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Music files in folders?


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I would use the highest sample rate (lossless if possible) and get two cards. One for each playlist. Actually, I use my iPhone for playlists at 256kbps and a 128GB flash drive for lossless albums. Lossless is great to have as my in car CD collection while I still get great quality from my phone. 

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It appears you have either never experienced a SQ system in a car or have a hearing deficiency.

I agree, although my experience with MP3s in my car consists of creating audio CDs made from MP3s.  Perhaps MP3s will sound closer to FLAC quality when playing directly from USB, but I would doubt so.  I don't know if there is some quality issues introduced by converting MP3s to WAV for inclusion on a CD, but I found that the MP3-based CDs were clearly lacking compared to actual CDs of the same music, when played in my Eclipse head unit.  I have a pretty decent SQ setup, with a lot of sound deadening added to the car, which helps.  Now, driving at freeway speeds with the windows down may mask the differences, but I always go with the highest rez I can get and that my equipment can play back.  And since I've already ripped 1,000+ CDs to my PC in FLAC format, I'm not about to revisit that monstrous task in order to gain smaller file sizes by going to MP3!  :)

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Placebo effect. Have you done a blind ABX test? However the last part of your comment makes sense, no point in converting if you already have the FLAC files and don't need the space savings. :)

 

However people who swear they can hear the difference are either bats or believe that they can hear something because they think they should hear a difference.

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It may be that the conversion process to make the CDs affected the SQ in some way or if the MP3s I used had issues of their own, but I played both CDs in my car for a couple of people without telling them anything about the sources, and they both picked out the MP3 based disk as inferior sounding.  Not perfectly scientific, I admit, but it was discernible.  I think ABX tests have a great deal of merit, but aren't the sole measure of perception/fidelity differences.  The pros/cons of ABX have been elaborated upon many times by many sources, but my default is to use the highest resolution sources I can.  Now, had I have ripped my CDs to MP3, I would be conducting tests to see whether I could hear the difference in order to decide whether to start over again.  But since an MP3 will always contain less data, by some percentage, than a FLAC file, at least I know I'm getting the maximum fidelity to the CD source, whether I can always hear it or not.  Without question, an MP3 is lower fidelity format than a FLAC file.  Whether that drop in fidelity falls within the limits of my hearing or my system's ability to reproduce it is subject to debate, but I'd rather play it safe with FLAC.

 

And yes, since I've already labored through making the FLACs, I'd rather just plug it in and play it.  :)

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Nope, I'm a sound engineer. I could give you the technical reasons but it'd bore you. Trust me, it's pointless. Do a blind ABX test to prove it to yourself.

Perhaps not ABX but at least AB... though not under controlled conditions.  It's pretty easy.  Just put the same song on a drive in two or more different compression formats (at least one in lossless format) and listen to them, switching from one to the other.  I can definitely tell the difference.

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I agree, although my experience with MP3s in my car consists of creating audio CDs made from MP3s.  Perhaps MP3s will sound closer to FLAC quality when playing directly from USB, but I would doubt so.  I don't know if there is some quality issues introduced by converting MP3s to WAV for inclusion on a CD, but I found that the MP3-based CDs were clearly lacking compared to actual CDs of the same music, when played in my Eclipse head unit.  I have a pretty decent SQ setup, with a lot of sound deadening added to the car, which helps.  Now, driving at freeway speeds with the windows down may mask the differences, but I always go with the highest rez I can get and that my equipment can play back.  And since I've already ripped 1,000+ CDs to my PC in FLAC format, I'm not about to revisit that monstrous task in order to gain smaller file sizes by going to MP3!  :)

I have done the mp3, aac route (better than mp3 at same bit rate IMO).  Even the so-called better type, can't recall the name... mp3+?  Not going to look either, as its a waste of time.  Trying to get original quality out of an any lossy compression format is never going to happen.  The age old idiom comes to mind: can't get blood out of a turnip.

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...

 

However people who swear they can hear the difference are either bats or believe that they can hear something because they think they should hear a difference.

Consider me to have bat hearing then :)

 

I can even tell the differences in recording quality... so saying you're a sound engineer means nothing to me.

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