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is Naim Pre-Amp necessary with i-tunes?

p.s. - up-sampling a 16 bit file to 24 bit simply adds 'empty information'. The spec could hold higher resolution, but there is simply no more information to be had so the audio quality remains the same and doesn't improve.

JC
 
jcbrum said:
p.s. - up-sampling a 16 bit file to 24 bit simply adds 'empty information'. The spec could hold higher resolution, but there is simply no more information to be had so the audio quality remains the same and doesn't improve.

JC
Click to expand...

So all that can be done on I-tunes is rip CDs in lossless for best sound quality?
 
As far as ripping CD's is concerned, more or less, yes, but that will give perfect sound quality, equal to the original cd. The same constraints apply to any other media player when 'ripping', not just iTunes.

You could rip to wav or aiff if you preferred un-compressed formats, but the sound quality will still be that of the original cd.

iTunes will handle 24 bit files perfectly as well, but those are either non-redbook CD or DVD formats and are not 'ripped' as such. They should instead be 'copied' to a folder in the same way as any other data, and then 'imported' to the iTunes library.

'Ripping' only really applies to RB CD, - everything else is 'data'.

JC
 
jcbrum said:
As far as ripping CD's is concerned, more or less, yes, but that will give perfect sound quality, equal to the original cd. The same constraints apply to any other media player when 'ripping', not just iTunes.

You could rip to wav or aiff if you preferred un-compressed formats, but the sound quality will still be that of the original cd.

iTunes will handle 24 bit files perfectly as well, but those are either non-redbook CD or DVD formats and are not 'ripped' as such. They should instead be 'copied' to a folder in the same way as any other data, and then 'imported' to the iTunes library.

'Ripping' only really applies to RB CD, - everything else is 'data'.

JC
Click to expand...
CD DA files are effectively WAV or AIFF, so you are just copying them if you use either of those formats in iTunes. In fact, on a Mac you can see the files as AIFF in the Finder and just drag-copy them.
 
Probably because you have set your iTunes to output 48kHz sampling rate.

do not confuse the bit-rate, 16 or 24 usually, with the sampling rate (44.1, 48, 96, etc) which is a completely different thing.

Are you using an Apple Tv2 by any chance ?
 
No right now USB from a PC to a dacmagic. It dose not mater what i do, it is stuck in 48 on I-tune the CDP is 41.1. Also my cable box is 48.
 
p.s. 44.1, 88.2, and 176.4, are effectively obsolete sampling rates nowadays, because they are derived from the now obsolescent Red Book CD standard of 16bit 44.1kHz. Nothing else uses that format, unless it's specifically designed to be compatible with the RB standard of 35 years ago. That's a long time in computer terms.

Almost everything which is not required to be RB compatible uses the DAT standard of 24bit 48kHz, or a multiplier of that, with 24/96 being the most used nowadays, and some preferring 24/192.

16/44.1 is however entirely adequate for replay in a domestic situation, since it easily exceeds the limits of human hearing if correctly implemented.

On good quality, correctly configured equipment, by a long, long, chalk, the biggest constraints on domestic sound quality reproduction are, ......

1. The quality of the original recording (down to the skill of the recording engineers and the producers mix).

2. The quality of the loudspeakers used to play the recording.

Given excellence in the two above areas, most people can't tell the difference between a good mp3, and a 24/192 version of the same recording.

JC
 
Nik said:
What do you see if you do right-click > Properties on one of those files on the PC?
Click to expand...

I picked an AC/DC Properties and this is what I see:
at top the tabs are as follows:
General/Sharing/Previos Versions
then below this it reads:
Type: file folder
Location: J:/Program Files\iTunes
Size: 1.98 GB
Size on disk: 1.98 GB
Contains: 64 files, 6 Folders
Created date
Attributes: Read only
Hidden
Archive
box checked off is Read only

tried to use snippit tool to give you exact pic but would not work for me on this
 
Jack, in iTunes, if you right-click a song and select 'get info', what does it tell you about the bit rate and sample rate ?
 
That would suggest to me that you ripped a CD using alac (apple lossless) and the files are in 16bit 44.1 format. Which is as it should be.

If your DacMagic is reporting 48kHz, then that is probably what your computer is sending out. I conclude your computer is transposing the sample rate on the fly.

I think iTunes is set to 48kHz output, and if you want to change it you need to look in the iTunes Sound settings window, accessible through the preferences menu option.

Alternatively it could be the windows sound system which is choosing to output 48kHz because you have configured it away from standard settings somehow. It rather depends on which version of iTunes and which version of Windows you are using, as to where to look next.

I'm running on a MacBook Pro laptop atm, and have a Windows 7 PC available but iTunes is not installed on that atm. So it might be difficult for me to give you precisely accurate commands to follow, to check these things.

Maybe Nik is on Windows and could help here ?

Which version of Windows are you using Jack ?

JC
 
p.s. actually 1050kbps seems a bit high for alac, - I suppose you could have somehow converted to 24/44.1 but at this stage I can't imagine how, and I think it's unlikely.

If they are 24/44.1 files that might be what is causing the DacMagic to give a false reading.

My guess is that they are 16bit though, and the above post is most likely.
 
jcbrum said:
p.s. actually 1050kbps seems a bit high for alac, - I suppose you could have somehow converted to 24/44.1 but at this stage I can't imagine how, and I think it's unlikely.

If they are 24/44.1 files that might be what is causing the DacMagic to give a false reading.

My guess is that they are 16bit though, and the above post is most likely.
Click to expand...

I do have 24/44.1. the naim downloads
 
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