Really awesome idea! I have the NIN tracks too if anyone is interested. Something like this takes a lot of time installing and testing, I fear I won't have much time this summer but would love to hear what you guys come up with! Great topic deserving of a new tread IMO!

Originally posted by THUMP-LUMP What I wouldn't give to get my hands on the original, raw tracks from certain albums. I believe even I could come up with a better mix and mastering than what's out there. I have done some with my own stuff and think it would be fun. Agreed! I'm sure you'd be able to...

Originally posted by ttocs Sound is subj too the listener and I can't tell you that mine absolutely sounds better then yours just like you can't do that too mine. Its all about the listener, not the equipment..... Unfortunately I can say with a good amount of certainty which of our systems sounds b...

Originally posted by ttocs Insult? Not sure how you read that as insult as it was the furthest thing from it. Calm doan, stop taking this personal I am not attacking you we are debating SQ which like the taste in food is subj to the listener/eater. Not sure how my comment about how most people don'...

Originally posted by Kirghiz I'm sure it's a combination of snake oil, smoke, and mirrors, but I ran across this in my search for a processor. It's almost worth $40 and the time it takes to make a fresh backup of my library to find out what it is. http://www.prweb.com/releases/iPod/iPho ... 966204....

Originally posted by dbjury My experience. I tested out 320k mp3 vs cd. And I could not tell the difference after an hour of careful listening back and forth. Same source to keep it fair. Digital into my marantz receiver. And my high end car system. So I shrugged my shoulders and got on enjoying my...

Originally posted by THUMP-LUMP I think you may have misunderstood. The one referred to as "C" was recorded at 96kbps (WMA Pro) and was decidedly inferior to the one referred to as "A" (from the CD) and I had no difficulty distinguishing it from the CD. The one referred to as &q...

Originally posted by ttocs I think mr black is forgetting that most of here are not rocking an old sony explode 6 x 9s off of a Jensen deck. The funny thing is, the followup comment to you're insult makes you sound as though you must be listening to some sort of knock off system if you really aren'...

Interesting result considering you only encoded the audio file to 96kbps. Consider the difficulty you had telling the difference between an audio file encoded at that low of a bitrate and just think how much more difficult it would be using one with a quality encoder, not a crappy Microsoft embedded...

Originally posted by ttocs lossy works great with most all audio.... What does that mean? What I said was that lossless AND lossy encoding methods are built to work particularly well with audio files. In the case of lossless encoding, more intricate measures might not encode to a file size as small...

Originaly posted by ttocs suddenly now at the end you say that we would not notice a difference with a well done mp3 recording, even after saying the modern method of recording mp3's sucks... Don't care what DAC you use while it may make it sound better then the cheapest version apple was able to f...

You're missing my point entirely... Modern professional mastering techniques suck regardless of whether it is encoded to MP3 or pressed onto CD. Modern lossless (i.e. FLAC) AND lossy (i.e. MP3) encoding methods work great with most all audio. I realize this is a very technical topic, but slow down a...

Originally posted by THUMP-LUMP I believe that being able to distinguish between a "quality" mp3 and a CD would depend a great deal on the playback system. I can certainly tell the difference on my little home DAW setup for recording. I can hear a difference between a CD and supposed &quo...

Slow down... You've completely missed the point I am trying to make. What I am saying is that a well encoded MP3 will in most cases be indiscernible from its original REGARDLESS of mastering quality. My comment about DAC quality and the ability to bypass the cheap ones in an average MP3 player / iPo...

While you're right about the weakest link being the discerning factor in a system, the use of a quality MP3 has far less of an impact than many other installation related decisions. Note that I said quality MP3, as simple 128 bit rips or iTunes crap is easily discernible in comparison to the origina...

Today its about less dynamics and impact and more sound shoved in your face so you can hear everything equally at the same time. The minute nuances that accented a song on a great system of yesterday are nearly just as loud as the kick drum that should be pounding the back of your head. Okay that mi...

I'd used my iPhone 4S as the center of my system for quite some time, but some recommendations... Don't bother using the headphone output, get an external DAC. If you do a little research you can get a dock that can double as a charger and end up with a much better external DAC that is easily conver...

Originally post by davewaibel dont ditch the tweeter protection of the crossover to go active on the tweeters.....other wise the nerd in you will be shopping for tweeters....as running active is likely to kill these without warning- I don't necessarily disagree with this post, but I would like to a...

No worries, we're all here to learn something from one another once in a while, just be careful as you're sharing information along the way and try to make sure its accurate so that you're not misleading others down the wrong path.. FYI, You might be happy to hear that Alpine decks were among the ve...

Alright, lets talk a little about lossless encoding here and set things straight. Lossless = exactly the same as the original... there is absolutely no difference between 16bit, 44.1khz lossless audio and CD audio when the music is decoded on the same source,.. so as long as the file is ripped from ...

I used to be skeptical but after years of experience I have to say that I consider high quality MP3 rip to be virtually indiscernible between its original CD counterpart on most levels, especially newer tracks that have little to no fidelity left to them anyways... Some minor artifacts may be able t...

Not at all interested in getting down to a technical level on this with you guys, but I have a pertinent real world experience that I thought I'd share. I went from using a PG M100 amp driving Infinity Beta Five and One components using the standard passive crossover that came with the set. This is ...

I highly recommend against bypassing the resistor in your install and using a test light. Doing so could damage both your cap and your car. I have an older Alumapro 5 farad cap and if its anything like mine this type of cap is installed in a way that its charge dissipates after a short amount of tim...

Very good condition I'd pay maybe 200-250
Near mint with caps recently replaced 275-325

This is of course just an opinion.

My experience with satellite radio is that they tend to over EQ their music in the (failed) attempt to make up for the poor quality signal they're sending to your system. My XM radio unit is at least +3db more bass heavy than the other sources in my system, and it has nothing to do with how my syste...