Luke Dunstan Posted August 25, 2011 Report Share Posted August 25, 2011 Have a read through this, if you think i'm being hostile i apoligise as it's not my intent. It just gets tiring telling people the same things all the time. I had a s**t day yesterday, and don't know when to give up when I'm wrong. Apologies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomm Posted August 25, 2011 Report Share Posted August 25, 2011 You'll probably be wanting to update your audio library to decent quality before you go dropping some dollars on speakers and amps and shit. If you don't you'll have loud audio for sure, but it won't be clear, quality audio if you're playing it from an ipod. Excuse my French, but I think this is bollocks. Yes, an iPod is never going to deliver the highest fidelity audio, I completely agree. But can you get decent sound out? Yes, of course. There is way too much mythology and snobbery in the world of hifi, so I thought I would do as good a scientific test as I could: My amp (Cambridge Audio A1Mk3) + speakers (TDL Nucleus KV1) iPod video playing freshly ripped MP3s Yamaha CD Deck, I don't remember the model but it was a couple of hundred quid. Both inputs via (decent) coax cables into adjacent sources at the back of the amp. Played the same song in MP3 format off the iPod and CD from the deck, syncing the audio so there was no delay. Basically this setup allowed me to quickly switch between MP3 and CD quality, whilst keeping the amp/speakers constant. At 256kbps, none of my 5 flatmates at the time could perceive any difference at all between the sources, until we tried much lower quality (64 and 96 kbps) when all of us could hear the difference. At 128 it was fairly borderline, a couple of people said they could tell the difference - I couldn't. I don't claim to be an audiophile at all but I do appreciate the clarity that is gained by stepping up from a Sony / AIWA / Phillips etc all-in-one unit/ computer speakers, to a half-decent amp and speakers. I would absolutely insist that an iPod playing via decent speakers is far better than a CD playing through average ones. I'm sure with £1000s worth of amp and speakers, some people will be able to tell the difference between high bitrate MP3 and lossless. Fair enough. To say that you need to update your library to lossless before upgrading from PC speakers? Pfft. I had a s**t day yesterday, and don't know when to give up when I'm wrong. Apologies. Takes a big man to do this. It looks as though Eskimo has taken on the baton though... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke Rainbird Posted August 25, 2011 Report Share Posted August 25, 2011 Maybe my post came across a little stronger than it should - I simply mean that given the general library quality of most home audio users the majority of files tend to be in either VBR, 128 @ 22k Hz, or 240kbps. Ensuring you don't have anything less that 240 where possible will help deliver much clearer audio, not to mention keeping the sampling rates up which will give a much better range on your output. It's considerably cheaper/easier to sort a decent enough quality source before dropping a fair chunk of wedge on hasrdware. Merely advice to help the OP get the best results out of whatever new system he ends up with. Ripping mp3 straight from a CD won't necessarily make any difference to the quality, provided you rip at the best quality you can as you're playing the exact same file - of course there won't be any difference. If you're using downloaded music or that that's not at a decent quality rip that's when you'll start seeing the differences Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eskimo Posted August 26, 2011 Report Share Posted August 26, 2011 There is way too much mythology and snobbery in the world of hifi, Like this thread you mean? Anything below 320 sucks. Also Ipod sucks. I can notice the difference through my Bose. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krisboats Posted August 27, 2011 Report Share Posted August 27, 2011 Excuse my French, but I think this is bollocks. Yes, an iPod is never going to deliver the highest fidelity audio, I completely agree. But can you get decent sound out? Yes, of course. There is way too much mythology and snobbery in the world of hifi, so I thought I would do as good a scientific test as I could: My amp (Cambridge Audio A1Mk3) + speakers (TDL Nucleus KV1) iPod video playing freshly ripped MP3s Yamaha CD Deck, I don't remember the model but it was a couple of hundred quid. Both inputs via (decent) coax cables into adjacent sources at the back of the amp. Played the same song in MP3 format off the iPod and CD from the deck, syncing the audio so there was no delay. Basically this setup allowed me to quickly switch between MP3 and CD quality, whilst keeping the amp/speakers constant. At 256kbps, none of my 5 flatmates at the time could perceive any difference at all between the sources, until we tried much lower quality (64 and 96 kbps) when all of us could hear the difference. At 128 it was fairly borderline, a couple of people said they could tell the difference - I couldn't. I don't claim to be an audiophile at all but I do appreciate the clarity that is gained by stepping up from a Sony / AIWA / Phillips etc all-in-one unit/ computer speakers, to a half-decent amp and speakers. I would absolutely insist that an iPod playing via decent speakers is far better than a CD playing through average ones. I'm sure with £1000s worth of amp and speakers, some people will be able to tell the difference between high bitrate MP3 and lossless. Fair enough. To say that you need to update your library to lossless before upgrading from PC speakers? Pfft. I have a nice setup and even then i find it quite hard to tell the difference between flac and 320kbps. Especially if it's a song i haven't heard before. For songs i'm familiar with though i can usually spot an mp3 under 320kbps. Saying that though, i usually find my crappy rear speakers more of a distraction than any difference in bitrate That said, i'd look into new speakers and then slowly update my library once they were in place. Room characteristics will be more noticeable for 99% of people than bitrates yet nobody ever mentions room calibration. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Topsy Posted September 4, 2011 Author Report Share Posted September 4, 2011 ok, I'm not at all interested in bose, so there's no need to argue A friend of mine had some and they got terrible after 5 years.. Well, i got this denon DRA-455 from my dad as he doesen't need it anymore with a pair of B&W LM1s. So I now just still would like a sub.. Don't actually know if I can connect them to this receiver directly. Would I need something more? Looks like this (from behind) at the moment: thanks a lot! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krisboats Posted September 5, 2011 Report Share Posted September 5, 2011 That amplifier looks like it'll do the job nicely and those speakers are a little old but if in good condition will still sound pretty good. Only issues i can see are that your sub has no dedicated subwoofer pre-out channel. This means you will need an active (active subs have their own amplifier built in) subwoofer that can take a feed from the speaker cables. I'm also unsure if you can set a crossover point or a low level filter to your main speakers with that amp which means the speakers may distort a little if pushed really loud. If it has a filter you should set it to 100hz or maybe even 120hz so you can get the best out of the B&W's. I really do recommend the BK electronics subs as they are the best subs for the money. The amp plates on the subwoofers will hook up to your system easily as well. All you do is use the spupplied neutrik speakon cable to plug the sub into the left and right speaker terminals on your denon amp. The gemini is a cracking little sub and outperforms subs from other manufacturers that cost significantly more. Though if you were willing to pay the extra the XLS200 gives you the advantages of being more powerful and using a peerless xls10 driver. That said, both BK subs would blow equivalent priced units completely out of the water. You'd need to start looking at this page before you matched them and page 5 before you could out perform them. Considering the gemeini is just over £200 that's quite a difference. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Revolver Posted September 5, 2011 Report Share Posted September 5, 2011 Lol at how far into the video I got before I could even hear anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krisboats Posted September 5, 2011 Report Share Posted September 5, 2011 Lol at how far into the video I got before I could even hear anything. My sub starts making a noise at around 23 seconds in. Although i have no idea how good his camera is at recording low level sounds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Revolver Posted September 5, 2011 Report Share Posted September 5, 2011 About 27 seconds before anything serious comes out of the sub. I'm only on some logitech stuff, X530 I think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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