Bill Ferris
Lunatic Member
Hi, I`m a audio cynic by nature(been in the" biz" since 1973).. Since early October last year, when I was forced by the failure of my Sony 400 disc player, in which played flawlessly for nearly 5 years for running 24/7/365.. First with direct audio output L/R analog hook ups to my house`s 5 room distribution setup via Belden Media twist Cat- 5 + cabling, which is still in use. And then a S/PDIF coax feed from same player to a R.D.L DAC from same for an improved audio experience.. In which it did improve the quality, (at least to my and others ears)who were unaware and who had no idea of the change over, who heard the difference of the switchover and expressed the increased clarity.. Well, when the Sony multi CD/DVD disc player failed over night during hurricane Mathew here in N. FL., I found myself with no non-outside source music(Non-commercial like) for over 15 years as I had become used to, all day, every day all year long .. Anyway I had been pressured by some "MP3" oriented friends for years to give up on optical media playing of music for my all day daily background music fix and convert over to ripping all my CDs to a computer, in which, though owning and maintaining 10(4 lap-tops and 6 desktops, didn`t trust them for my background music daily listening pleasures(I did say that I`m a audio cynic !!).. Anyway I was forced to quickly rip all my Sony players CDs to a Dell Lap-top(the nearest lap-top), while to maintain music in the back ground.. I had while doing so was forced to engage my OPPO`s BDP103 free Pandora app. in which sound quality(or the major lack thereof IMHO) sucked the snotty end of my F--k stick !! And forced me to not have time to look into all the options of ripping(via this site`s popular considerations to ripping music to a computer).. Now to the real point to this digital audio section of AK: I ripped all my 1,000+ CDs @ 192kbps, via Win 10 OS`s media player to my lap-tops SSD.. And after listening to most of the same CDs for years all day long at 16/44.1 red book via the recently failed Sony and other decent multi disc players, I, and many others expressed that they sounded better through the exact same systems being played over sampled @ 192kbps !! Not because I/they thought they should, (remember, I didn`t think they should and didn`t trust the computer`s handling of my all very important music quality.. If it doesn`t sound better than before, then I will pursue the time, research, and money until I can make it so.. YMMV.. I`m Just a 62 year old retired highly rated(as been told by many, many others retired F.O.H. Soundman/Audio gear repairman for over 40 years who loves music reproduced as high a quality as possible.. Regards, O.K.B. (Over Kill Bill) P.S. This POST IS NOT TO EVOKE A DOG FIGHT, but as expressed: just one man`s experience & opinion, with no prior experience in the computer music delivery system.. And I certainly didn`t expect the final high quality listening test @ 192kbps results through a thumb drive playing through my OPPO BDP 103 BluRay player playing through a many carefully setup 10`s of thousands of bucks main A/V system for the final over sampling sonic evaluation with 2 trusted friends of over 5 hours of critical listening time... I`m sure I`ll be challenged to defend my observations & experience, but won`t waste my time defending the math and technical reasons why it can`t be possible .. "SHOW ME, DON`T TELL ME" !! (words in a Rush song !!)
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