2 then the file would be saved in ATRAC3 132kbps. I thought SonicStage would only convert and transfer the ATRAC file to the portable device. I wasn't aware it also left a copy of the converted ATRAC file on my hard drive so that's something I'll need to monitor before I chew up all my free space.I've gone back and deleted every LP4 file off my hard drive and converted everything to LP2. The tracks sound a heck of a lot better at 132kbps and I can fit about 3 CDs worth onto an 80 minute disk.I'm still considering getting a HDD based player but I'm concerned about how many tracks will fit on a 20 Gb unit like the NW-HD3 if you're not using 48kbps. I'm still trying to find the best compromise (quality vs compression) and I'm not sure going LP2 is the best solution.Does ATRAC3plus 48kbps sound anything near Sony's claims (like 128kbps MP3)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greenmachine Posted December 6, 2005 Report Share Posted December 6, 2005 In my very subjective opinion, 48 and 64 kbps Atrac3+ sound nowhere near as good as a properly encoded 128 kbps mp3, LP2 only slightly worse. For me, 128 kbps mp3 is usually the lowest limit of good quaity for portable music listening. With good headphones, it might be worth to use even higher bitrates in the ~200 kbps range. How about a native mp3/wma player? Quality could be a lot better without transcoding. With 20 GB you can fit more than enough on it even at higher bitrates. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KJ_Palmer Posted December 6, 2005 Report Share Posted December 6, 2005 Under Tools/Options in SS3.3, there is a button which allows you to delete all 'temporary' ATRAC files that were created when transferring WMA,MP3, PCM files etc to ATRAC devices. I think that would take some of the donkey work out for you. 48kbps sounds dreadful, though some people think it's OK. I doubt it's as good as a well encoded 128 MP3. I wouldnt go anywhere near it (48k)myself... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tridactyl Posted December 6, 2005 Author Report Share Posted December 6, 2005 Under Tools/Options in SS3.3, there is a button which allows you to delete all 'temporary' ATRAC files that were created when transferring WMA,MP3, PCM files etc to ATRAC devices. I think that would take some of the donkey work out for you. 48kbps sounds dreadful, though some people think it's OK. I doubt it's as good as a well encoded 128 MP3. I wouldnt go anywhere near it (48k)myself...Thanks for the feedback. I'll use this in the future to delete the temp files.I guess switching to MP3 encoding might be a good incentive to get a HDD based player like the Sony NW-HD3 (or one of the more recent A-series models now on the market).In my very subjective opinion, 48 and 64 kbps Atrac3+ sound nowhere near as good as a properly encoded 128 kbps mp3, LP2 only slightly worse. For me, 128 kbps mp3 is usually the lowest limit of good quaity for portable music listening. With good headphones, it might be worth to use even higher bitrates in the ~200 kbps range. How about a native mp3/wma player? Quality could be a lot better without transcoding. With 20 GB you can fit more than enough on it even at higher bitrates.I would have thought ATRAC to be a superior codec to MP3. From what you're saying, this isn't the case even when using the higher bitrates... This is good feedback. Helps me plan for my next player purchase Cheers,Tridactyl Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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