kh6idf;318408 Wrote: > Maybe it would help if you could describe what you hear as 'crappy' when > listening to the 128k streams and I can compare it to what I'm hearing.
I think such a calm reply to a post containing the word "crap" deserves some feedback:) I had a quick listen to some tracks on Rhapsody (which incidently is now 192kbps and already a fair improvement from 128kbps) and compared with my cd-rips. Basically what I find lacking is resolution and texture. To me that means that the reverb-sounds, which are very important for percieved sound quality (e.g. 3d-ness) just aren't very good. I also believe that the texture thing is the popular name for harmonics. So while the sound is detailed in some sense, there is always something missing. To me its particularily easy to hear in vocals, making them sound thin. At 128kbps it even goes so far as to starting to sound tincan-ish. The bass I don't have any comments as it is has proved difficult for me to achieve particularily good bass control in my listening environment (I don't like or have headphones, but the difference between lossy/looseless tends to be even more striking in headphones). Lossy encoders aren't stupid, they don't remove separate sounds, but they do remove texture and fine details, or more specifically they assume that in a full "orchestra" sound picture, some sounds dominate others to the extent that the latter can be removed or added without audible effects. Of course this is true up to a certain not well defined limit. I had a listen to the following tracks which you could try if you've got Rhapsody. Carla Bruni on Those Dancing Days are Gone from No Promises. Or both the guitar and vocals on Rose of my Heart by Johnny Cash of A Hundred Highways. On cd-rips I can hear the individual strings being hit, while the whole thing is more messy on Rhapsody. You could also try movement no. 4 from Elgars Cello Concerto directed by Barbirolli and performed by Jaquline du Pre. But my point eariler was also that its relative. Even 128kbit sounds better on my main system than on my Audioengine 5's which I have praised and recommended to many. Anyway, sorry about the long post... -- bhaagensen ------------------------------------------------------------------------ bhaagensen's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=7418 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=49648 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
