was wondering if anyone had thoughts on how good the audio quality is with ipod to budget audiophile stereo(cambridge 540A and PSB image B25 bookshelf speakers) considering logitech, belkin tunestage(would wait until 2.0) or bluetrip
would mainly use itunes downloads or burn from original cd
In iTunes, go to Preferences > Advanced > Importing. Choose "AIFF", "WAV" to keep the original CD resolution. Choose "Apple Lossless" to keep the resolution with smaller file size.The other files formats are compressed. AAC is better than MP3.
Your iPod will then be as good a source as many CD players.
thanks john so let me get this straight. when i burn(import) a pre-recorded cd on to my computer use AIFF or WAV. and what type of file would best be used with "apple lossless" setting.
it also seems that itunes uses it's own settings when buying itunes.
Yes, that's right. AIFF (audio interchange file format) is usual for CDs. Take a look at an audio CD as if it is a data CD, and you'll see the file type.
Yes, iTunes you buy are 128 kbps"AAC" files. AAC sounds better than MP3 for the same file size. But you can do much better than that if you import from CD, and change the preferences, as I suggested. "Lossless" is as good as the original CD files.
john so if i am importing pre-recorded cd's i should use lossless not AIFF? is this just when importing?or also when i play the imported cd's on itunes?
"so if i am importing pre-recorded cd's i should use lossless not AIFF? "
Same sound quality. Lossless files are compressed so the file is smaller and you can get more on your ipod or hard disc. If you burn a CD track from lossless, it comes back to aiff and is just the same as the original, that's my understanding.
"is this just when importing?or also when i play the imported cd's on itunes? "
Just when importing. iTunes plays CDs in the CD drive at full resolution.