amham Posted September 9, 2012 Report Share Posted September 9, 2012 Hi All, I'm a longtime user of Minidisc and continue to enjoy it's convenience and sound quality. However, I have, most probably, a basic question concerning OpenMG Audio(ATRAC Advanced Lossless) with my MZ-RH1. I notice when ripping to my library (using SS 4.3.01.14050) the files are written at 3 times the size as when transferred to Hi-MD and are labeled Advanced Lossless under properties. When I query properties on the file written to Hi-MD they are one third the size and DO NOT state Advanced Lossless. I'm using ATRAC3plus 352 as the transfer mode (no other higher quality choice). Am I missing a basic tenet of this format? Can I transfer the "Lossless" mode to Hi-MD? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sfbp Posted September 9, 2012 Report Share Posted September 9, 2012 When u xfer to md the lossless part is discarded. AAL is a purely computer based life form;-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amham Posted September 9, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 9, 2012 Thank you for the clarification. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amham Posted September 9, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 9, 2012 One additional question sir, My assumption is ATRAC3plus 352 is the highest quality (read: less loss) available. The help files seem to indicate that ATRAC3 encodes at 10 times compression versus ATRAC3plus at 20 times compression (with CD as reference). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sfbp Posted September 9, 2012 Report Share Posted September 9, 2012 ANY lossless codec will regenerate (supposedly) the original uncompressed sound. This is true whether you compress to AAL 132kbps, AAL 256 kbps or AAL 352 kbps..As the bit rate of the lossy part goes lower, there will be more information in the lossy part. Of course playing any of these AAL's on a portable EVEN IF THE PORTABLE CLAIMS TO PLAY IT will consist of playing the lossy part. Face it, portables and their usage patterns really don't demand a particularly high bitrate to sound good. Where Sony (and ATRAC) win (over MP3, and probably some other compressors) is the sheer accuracy and balanced sound even when the sound is much compressed. Even sounds that should be tricky (sustained notes on Clarinet or Horn, loud organ, live opera, solo piano) are frequently (if not always) excellent. However in my personal viewpoint there's very little difference between 256kbps and 352kbps Atrac3+. Others may violently disagree; but there are a significant number of experience posters and listeners here that think that 132kbps ATRAC3 is "good enough" for portable listening. I typically compress WAV (1411kbps) to AAL 256kbps. This converts well to 132kbps ATRAC3. It also allows the 256kbps part to be loaded straight onto MD. You really don't (IMO) need 352. It doesn't play that much better, and it tends to take more overall disk space. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amham Posted September 9, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 9, 2012 Once again, thanks for your reply. No doubt this has been previously covered many times in numerous discussions and I appreciate you commenting once more. For ultimate quality I use an iPod Classic 160gb connected to a portable DAC/headphone amp via the digital out 30pin connector. One can only dream of what may have been with Minidisc and a similar arrangement. Regards Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sfbp Posted September 10, 2012 Report Share Posted September 10, 2012 I kinda like my NWZ-A1200 But it's not clear to me that it has digital out. However I can hear digital out whenever I want by simply playing on my computer (to HiFi receiver), or (in the car) listening to an ATRAC CD..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amham Posted September 10, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 10, 2012 It is not the digital out that imparts the quality, that is the starting point. It is the external DAC and headphone amp. See www.ibasso.com or http://cypherlabs.com/ for well respected devices. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sfbp Posted September 10, 2012 Report Share Posted September 10, 2012 Understood. I was talking about Sony, not Apple. Sorry for that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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