Any reason to rip to flac instead of 320kbs MP3s for car listening?

Well, we're talking about the audio technical specs of music files, not how much you can fit on a RAM device or disk.

 

Right, somewhere in that neighborhood. Have played an I-Pod through a JBL car system. Difference between lo-bit and hi-bit I-Tunes files was audible. I guess I had more confidence in the lossless files, maybe's there's something to that. When I think 'higher bit rates', I think of what we've got used to via DVD-a, SACD and Blu-Ray sound. I would imagine that 64kbps-48kbps sound would sound both chewy and metallic.

 

Speaking as someone who used to make a little money recording classical music, all sorts of sounds would be covered by road noise. Maybe not in a Rolls Royce, certainly in a Prius.

 

I would suggest a sense of humor primer!
Or you could explain to us whether you mean building into my decaying chassis a system of microphones, signal processors, amps and speakers, or maybe try acoustically enhancing the sound, or maybe the use of sound absorption panels and different acoustic attenuation medium. I'll stick with NPR.

 

I don't use FLAC but AIFF in my library but if I am putting something on either my iPhone or iPad for portable use I allow iTunes to convert on the fly to AAC for synching and I am perfectly satisfied with those results in those circumstances.

 

I was asked that specific question, and my response was in answer to it. We'll probably be fine in this thread without your policing. Thanks!

 

I just rip everything to FLAC because I can't be bothered to have multiple formats. The digital library is big and complicated enough as it is.

 

in my car I can hear this ...same Iphone app(tuneshell):
MP3 128-192 mud background music that don't get to your brain
MP3 320 - AAC256 much better splash, ride cymbals the definition of the guitars get better
FlAC/ALAC more punch, floor toms etc in metal music, Fusion like Pat Metheny you hear that Steve Rodby bass much better...city traffic more tolerable;-)

 

Well, it is possible you were responding to someone I have on ignore.

 

Q: Any reason to rip to flac instead of 320kbs MP3s for car listening?

A: Yes. Mode of listening (car) aside, once you either think or realize that 320kbps is possibly inferior-sounding, you'll just have to rip again!

 

I recommend either 256kbps or above AAC in Variable Bit Rate.

I usually used VO in MP3 but recently switched to 425kbps Variable in AAC but really only because I overkill stuff.

 

Could you figure that out and get back to me?

 

What are you driving that has a quiet enough environment for that level of discernment? I think my car is pretty quiet, and I drive almost entirely on country roads, but I'd have to be sitting with the car off to make out those differences and then it would only be on REALLY well-recorded material I was very familiar with. Sounds much more like what I tend to think I would hear at home, honestly.

 

I was really excited after I ripped a bunch of cd's (like Radiohead) to 320kbs for listening in my car via an iPhone 5. I was fully expecting to be very satisfied with that quality level.

However, after listened to them, I found that I really wasn't getting into the music. I was like, wth..., then put in the CD and found my head bopping to the music and my body really responding more to the CD.

I was very surprised as my deck isn't that great, but there is definitely something different about mp3's and CD's, at least in my experience.

 

Just curious, how does the iPhone connect to your car system? If it's by using the headphone out jack as a line out jack, sound quality will suffer significantly.

The 30 pin connector had line out leads built in. With Lightning devices, some kind of outboard DAC is needed. I've had really, really, great results from an Oppo HA-2 as a line out device of an iPhone. But a much less expensive approach is to acquire an Apple Lightning to 30 pin adapter, which has a tiny DAC built in.

 

This is my approach (sort of). I rip everything in ALAC, but I have set iTunes to automatically convert to 256 AAC for my portable devices. In any situation that I'm using those I'm not overly concerned with ultimate fidelity, and this allows me to fit more music on them.

 

I have no problem with 192kbps w/VBR files for "on the go". Only way to get the bulk of my collection on a 120GB iPod Classic (I also keep a highly abridged version of my library on my phone). Can't do anything less than 192kbps, as then I really notice it (swooshy cymbals), even in a noisy environment. All those files also exist at home in FLAC form (and in most cases on physical media as well), for more critical listening when desired.

