I know I just posted about streaming music services, and I just bought a squeezebox Boom (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001DJ64D4/?tag=googhydr-20&hvadid=3800222301&ref=pd_sl_53tzawaceq_e), which is really an amazing little box with good sound for such a small footprint. But that got me thinking, what happened to high quality audio? Have we sacrificed quality for portability? At first the advent of MP3s was a welcome solution to transporting music files from one local to another, but do we even care about audio quality anymore?
The average user probably rips music at 128k bitrate, or whatever the default setting is if they rip at all. Most radio streams are 128k or at most 192k, but in listening tests you need 256k bitrate to have no discernible differences between CD and MP3. What about another more universal measure of audio quality on equipment, Signal to Noise Ratio. Remember when every CD, receiver, and music listening device would be plastered with the SNR number? I don't think Apple even publishes the SNR for the ipod (5g), but CNET lists it as 83 (http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-11297_7-6510133-2.html). I think my old portable CD player was near 95 SNR. So if no one is listening to music anywhere near what is was originally created to sound like, are musicians less concerned about quality during production? Tools for the Audiophile Ripperhttp://www.exactaudiocopy.de/
http://www.accuraterip.com/Audiophile Resources
http://www.head-fi.org/
http://www.audioholics.com/
http://www.avsforum.com/
http://stereophile.com/
0 comments:
Post a Comment