New DAP encoding question

[Avocado Dream]

Hmmm, not a lot of traffic here.

Just bought a new DAP for running, biking etc., a Samsung YP-T9 and boy am I impressed, I love this player, they've come a way since my I bought my last one a couple years ago.

Actually, the quest for the best sound quality led me to vintage audio and AK for which I am forever grateful, at the time digital audio players were all initially impressive but ultimately disappointing - vintage sounds so much better.

But unless I want to man pack a generator and a receiver and speakers I will use a player for outdoors.

Here's my question, having average or below average hearing at whats kbps should I be ripping my CD's to Mp3, right now I am using the highest, 320 kbps but having only 2 Gigs storage, space is at a premium.

BTW, I first tried to encode in WMA lossless but the player wouldn't recognize the files, maybe WMA variable bit rate would be better?

Any help here would be appreciated, I am using the Windows Media Player only because it's the only one I have a remote understanding of when it comes to ripping and syncing.

Got some new earbuds on the way too, pair of those semi-famous Yuin Pk2, I'll post impressions when they arrive, maybe we can bring some life to this forum.

Thanks, Dave

 

[Valsimot]

you may want to check if the copy protect option is on in media player, that could be causing your samsung to not recognize the files. i use dbpoweramp for all my ripping/converting needs, it's not free but it's a really great little program.

i've heard some very good things about .ogg format, same quality as mp3 with less space. i've compared a few songs and i didn't notice a difference in quality. i stick to mp3's and flac's tho, because flac's are the best and my car takes mp3's.

 

[Avocado Dream]

Thanks Valsimot, I don't see any copy protect options in the player at all. Ogg and Flac are not options with this player, only Mp3 and WMA.

Have been playing with Lame and a couple GUI's hoping to retain quality and cut file size some, but I am finding the learning curve pretty frustrating.

So not knowing any better at this point, I am going to stick for a while with Windows Media Player 11, ripping Mp3 at 320 Kbps. Seems to be the easy way out for a dumb guy like me. Lame gives me nightmares with weird file tagging and other stuff I don't understand yet.

Still wondering though, how skinny can I cut an Mp3 before I notice an audible degradation? How about 192 Kbps, am I likely to hear it?

Thanks, Dave

 

[Avocado Dream]

Just got back from some outdoor activity, so nice just to have music that it occurred to me that I am trying to polish a turd here. When I got in, just for laughs I plugged in my Grado SR-80's - WOW, not a turd. Can't wait for the new buds to arrive.

 

[Valsimot]

i've just checked on my bros pc (he has media player 11) and it does have the copy protect option. right click the top of media player, click tools, options. on the rip options there should be a copy protect checkmark right under the format select drop down button, the pic is of media player 10 that i have but 11 is very similar.

it doesn't support ogg? funny, it says it does on their site: http://www.samsung.com/my/products/audio/mp3player/yp_t9qbxme.asp?page=Specifications
about 200 kbps, should be good for a portable player. you may also want to look into variable bit rates. you should try and see what sounds good to you, rip the same song with different bit rates and compare.

i get some weird tags sometimes, i always recheck after i rip. dunno if there is any way around that...

for some reason a lot of players come with the crappiest headphones, my bro thought his sony player was a total piece crap: horrible software, propriety format and crappy sound. the phones started acting up one day and he ripped them apart, literally. he got some pioneer ear buds and WOW, what a difference. he also uses some free non-sony software now too, so much easier to use, and more stable too.

 

[Johncan]

Here's my question, having average or below average hearing at whats kbps should I be ripping my CD's to Mp3, right now I am using the highest, 320 kbps but having only 2 Gigs storage, space is at a premium.

MP3 at 192 VBR is transparent to most people especially when you are running or doing other activities.

 

[Avocado Dream]

Ok, making some headway now - beginning to understand.

In spite of what the website says, the owners manual says that it supports Mp3 and WMA. I did try to drop an OGG file into the player and it said that it was an unsupported format, so I guess the website needs correcting.

Windows Media Player was for sure confusing me with its' auto naming and album art and such. I now see that if I follow proper folder hierarchy and naming conventions, that I can just convert my WAV's, put the Mp3's in folders and drop them into the player.

I am now converting some WAV files to Lame 192VBR for some testing.

Still waiting for the new buds.

Thank you so much Valsimot and Johncan - we're cookin now.

( I did find the copy protect box, it was not checked, will look into that when I get time, WMA lossless is not really an option anyway)

- Dave

 

[Valsimot]

In spite of what the website says, the owners manual says that it supports Mp3 and WMA. I did try to drop an OGG file into the player and it said that it was an unsupported format, so I guess the website needs correcting.

could be a firmware thing. there is a firmware for download on their site but don't know what it actually upgrades... there should be a list, but i can't seem to find it. careful with firmware tho, you can mess up your player if something goes wrong. i've upgraded a lot of firmwares and haven't messed anything up yet, but just wanted to let you know of the possibilities.
happy to help =]

 

[Avocado Dream]

I have the latest firmware, 1.68, so I guess no OGG support at this point.

I ended up encoding some WAV files with Omni Encoder at Lame quality 4, which run from about 220 to 320 Kbps and sound very good. This will do me just fine as I can fit around 25 CD's in the 2 Gigs, that should be enough for now.

I do have one question though, that is - what does an artifact sound like? There is an occasional blip in all my music, kind of like a slight hiccup, almost like when a record skips one groove. I probably wouldn't hear it if I were listening outside.

Thanks again for the help, Dave

P.S. the new earbuds are here, I will start a new thread after a few hours listening, initial impressions are that they are pretty awesome for what they are.

 

[Avocado Dream]

Sorry, never mind - did some googling and found that the artifact thing is a pretty large answer to a small question.

Checked out some artifact training material and guess what, I couldn't hear any of them. There was nothing of the blips that I described anywhere that I could find, they remain a mystery - maybe it's in the player.

- Dave