[benji]

Haha.. If the files you are downloading are compressed then you are doubly buggered... I have bought one song on I tunes foolishly ignorant of the file formats they offer.

[Tifoso]

Yeah, get yourself some proper headphones, P. Those Apple ones are terrible. I have a ziploc bag full of new ones just to give to my kids when we go on trips. They are disposable.

This is one of my many pairs. Get these.

http://store.apple.com/us/product/TX584Z...headphones

[kt0626]

I like the Grados personally...OG looking and great sound...silly money though....

[Big Vern]

Haha.. If the files you are downloading are compressed then you are doubly buggered... I have bought one song on I tunes foolishly ignorant of the file formats they offer.

They offer different formats?

[Tifoso]

Ken, get some custom in-ear monitors. Talk about life changing.

[benji]

Not on the download I just got? There were no options.
This one: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/overproof/id595745336
Did I miss something? I was an I tunes virgin...is beat port better?

[llcoolgee]

Is'nt i tunes MP3 only? Beatport offers all "lossless" formats, WAV etc ands costs the same as itunes. The big difference is that Beatport doesn't have the catalogue. I use Beatport alot for me Techno and actually think the service ispretty decent

[Tifoso]

iTunes gives you 256kps AAC files when you download. Honestly, I would wager that most people could not tell the difference between that file and CD quality.

If you really want to hear something special, listen through a D/A converter.

[llcoolgee]

Agreed Mike, you would only really be able to notice the difference at high volume, in a club scenario. MP3's can and do sound woefully short against Wavs. Tinny with shite bottom end.

[benji]

High frequencies are definitely squished together, subtle differences between hats, cymbals and shakers are lost.. This is now the norm, so much so that mixes emulate the shitty compression of mobile phone music.

[llcoolgee]

Horrible innit

[Lorrie]

I can't tell the difference between file formats, but I appreciate that others can. I can only tell when the mix is fucked beyond belief, like the first Foo Fighters album or Metallica's St. Anger.

[Tifoso]

Ben's correct. It's all in the production/mix. In the end, I'm sure a well-mixed MP3 could sound every bit as good as a shit-ily mixed 96k, 24 bit track.

(Same exact thing goes for video, BTW)

[llcoolgee]

is it not about the conversion though? Albums/trax are not generally produced as MP3's are they? They are converted/compressed becuase of size of data. Am I right, or is my view too simplistic.

[Tifoso]

If Ben's as smart as I think he is, he's not talking about file compression but rather the kind of dynamic range compression that is used during the recording process. It basically reduces the volume of the louder parts of the signal so that the whole signal can be increased. Result: more perceived volume without distortion. Compression is the reason that commercials seem so loud when they go to a commercial break while you are watching a television show. Pop radio DJ's are also known to use a shit ton of compression.