My cool idea.

Kitsunexus · 04/03/2007, 07:26 PM

Taken from this thread, where we are discussing digital audio formats, DRM, the effects of compression on dynamic range and all that good stuff:

Quote from: MegaKitsuneIf you've ever used Alcohol 120% to mount a virtual CD drive, you know that if you rip a CD as an ISO image and mount it in the drive, it will play just like the normal CD, ie: no compression, although the original physical media is NOT being used.

What if you could take a hard drive MP3 player (80gb preferably) and hack up a program to play ripped CD ISOs? Sure you could only fit like 20-50 CDs on the thing, but it'd be an audiophiles wetdream.

And if you were proficient enough to crack Sony's DRM on the SACD and DVD-Audio formats, even though you would only have like 13 albums, you'd have the ultimate quailty available.

Ultimate quality, no disc-swapping. Why hasn't anyone tried this before?

Seldane · 04/03/2007, 07:33 PM

Why would anyone want to do that? MP3 players are junk anyway, you won't notice if the audio's compressed or not.

Kitsunexus · 04/03/2007, 07:41 PM

Quote from: Seldane on 04/03/2007, 07:33 PMMP3 players are junk anyway

Yeah, maybe your "I'm so poor I eat Wunder bread and drink Flavor-Aid for dinner" SanDisk 64MB POS gumball machine prize MP3 player is junk, but Zen and iPod owners think otherwise.

And I made a game magazine ad reference, first person to get it gets a cookie.

Joe Redifer · 04/03/2007, 08:39 PM

Ummm... this can already happen. Insert the CD into your drive and when it mounts, open it up so you can see the files (tracks). Just drag and drop the tracks that you like from the CD to the desktop into a folder. Now you have a WAV files and they are not compressed. Actually I don't know how you rip tracks off of a CD in Windows, but it probably isn't drag and drop since the OS isn't designed very well. Anyway just drag and drop your WAV files onto your mounted MP3 player or whatever it is and there you go. No need to use ISO's. That's just...

Hobo Xiphas · 04/03/2007, 09:12 PM

This is stupid.

If you want lossless audio, just use FLAC.

Keranu · 04/03/2007, 09:26 PM

Quote from: Xiphas on 04/03/2007, 09:12 PMThis is stupid.

If you want lossless audio, just use FLAC.

Agreed, especially if you're like us and behind the current 300gb+ hard drive medium.

Kitsunexus · 04/03/2007, 10:30 PM

1. Joe, you DON'T get WAVs automatically, you get CDA...

2. My player doesn't support FLAC...

Joe Redifer · 04/04/2007, 02:14 AM

In a nutshell, WAVs are the same thing when they are at 16-bit 44.1Khz stereo. I think CDA is closer to AIF than WAV, because that's what I automatically get when I drag files off of a CD on my Mac (no conversion/transcoding is taking place to the audio). Anyway, rip your files as WAV and there you go. Same damn sound with no difference from the original CD. I can't believe you haven't figured this out.

GUTS · 04/04/2007, 02:19 AM

The new version of Windows Media Player pulls WAVs off of a CD, the old ones probably do too. Just scrap that shitty mac and get a Windows PC, it'll save you having to do retarded shit like try and put ISOs on a MP3 player.

Joe Redifer · 04/04/2007, 02:44 AM

No, Macs drag and drop AIFF files straight from the CD, no need to launch any applications. If you read the first post you'd see he enjoys using Alcohol 120% which is a Windows app. No shitty Mac to scrap.

Hobo Xiphas · 04/04/2007, 03:36 AM

Quote from: Kitsunexus on 04/03/2007, 10:30 PM2. My player doesn't support FLAC...

It'll be tremendously easier to hack a device to play FLAC than to somehow hack it to understand CDDA.

Not to mention it will save you some space on the player.

Seldane · 04/04/2007, 10:17 AM

I meant Ipods. Junk. At least if you're a real "audiophile".

Joe Redifer · 04/04/2007, 02:16 PM

I definitely agree with that. I still use MiniDiscs.

Keranu · 04/04/2007, 04:18 PM

I bought a killer 80's Sony walkman from the thrift store the other day for only a couple of bucks. Seriously, it blows away any portable audio device I see today with it's really nice and loud speaker + headphone jack.

Seldane · 04/04/2007, 04:26 PM

Quote from: Keranu on 04/04/2007, 04:18 PMI bought a killer 80's Sony walkman from the thrift store the other day for only a couple of bucks. Seriously, it blows away any portable audio device I see today with it's really nice and loud speaker + headphone jack.

Hell yeah. Stereo equipment from the 70's and to some extent the 80's is very powerful stuff. At least the more expensive (at that time) equipment.

This modern shit is made with very weak and tiny components but has a nice (for our time) appearance. That's why it's so expensive - it's tiny and looks fancy on the outside. The internal stuff is horrible.

Keranu · 04/04/2007, 04:38 PM

Agreed, companies are just cheap these days. A lot of old electronics I've used before the 90's still work great to this day because they were built with care and to give you the best damn times. My brother just bought another Technics record player recently, this makes a total of three in my house now! Picture

Nazi NecroPhile · 04/04/2007, 04:49 PM

Not everything available today is complete junk - just stay away from all the cheap ass, third world garbage. Of course, there is a slight to considerable premium price, but you get what you pay for.

Seldane · 04/04/2007, 05:16 PM

Quote from: guest on 04/04/2007, 04:49 PMbut you get what you pay for.

That I can't agree with. You NEVER get what you pay for (and this can be applied to just about everything - but new electronics in particular). An incredible 70's amp for $50 or a pretty good amp from today for $500 or more. I think I'll go with the 70's one.

Nazi NecroPhile · 04/04/2007, 06:19 PM

Quote from: Seldane on 04/04/2007, 05:16 PM
Quote from: NecroPhile on 04/04/2007, 04:49 PMbut you get what you pay for.
That I can't agree with. You NEVER get what you pay for (and this can be applied to just about everything - but new electronics in particular). An incredible 70's amp for $50 or a pretty good amp from today for $500 or more. I think I'll go with the 70's one.

Why - do you forget to take your purchases home with you?

------------

I'm not sure what your definition of quality is (as in the type of 'sound' that you prefer), but $50 won't buy much of a vintage tube amp. Barring sweet deals at Granny's garage sale, it's easy to spend hundreds of dollars on a good ol' McIntosh or Marantz amp. Now I'm not an extremely well versed and knowledgeable audiophile, so take my thoughts with a grain of salt (they taste better that way too). Perhaps there are better options out there that I'm overlooking.

With regards to more modern equipment, there are plenty of cd players, amps, speakers, etc. that won't break the bank but will handily outperform nearly all vintage equipment. The biggest exception applies to tube amps, as they haven't really changed much over the years. Luckily, my tastes are pretty modest and I'm satisfied with solid state amps.