Best Music Quality

[Passatier3]

Haven't had much chance to listen to recorded music in the car yet, mainly the radio so far. Have put a CD in though and recorded a few albums on an SD card. CD sounds great but the music on the SD card sounds a little thin (imported from CD's and converted to MP3 at 193 mbps IIRC) though I haven't had the volume up that loud. Anyway just wondering what the thoughts are for storing music for the best quality? I've got AMI so got plenty of options.

[Wuffles]

320kbs with Variable BitRate (VBR) minimum in our house. That tends to sound the business, but I'm no audiophile - plus we don't have the Bose you have either. I heard somewhere ('scuse the pun) you have to run the speakers in on the posh stuff. Look into that if I were you.

[JohnEx]

Agree with Wuffles on the bit rate for mp3 files. I use a 250GB USB drive connected to the AMI. It's a WD passport drive probably no longer made as it's around 4 years old. It sits in the armrest and the connecting cable to the AMI keeps it wedged in pace across the tray. Every CD I own is on this drive so I've no excuse for not finding something that I want to listen to. I did notice that the Bose speakers sounded better after a few hours running but it still doesn't sound as good as the B&O system that I had in the A4 before this. I also find it (the Bose system) very sensitive to the type of music, some stuff sounds excellent and while other stuff can sound really grating. Probably to do with the production and mastering.

[Passatier3]

Thanks for the info. chaps. I did have a play around with the settings earlier - reduced the treble and increased the base and it sounded a lot better. My wife has an I-Pod so I used her I-Tunes software to import the CD's but the max. rate was the 193 kbs (not mb as I quoted!) - I'd like to up this as per your example - what software do you use to import at the higher rate? Cheers.

[Doctle Odd]

I have a wireless in the A4 :biglaugh:

[daycartes]

I have a wireless in the A4 :biglaugh:
That's bluetooth then?

[Doctle Odd]

More like rotten coffee/tobacco stained teeth

[Wuffles]

Thanks for the info. chaps. I did have a play around with the settings earlier - reduced the treble and increased the base and it sounded a lot better. My wife has an I-Pod so I used her I-Tunes software to import the CD's but the max. rate was the 193 kbs (not mb as I quoted!) - I'd like to up this as per your example - what software do you use to import at the higher rate? Cheers.

Mac, Windows or other?

[Passatier3]

Windows - just being looking at I-Tunes and have been able to increase the quality to 320 so will give that a go. Thanks again.

[Wuffles]

Stick with what you know. Make sure it's VBR or you can end up with huge files when there's no real need.

[diecastsink]

Is there GALA setting with Bose? Setting it to "driver" (with standard audio) makes the sound quite flat.

[Passatier3]

Don't know, I'll have a look at the handbook/the car when I get home. If there is I'll certainly be trying it, thanks.

[johnsimcox]

GALA and Sound Focus are two separate things. GALA adjusts the sound depending on speed and road/engine/wind noise and sound focus optimises the output settings to put either the driver or the centre of the interior at the centre of the sound. I think all both Bose and Standard have both these options

[diecastsink]

Yep, correct. Sound focus is what I mean and it can be found under DSP together with GALA. But still, I agree that music or podcast from SD card is worse even with focus set to "all".

[Passatier3]

Have started transferring some of my albums again at 320 kbps and had a bit of a listen. That's more like it! :D

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction.

[ti rich]

I find the music quality from the SD card at 320kbps better than via the AMI/Ipod. Quite a difference to my ears!

[Passatier3]

Was the music on the I-Pod imported at a lower kbps though?

My wife has an I-pod though I don't, but if it was going to provide better quality, or another device e.g. HDD, then I'd get one, but ultimately as it's only providing the source I guess it doesn't matter, it's the quality of the source i.e. the level it was imported at, that is the most important thing.

As said, I'm now very happy with the quality from the SD card so will probably just stick with that. I suppose the alternatives are good if they already hold the music you want to play or need greater storage capacity?

I'm importing my music from CD's and the only downside is the time it takes to import an album at the higher quality, worth it though.

Still got to master getting the cover art to show though. I've put the jpeg in a folder for the album along with the tracks but it's not coming up on the screen.

[ti rich]

Same bitrate off the same NAS server.

[Passatier3]

Interesting. I'm definitely sticking with the SD card then! :D

I'm guessing (I do a lot of that!) that the quality from the SD card is better because the AMI is reading a pure file whilst from the I-Pod it's being degraded by the electronics? Will do for me! :D

Do you get the artwork to show?

[ti rich]

Do you get the artwork to show?Yes artwork shows fine!

[MFGF]

Still got to master getting the cover art to show though. I've put the jpeg in a folder for the album along with the tracks but it's not coming up on the screen.