My head unit (Pioneer AVH 4100NEX) can handle FLAC files, but I haven't really explored that feature yet.

 

The stereo systems in a Honda Fit (at least older models...maybe they've upgraded since then) is pretty mediocre, at best, so I keep a separate set of files ripped at between 96-128 HE-AAC to fit more tracks on my iPhone. Yes, I can hear a difference, but not enough to care while I'm driving. If I had a Prius or something super quiet that made for a good listening environment, that would be a different animal.

But if your car makes a normal amount of engine/road noise, I don't think it matters a whole lot, especially when plugging into an aux input in the dashboard. I've found whatever components are behind that input, it's generally not very good.

 

That is exactly my take on this. When I'm at home sitting in the sweet spot all this stuff matters. When I'm driving I'm concentrating on the road, other drivers etc. so I'm not focussing on little audiophile details, etc.

 

In this day and age of fast computers and cheap storage, I would rip everything once and right to lossless. Then, down convert from your master lossless source for portables if need be.

That way, you have your perfect lossless source and avoid future re ripping yet still have the flexibility for mobile friendly file sizes

 

well, if you put enough duct tape on there, it may work as a great sound absorption device

or whatever the term was....sorry i am too lazy to go back & find it

 

I can not prove this to you but:

Listen to the highest quality, everywhere. Right now, listen to RAW .AIFF digital audio files in your car.

I was completely surprised in the difference audio quality makes in a car. I thought 256kbps conversion of all my .AIFF files in iTunes to my iPhone was ok. I've got a 32GB iPhone 5 and thought "Sure I can put about 400 songs from one of my custom smart playlists and still have room to spare." Well, testing out my trial to Tidal (I had saved the tracks in offline mode - to the phone) and even at 65mph I heard a noticeable difference. No question. I decided that my days of compressed files are getting more limited. I now use .AIFF in everything.

What changed was I signed up for Tidal a few months ago and started streaming FLAC quality files. This is not plug for Tidal, but the point here is when I play lossless or uncompressed audio I was reminded of the distinction that CDs have over lossy or compressed files. Of course I still wanted the convince of having as many songs with me. I was not going to give that capability up.

Why .AIFF? Well I like raw formats. Why mess around with question of does play .FLAC? ALAC,AAC,MP3 or Ogg Vorbis? .AIFF is a raw format and plays on more devices that I realized, moreover my iPhone 5 plays them with out issue.

Do not be concerned with storage, most devices can hold more than a 6 CD Disc Changer locally. If you need more music, the 1990's called and they want their CD storage visor back (most cars still have CD players). CDs are still what keeps us attached to physical storage and until the many streaming services offer us CD quality or better, CDs are your best choice.

Conclusion: Keep your music in RAW format. Listening to .AIFF in a car is better than listening to AAC files. Do not destroy your music or your listening experience.

Bill

 

I have to say, really distorted 45RPM singles on cheap record players, or bad cassette decks with built-in speakers, or (god help me) 8-track players don't sound much better. Bad sound for mass-market audio has been a factor for at least 50 years. Though there are aspects of bad MP3s that are actually worse in some ways, particularly with that metallic distortion.

I think it's a waste of space, and AIFF files also can't hold image files or the amount of metadata you can with ALAC or FLAC. I would argue that running AIFF or WAV files also sucks a tremendous amount of battery life in a portable player, so it's bad in that respect, too. Lossless playback really is lossless.

When I owned a Lexus LS-430 for about five years, I had no problem with MP3 or AAC files at 320K, even at a modest speed -- and that's a very quiet car. If you can tell the difference between a 320kbps file and a WAV file 10 out of 10 times, in a car, you should head on over to the Hydrogen Audio forums and tell them of your amazing ability.

 

Only you can answer this question.