Furutech Cruise/stride

[drw]

I am in the market for a dac/amp & having the option of being mobile is appealing if a quality unit is avaliable. I am starting from scratch so have yet to buy anything, my short list so far are Brainwavz B2s & thats as far as i have progressed. Can anyone advise me if the cruise is worth considering or am i better off looking at a non portable for quality in that price range & buying a cheaper mobile dac/amp.

[Drubbing]

Not really any point in buying a mobile DAC/amp combo. Canal phones don't need either, and the sorts of phones that do are probably best left inside.

[Marcus]

Source is the first thing to consider

[drw]

i am useing an ipod with download setting s at 128kbs (vbr) i cant use apples lossless due to storage capacity (8gig), as i say i am starting from srcatch so a new mobile storage device for a better source can be on the agenda can you suggest a unit?

[Marcus]

Actually, yes!
We have some new mp3 players arriving any day now that would be a great place to start

[kelvinyap9]

as i say i am starting from srcatch so a new mobile storage device for a better source can be on the agenda can you suggest a unit?

Sansa Clip+ 8GB + 32GB SD Card = 40GB storage (Can fit HEAPS of songs if you transcode you FLAC to something like MP3 V2/V0)

Marcus is playing around with a few secret portable units, so might want to hold back until he announces those

[Drubbing]

Stop buying/ripping 128s and up your bitrate. You don't have to go lossless, 224-320 is as good as to most ears. Otherwise when it comes to a better source, you're still locked into an average bitrate.

[drw]

have a look at this http://www.kenrockwell.com/apple/itunes.htm in relation to bite rate down load requirements, just thought i might learn something from this forum if this info is poor

[Drubbing]

"iPod and iTunes sound completely transparent (identical to the source CD) at the right bit rate! "

That's because his iMac sound is probably only as good as his iPod. Having both myself, I'd have to agree, neither are bad at all. A good DAC will sound better than both though, with a decent bit rate that is well ripped, and today most of it is. Unless you've a pirated file with no idea of its origin - it might have been a badly encoded 128 blown up and compressed and re-ripped a dozen of more times.

[drw]

all my music is either ripped or bought, no pirates, i don't believe in it. i will play with the bitrate & look for the difference, my current phones are sennheiser hd 500a & px 100, not ideal thats why i am updating & researching. thanks for your time.

[theeyealtering]

Hearing no difference is perfection, and I got that at 128kbs variable bit rate.

I gotta say... If you can't hear the difference at 128kbps, even with the newer iterations of the codecs, either your equipment is very low quality or your hearing is poor.

[Marcus]

128kbps is really, really low - these days storage space really isn't an issue so there's absolutely no reason you shouldn't have your music collection in 192+ if not 320kbps.
There is definitely an audible difference between 128kbps and above, unless it's a really good 128kbps codec and the equipment reproducing the audio isn't that great.

If you have a small music collection/don't care about portable as much, go lossless.

[Riverback]

Yep, go at least 192kbps. That's the lowest I'll go on my library unless its just an acoustic piece

[Buffalobiian]

It depends on the song.. but the chances that I notice lossless vs 320kbps mp3 is high enough that it warrants storing all music in lossless for me now.

It's not only dependent on your equipment and ears, but also noise floor. I would consider mine much lower than your average bedroom.

As for going portable and/or listening near traffic.. don't even bother.

That's not to say you can't get awesome lossy files though. AAC >>> mp3.

[grevillea]

My understanding is that iTunes downloads have been a minimum of 256K AAC for the last 2 years or so. I have bought a few tunes in this format/bitrate and they sound great on my T51 and on my Win7 laptop. When I'm ripping CDs, I just copy the WAV files and use F2K to convert the wav to FLAC - again, the results sound great from both sources.