If you're importing your music as mp3 there are two variants of ID3 tags that can be used to store track metadata within the mp3 files (including artwork) - ID3v1.1 and ID3v2.x

It may be that you have no artwork in the tags, or artwork in one variant but not the other? Or you might have multiple artwork images in ID3v2? You can check (and modify) these tags with an MP3 tag editor - I use a free one called Reezza.

Cheers!

MF.

[Passatier3]

Thanks MF - I think I may have to spend a little time on this! :D

Obviously the music's the most important thing but as you can display the artwork it would be nice to do it.

[Whippy53]

Quick question, what class cards are you guys using? class 4 or 10?

[Passatier3]

Mine's a Class 10

[Whippy53]

Thanks, wondered if it would make any difference, can't see it but you never know.

[Wuffles]

Thanks, wondered if it would make any difference, can't see it but you never know.

Think it'd only affect speed of read/write (more importantly write) which the Audi won't be doing. I'd go for the cheapest "real" one you can find.

[Johnny31]

Quick question, what class cards are you guys using? class 4 or 10?
So, you could go with class 6 - just to be on the safe side! LOL
Jokes aside, it should really make no difference whatsoever (other than read/write speed as wuffles suggested)...

[Whippy53]

Sandisk class 4 it is then!

[Goal flag]

I purchase a SD Card from Amazon last week, pretty good value for a know brand.

Sony SF16N4 16GB SDHC Memory Card: Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories (http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0034HDRH4/ref=oh_details_o06_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1)

I've transferred (at 320kbs with Variable BitRate) 21 Cds worth of music to the card and still have 12gb of space left. I ripped the CD's into itunes as MP3's then dragged them onto the card. If anyone is planning on doing the same, get the album artwork for the Music before dragging to the SD card. I forgot to do that on my music files and the album artwork is not displayed on the MMI screen (itunes automatically sourced the artwork for some CDs during the ripping process).

I can see me wiping the card and transferring the music, with all album artwork, over the weekend :D

[Passatier3]

When playing some albums, on PC and in the car, that the quality is poor (all imported from CD's at 320kbps) and sound crackly and distorted.

Have they been protected to stop copying do you think?

I've taken the affected ones off the SD card now.

[Wuffles]

When playing some albums, on PC and in the car, that the quality is poor (all imported from CD's at 320kbps) and sound crackly and distorted.

Have they been protected to stop copying do you think?

I've taken the affected ones off the SD card now.

How to Recognize and Rip Protected Audio Music CD (http://www.co-bw.com/DMS_how_to_rip_copy_protected_cds.htm)

It's generally quicker to just illegally* download the album in 320kbps format from elsewhere.

There's always a way around these things if you've got the time or ability.

*of course that's open to interpretation when someone is attempting to stop you from using something you have bought

[Passatier3]

Thanks Wuffles.

Whilst I mentioned protection I'm wondering if that is the case as it did copy it , just poor quality. Happened with The Corrs, Eric Clapton etc.

I tried copying in another format i.e. AAC but that was just as bad.

I've still got plenty of music to listen to but as you allude to is annoying when you have bought it legally.

[Wuffles]

You can try one of the tracks "real time" instead of ripping the 0s and 1s so to speak. That'll obviously kill any copy protection, but it'd take as long as the album is to play (plus some fiddling time) and you'd have to strip the start and end silence out of the tracks, and yadda yadda yadda. Much easier to find someone who's done the hard work for you.

On a mac there's Audio Hijack, but I'm not sure what would be useful to you on a Windows box.

PM me with the album name as I'm curious now? I'd say put it in this thread but it might upset someone. Unless it's allowed - Chris?

[Wuffles]

Right: Copy Protection problem with CD ripping - MP3 Players - Home Audio (http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/55289-6-copy-protection-problem-ripping)

Suggests Nero or something other than iTunes. In my old PC days it would have been EAC (Exact Audio Copy (http://www.exactaudiocopy.de/)) which is probably well worth a go. Just to see if the errors exist through that.

You might need to configure it for mp3 output and set the rates etc. Sometimes things don't come with an mp3 encoder installed by default due to licensing, but it's not a major issue, they're geared up for showing you where to get it and how to put the functionality straight back in there. Plus some people prefer a different mp3 encoder, fussy, just fussy.

[Passatier3]

Thanks Wuffles, worth a go.

[daycartes]

I've copied using WAV lossless. Whilst the playback isn't as good as my home system it is perfectly acceptable with good treble and deep bass and I can feel the sub woofer somewhere in the car. I have found it to be a fairly simple process of ripping the CD and then syncing with the SD card afterwards. The bit rate is 1411kbs and I have at least twenty albums on my SD card with room to spare.
Apples are not the only fruit.

[Wuffles]

Into audiophile territory there. Personally I couldn't tell the difference between a WAV, a FLAC and a decent enough MP3 encoding. I could certainly tell the difference it would cost me in disk space at chez Wuffles though.