Apple Lossless vs iTunes Plus

Hey Naschbac.

My personal results and conclusions came from taking several CDs and ripping selected songs first to Apple Lossless and then taking the same CDs and selected songs and ripping to AIFF. Two native files for each song. I would have preferred there to be no audible differences because Apple Lossless definitely takes up less space than AIFF. Still, AIFF sounded better to me in important ways.

System context:
iTunes/Mac Mini w/SSHD
Ultra Fi Musicstream DAC
Slagle Autoformers for line control
Pair of modified Pass Aleph 3 amps
Sason Ltd/Si Loudspeakers
All cabling: RSAD stuff

So, that's that. I'm okay with whatever you choose to think about me or my conclusions but I'm certain I'm not delusional.

Here's what I take exception to: The dogged attitude that parades as god on a stick to tell others what they can or can't hear. As if the universe should revolve around them and their adeptness for (in this case...) interpreting numbers.

Like it or not, here we are in 2009 with all our 'advanced science' and while it's certainly a useful tool that I personally am grateful for, it's still not the be all end all some of us wished it would be.

If for someone numbers and measurements are the end of the road for them and they don't perceives differences in certain or all areas of playback, that's fine really. But don't play savior and proclaim to all anyone else who doesn't want to ride in the same boat has been Placebo'd. Bad form Hook.

Cheers!

Robert
RSAD

Hey Robert - I've done similar comparisons, but with WAV files comparing to ALAC. I've had really mixed results there. Sometimes there's been a clear difference with WAV sounding consistently better, and others (on other rips of different CD's) I cannot tell any difference. This was in versions past of iTunes which seem to get changed as frequently as jockey shorts. If you thought differences while sticking with iTunes options were important, if you haven't tried it I'd suggest trying EAC rips (or dbPoweramp) and comparing those to iTunes. Again, I've heard that the very latest version of iTunes does address some problems they've been having with ripping.

Hey Marco.

Would really like to explore something different than iTunes. I'm not a brainiac with some of this stuff and I've not had time to fully investigate ripping or playback options. Does Apple's latest OS support EAC or dbPoweramp? While I think the Mac Mini w/ latest version of iTunes is very good the one thing I don't like is it seems I'm kinda locked out by Apple to a lot of ripping and/or playback options. Am I correct here?

Cheers Marco!

Robert
RSAD

Hi Robert - I think there are some FLAC conversion software options (MacFlac), but I'm not really familiar with them, nor their effectiveness. If they work like the EAC conversion my friend did, I'd be pretty happy and willing to try them. With the EAC WAV to AL you loose all the metadata (read: very bad...major PITA to manually replace it). Same with EAC, it would have to be converted. Alas, ALAC. Someone with more geek creds will have to help us here, Robert.

Just wanted to jump in and thank the posters here for one of the most intelligently written and thought-provoking digital threads I've seen here.

Unfortunately, I can't conclude much other than to focus on my analog and wait out some more progress before taking any big steps toward looking at computer-based audio and/or ripping all my CDs(in the ultimately wrong format--that being whichever one I choose!).

As a former software programmer, I am officially on record as saying I'd trust Marco's ears over somebody's code...theories are theories, the devil's in the details. Cheers,
Spencer