In what format do you listen to your mp3s and CDs in you HiMD?

[lalomania]

Hi,

Until this day ive only transfered CDs to my MD, but im starting to transfer Mp3 too, so i wanted to know how you people listen to them. And i had one question, is there any sense in transfering a 128kbps mp3 to 256 atrac? or should i just use 128 atrac or inferior?

I'm quite clueless when it comes to kb/s.

Well, i'll start. I listen to both CDs and Mp3s in atrac 256 (hisp)

[greenmachine]

Only on Hi-MD generation no.1 mp3s need to be transcoded to atrac to be playable. It depends on the quality/bitrate of the mp3 to which atrac bitrate i would transcode it to if necessary. Without transcoding i use ~190kbps vbr mp3s and Hi-SP most of the time, best quality/size ratio for me.

Edit: Forgot to answer your question. If you transcode 128kbps mp3 to HiSP, you will hardly lose quality, but lots of space. If you transcode to LP2 (132kbps atrac3), you might lose some quality, but hardly any space. Have you considered 192kbps and/or re-ripping directly to atrac? Atrac3+ @ 128/320kbps are currently not possible on Hi-MD.

Edited August 5, 2006 by greenmachine

[raintheory]

For mp3's on my RH1 I usually just transfer as-is...

For all other formats I usually stick with Hi-SP 256kbps.

[KJ_Palmer]

Most of my MP3s (not very many) are at 160 so I use that. HiMD at 352k mostly.

[danielbb90]

I'm at 64, (When I use my Hi-MD player).

I mainly use my iAudio U2 now at mp3 vbr q6,

I mainly use for traveling so anything too high is a waste of power and space.. lol

[The Low Volta]

until I got my RH1 I used HiSP (256kbps) for ripping CD's to HiMD. Now that I have got my RH1 and the HiMD music transfer software for mac, I'm ripping my CD's to my 12" powerbook with Lame 3.97 (beta 2, Jan 20 2006) @ -V4 --vbr-new and I transfer them as MP3's to my RH1

this gives me lots of room, good transparant quality and it is easily done with my mac. Only drawback is the lack of gapless... so still a few albums and most of my own live recordings are put onto discs in HiSP (256kbps) with the use of my PC (mostly SB for CD's and SS only for my own live recordings)

PS: I use my HiMD's for listening on the move mostly as well, but I do hear the difference in SQ... LP2 is ok for noisier circumstances but not really for close listening, lower bitrates are unbareable (I don't mind listening to music at non-100% SQ on the move... but it still has to sound like music ) and 352 is overkill space/SQ-ratio wise... so HiSP is the best option. But MP3 -V4 --vbr-new simply gives about the SQ of HiSP at the space of LP2

PPS: perhaps an edit of this poll is necessary: remove the non-HiMD bitrates and allow an MP3 'as is' option

[Richard]

* Poll edited per request

[The Low Volta]

is it a bird? is it a plane? no it's superfast modding! thanks for the edit, Rich! (unfortunately I already voted ... and I chose PCM for MP3 out of protest for the lack of 'as is' option )

[Richard]

is it a bird? is it a plane? no it's superfast modding! thanks for the edit, Rich! (unfortunately I already voted ... and I chose PCM for MP3 out of protest for the lack of 'as is' option )

I edited the vote count to reflect your preferred choice.

As-Is gets an extra vote and PCM for MP3 loses one.

[pata2001]

I only use Atrac for gapless. Other than that, I stick with MP3. As for Atrac, I used to use HiSP, but since I still have some legacy MD units, I ended having to re-rip/encode to LP2. As much as I like HiSP's quality, I stick with LP2 now mainly to save time and better compatibility.

[Roamer]

For live recording , I use HiSP or PCM.

For albums listening, I use regular MDs in LP2 so I can put them in my Sharp MDLP unit, and LP2 is good enough in the train.

Edited August 7, 2006 by Roamer

[heathenmagic]

Most of the time I use 256 Hi-Sp for most albums and compilations.

I have been experimenting with 132 bit rate for older stuff. Like 60's songs, soul classics, stuff that doesn't have much bass and not much going on in the high end. It sounds like a good trade off on playback. Anybody else have an opinion?