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

[daycartes]

I have a wireless in the A4

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.