Which format do you prefer?

I gotta go with FLAC on this one, although I have to say that lately I have been taking a liking to cassette tapes.

I was so much of a play it once to tape to cassette using dbx noise reduction kind of guy.  For those who aren't familiar with dbx, it was (is?) superior to Dullby.  I swear you could make a cassette that sounded just as good as the original.  Of course if you played it back on a non dbx deck it sounded like crap because it used compression to get over the tape hiss and under the distortion.  RIP cassette collection 9/21/09. 
Eh, my last dbx deck had quit working years ago anyway.  But I lost some good live stuff taped off the radio.


Edited by Slartibartfast - October 11 2010 at 14:53

Slartibartfast wrote: I was so much of a play it once to tape to cassette using dbx noise reduction kind of guy.  For those who aren't familiar with dbx, it was (is?) superior to Dullby.  I swear you could make a cassette that sounded just as good as the original.  Of course if you played it back on a non dbx deck it sounded like crap because it used compression to get over the tape hiss and under the distortion.  RIP cassette collection 9/21/09.  Eh, my last dbx deck had quit working years ago anyway.  But I lost some good live stuff taped off the radio.

128kbps mp3.

Nathaniel607 wrote: WalterDigsTunes wrote: For vinyl to sound great: 1. Need a first pressing. 2. Needs to be on non-recycled vinyl. 3. Needs to be played on expensive equipment.  And yet... 1. Dynamic range is still limited. 2. Surface noise is ever-present 3. Quality degrades every single time the needle runs across the surface 4. Dust accumulation. 5. Effects of gravity during storage. A CD, on the other hand, sounds as perfect today as the day it rolled out of the factory in 1985. I want to say, this is the last opinion I expected Walter to express... I definitely had you pinned as a vinyl guy. Wait... what's that at the end... WalterDigsTunes wrote: the day it rolled out of the factory in 1985.

CDs were among the best musical developments of the eighties. Adios format-inherent hiss!

Vinyl. I remember as a kid picking up Mr. Squire's Fish Out of Water on vinyl, running home, and listening to it on earphones. A deep, resonating experience (even with the snaps, crackles, and pops) that was other-worldly. I just can't seem recreate it with the Japanese import version. Two different animals.

Vinyl!

... what is up with admins moving polls where they can't be voted in?

Todd wrote: SaltyJon wrote: Todd wrote: Well, I prefer CD, but for convenience I rip everything to WMA so I can fit lots of music onto my three Zunes (two 120 and one 80), which I listen to at work with a Kicker docking station.  But I have all the CDs back at home, and usually that's the format I listen to at home.   As a sidenote, I am quite amazed at the 5.1 mixes of artists such as Genesis, King Crimson, Porcupine Tree, and Magenta.  Really quite astounding, and a totally new experience. You have all three of those Zunes full?    My 80's full now, I want a 120.   One Zune120 is nearly full (5gb left)--that's my prog Zune.  The other is classic rock, jazz, and alternative, and it's probably half full.  The Zune80 is classical, and it's about half full.   I use WMA 128 for my Zunes, as the sound quality is good enough (roughly equivalent to MP3 160) for my day to day usage, and I don't want the files to be too large.  I still have the CDs too, in case I want to rip into a higher quality format.   Love the Zune!

SaltyJon wrote: Todd wrote: Well, I prefer CD, but for convenience I rip everything to WMA so I can fit lots of music onto my three Zunes (two 120 and one 80), which I listen to at work with a Kicker docking station.  But I have all the CDs back at home, and usually that's the format I listen to at home.   As a sidenote, I am quite amazed at the 5.1 mixes of artists such as Genesis, King Crimson, Porcupine Tree, and Magenta.  Really quite astounding, and a totally new experience. You have all three of those Zunes full?    My 80's full now, I want a 120.