rumblefish Posted December 16, 2006 Report Share Posted December 16, 2006 I got some feedback from Ishii:'If capacity is not an issue, aim for ATRAC3plus 352kbps or 256kbps'But, I'm using SonicS. 4.2 and I don't seem to have those options.Under Transfer Mode Settings I can choose either 'Standard' or 'ATRAC3' transfer. Under Standard I can set bit rate to 352kbps, but under ATRAC3 i can only set max. of 132.I don't seem to see anything related to ATRAC3plus.Any further suggestions would be very useful.Many thanks in advance Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kerfuffle Posted December 16, 2006 Report Share Posted December 16, 2006 Atrac3plus is standard. So 256kbps should be there somewhere.Really, it depends on you and your ears. Try a couple of bit rates and see what you like. I can deal with atrac3plus at 64kbps but some people can't stand anything under 192kbps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnisahShurfa Posted December 16, 2006 Report Share Posted December 16, 2006 All my songs are in ATRAC 64 kbs, and it sounds great to my ears. I once did an experiment, in which I listened to the same song at different bit rates -- 64 and 352 -- on my NW-S703F. Honestly? I can't hear any difference whatsoever. And thanks to the fact that all my songs are only 64 kbs, I can fit 500 songs in my 1GB walkman. Unless you're ears are very sensitive, there's no need to go for the 100+ kbs. Instead, just fiddle around with the equalizer until you're satisfied. (I HATE the equalizers that have already been set in the walkman.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rumblefish Posted December 16, 2006 Author Report Share Posted December 16, 2006 thanks for the feedback...i've got 6gb on my NWA1000 - even with 320odd tracks on there, i've still got around 2gb left so plenty of room to mess around with higher bit rates if that's all there is to better sound quality, in this context...i don't know if i can/could tell the difference, but i take comfort from knowing i've got the best quality out of something Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
navsimpson Posted December 16, 2006 Report Share Posted December 16, 2006 In terms of quality and bitrate, the first thing you need to think about is how you rip or import. If you've ripped at 64kbs, then transferring at 352kbs will in fact sound even worse on the device i.e. you've taken a compressed file and compressed it again. So, you first need to rip your tracks at the bitrate you want. Transferring at any bitrate other than the native one will result in a significant loss in sound quality. So, what bitrate have you ripped at? If you've ripped at the bitrate you want, then using 'Standard' will simply transfer with no changes. I believe that the NWA series supports all the possible ATRAC3+ bitrates.Personally, I like to have the highest sound quality I can, even when I can't tell the difference really. However, when riding the bus, there's definitely no way I can tell the difference between 256 and 352, or sometimes even 192 and 352. Sure, when I'm walking down a quiet street I might be able to, but not normally. If you have really good speakers or headphones hooked up to your PC, then ripping at high bitrates may be useful, but if not, using 192 should give you a good balance of quality and file size.-Nav Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rumblefish Posted December 16, 2006 Author Report Share Posted December 16, 2006 -Nav - that's some good feedbck - thanks.I'm ripping @ Advan.ATRACLossless with Recording Qual. = High.I've got a lot of available disc space, so if there's a better option, i could probably go that. Realistically, how does this stack up against WAV?I use Sennheiser CX300 ear-phones. I've tried many but these are the best i've come accross. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
navsimpson Posted December 16, 2006 Report Share Posted December 16, 2006 I know it sounds contradictory, but what 'bitrate' are you ripping using Atrac Advanced Lossless? AAL keeps a lossy copy along with the lossless copy - so if you rip at Atrac lossless 352, you'll keep lossless on your pc and have 352 transfer over to your NWA series. Since it doesn't sound like space is an issue for you, that's what I'd do. Standard transfer will do that automatically - no transcoding (i.e. changing from one bitrate to another) required.-Navp.s. sorry about the slightly rambling nature of my posts - my brain is a little fried. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rumblefish Posted December 16, 2006 Author Report Share Posted December 16, 2006 -Nav - so if i understand you correctly, i should rip using AAL (currently set @ 352) and then transfer using Standard Transfer option, yes?However, Standard Transfer option on SonicSt. 4.2 still has a checkbox option - Specified Bitrate Transfer mode. Do I need to set this to 352 too, or leave as is?This issue's just become more significant for me since i had a rush of blood to the head and have just ordered some Ultimate Ears super.fi 5Pro earphones...(i live in UK and right now $ is v.weak against £ so it's a good time to buy stuff from US that you don't really need!)...many thanks for your feedback. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
navsimpson Posted December 16, 2006 Report Share Posted December 16, 2006 rumblefish - Nope, just leave it on standard... and enjoy! -NavP.S. Terribly jealous of your headphone purchase Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rumblefish Posted December 16, 2006 Author Report Share Posted December 16, 2006 -Nav - appreciate your input - and the other folks here too.One final question; as i've been scouting about i've seen this WAV option which says '...highest quality...'. Is it worth ripping on this setting and transfering as previously stated?As for the earphones - if i remember i'll report back and give my review... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rumblefish Posted December 17, 2006 Author Report Share Posted December 17, 2006 OK - anyone who's interested here's what i just did in pursuit of best quality playback...as i commented, i noticed that WAV was 'highest quality' so i imported some CD tracks making up a particular playlist with wav setting. then i transferred those at ATRAC 352.so i had one nwa1000 playing this playlist with these settings, and another nwa1000 playing same playlist on my previous setting - transfer was the same, but the original content had been imported on AALossless @ 352.i used sennheiser cx300 phones on both players. i've gotta say, there wasn't a lot in it, but certainly i could here less background hiss between tracks on the wav original content version. i really like these cx300's, but i guess the better the phones you're using, the more you'll be able to appreciate the difference.i also guess many people might know all this already! so this is just for the benefit of folks like me who know next to nothing about this kinda stuff...as a side comment; one of the nwa1000's i picked up in Japan - the other is a UK/EU model that i'd taken the volume limiter off - so both have no vol. limiter. For sure the Japanese unit delivers noticeably higher volumes at same volume setting. I also noticed transfer speeds to the Japanese unit was a lot faster. As far as i can tell all settings are the same on both units and in SonicS., so who knows what that's all about... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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