sfbp Posted October 19, 2008 Report Share Posted October 19, 2008 What is the purpose of Atrac Advanced Lossless format?I noticed that the loss of OMA keys did not affect files in this format, which I had used to import some CD's. Does this mean that it is independent of the machine on which the files are generated?Is there any device that will play this format? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rosjos Posted October 20, 2008 Report Share Posted October 20, 2008 Is there any device that will play this format?The last of the ATRAC compatible walkmans (NW-S70X and NWA80X) support ATRAC Lossless (whereby the lossless file is transferred to the player). This gives uncompressed playback of music, saving some of the filespace that would be taken up by a full WAV file - but nowhere near as much as storing music at 352kbps (which is undistinguishable from full WAV IMHO).In terms of HiMD, if you rip CD tracks into Sonicstage at "ATRAC Lossless 256", then the 256kbps compressed segment is what is transferred to the player.Also, as stated above, it will allow uncompressed playback of a file from a PC or ATRAC compatible hard drive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sfbp Posted October 20, 2008 Author Report Share Posted October 20, 2008 Interesting. Odd that ATRAC discs were never playable in any component (as opposed to portable). The MP3 playback is (for me) a revolution - stuff that doesn't matter much for fidelity I can get 14 hrs on a CD. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Batman Posted October 21, 2008 Report Share Posted October 21, 2008 PCM on 1GB Hi-MD's ever since .Ditto.Quality is one.A. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluecrab Posted October 22, 2008 Report Share Posted October 22, 2008 For portable playback, pretty much, but not with a home high-fidelity set-up, I -nearly regrettably, as it resulted in me selling all my standard MiniDiscs - discovered the difference in sound quality recently when upgrading speakers ...PCM on 1GB Hi-MD's ever since .When I upgraded my speakers and also my CD player, the difference between CD and [standard] MD became all too apparent. I still find MD acceptable, even on my "big rig," but it just does not sound as good as CD. With a lesser CD player and speakers, I never really noticed it all that much. For a long time I wondered what "near-CD quality" really meant, and now I know. It would be tempting to go the Hi-MD PCM route, but my hearing is deteriorating anyway and these days, like a lot of people, I'm not tossing cash around like I did even a year or two ago. Guess I'll stick with what I've got for now. And it is fun to play with my almost-twin MXD-D400 decks (one is US and one is JPN). I'm also well set up at work to use STD and LP MDs (and CD) via a small amp and 'phones. I think when you get right down to it, all digital audio is a compromise in some way, as none of it sounds quite like true analog sound. Gets pretty close, though....late night ramblings :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sfbp Posted October 25, 2008 Author Report Share Posted October 25, 2008 I find that the audio I am getting from Type-S playback of LP2 is good out of all proportion from what I might expect from 132kbps. I don't have a HiMD deck, so I cannot comment on HiMD playback at all, since we all know that portables are subject to rigging of the output, hence all the volume hacks etc.The only thing I use PCM for is live recording. It's very helpful to have a greater dynamic range when you cannot guess or adjust the incoming sound to fill the data bits. (maybe some tech expert will explode this remark, but I think it might be correct). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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