Ipod/Itunes and NAD hifi

yacinekanoun · 22nd January 2006

I have an ipod, a sony computer with itunes. Classic.

I would like to manage my music from either my itunes or ipod but use my NAD powerful hifi system to listen to my prefered music in the living room....
The result is very weak: non steady sound, very weak sound, low quality... what interface should i use to get a powerful result: quality and music management at the top?

Many thanks if you went through that before.

yacine

Karl · 22nd January 2006

Don't use an iPod, that's the only solution, anything you download from iTunes is 128kbit/s AFAIK, which is pretty poor quality for use with any sort of hi-fi separates, if you're going to rip your CDs to your iPod then you want to be looking at 192kbit/s at a min, probably even VBR with 192kbit/s min if you want to get better quality rips. Other then that, there isn't a deal you can do as even a relatively cheap 3.5mm to RCA lead is going to do the job fine (All this rubbish about expensive cables etc. I don't buy in to it).

Cameron Gray · 22nd January 2006

Technically ALL digital media will be lossy, as the standard 44.1KHz/16bit/2 channel/65536 level CD encoding gives an overall data rate of 1.4112 Mbit/sec.

Adaptive rate codec offer the better space/quality comparison but aren't so portable.
These rely on lower quality levels where the sound waveform is simple and then get more detailled (i.e. higher bit rate) when required.

Karl is right, at least when it comes to copper interconnects (although using the really high-end stuff does give a noticable difference). I noticed a huge difference when I swapped the PC->6.1 audio system to using a NLOC fibre interconnect. The bass was a lot richer (and seemingly more varied) and gained more differentiation in the higher ranges too.

*disclaimer* Above observations may only be in my head

Karl · 22nd January 2006

IMHO, with cables once you are past a certain low price point, any difference is in your head, sending analog signals down a cable isn't all that demanding at the frequencies used in audio, and there's plenty of physics to back that one up. Certainly if we're talking stuff as thing as bell wire, then some decent guage copper is going to be better, but much after that and the cable companies are laughing all the way to the bank.

Cameron Gray · 22nd January 2006

I agree, but it's also to do with the impedence of the copper too.

Regular 2.5mm copper spool v. the low impurity 2.5mm over the 15m I have for the rear speakers the difference was 1-3 Ohms. For a low-voltage audio driver that's a lot. Even if the difference is just amplitude it means that softer tone frequencies may be detected by the listening device ... i.e. my deaf head.

I agree the difference, if any, is in the beholder and incredibly subjective... But hey if I think it sounds better...

Karl · 23rd January 2006

Indeed, that's why i've got semi-decent OFC, but still not mega expensive, about £2/m I think.