Part 3 - Making Your Computer an Audiophile-Quality Music Player

Let's get outside the computer and talk about things you can add that will greatly improve the quality of your sound. Everything we've done in Part 1 and Part 2 have cost nothing, now let's see about spending a few kerns. If you want to build a real audiophile system, it's best done in reasonably affordable steps, unless you have an unlimited budget. It's a huge trend now to build a desktop audiophile system around the computer. This allows you to go with smaller 'nearfield' speakers, since they will only be 3 or 4 feet away, and consequently you won't need as much power. There are many ultra high-end manufactures who build outstanding equipment just for this purpose. You can also integrate your computer-generated music into your larger home theater/entertainment system, we'll talk about that as well. The following steps are a great way to start building a hi-end system. 

NUMBER ONE

Get a good pair of headphones. That's the cheapest way to start, and you'll love what you hear just by following the steps in parts 1 and 2, getting a good pair of phones, and plugging right into the computer's headphone jack. The headphones and speakers are the final parts that dictate the quality of what you're hearing, so until you improve them you won't really be able to hear all of the improvement we've already made in parts 1 and 2 as well as other changes I'll suggest. Nothing else that you do to your system will make as much difference as adding a good pair of phones or speakers. 

You don't have to break the bank to get into 'reference quality' headphones, but you do have to approach the $100.00 range. Recommending speakers or headphones is tricky business, because they all sound different, and a person's taste in sound is very subjective. So where you might like a bright, upfront, immediate sound, the next person may like a richer, warmer, more ambient sound, and you are both right - it's personal preference. So here's the point; headphones and speakers are not things you should buy online. You need to go and listen to them for yourself. It doesn't matter what pro or user reviews say about them, it's all about whether YOUR ears like the sound, and in the case of headphones, if they are comfortable on YOUR head and ears. However, you can classify these products in terms of accuracy and detail, and that is what this 'audiophile quality' we've been striving for is all about. So it's important to realize that if you're just getting into hi-end 'audiophile' audio, your ears will improve as you listen to good sound, so don't dumb yourself down. Choose among models that are recommended by audiophile websites as being accurate. Just because a phone is expensive doesn't make it reference quality. And a lot of trendy headphones - like the Dr. Dre 'Beats' stuff - will wow you in the showroom by having thunderous bass, but it is way exaggerated and completely overshadows the important upper mids and highs. Developing an audiophile's ear and taste doesn't mean giving up bass, it means learning that tight, punchy bass is what you've been wanting, not enormous clouds of undefined bass. In headphones, this reference quality starts at around $80.00 going up to $1500.00 and beyond. When you go to stores to compare headphones and speakers, take some of your favorite music with you so you're listening to the same thing in each test. 

I'll make one headphone recommendation, and you can take it from there. The Grado SR-80i at $99.00 is probably the best value in true audiophile headphones. The Grado RS-1's that I use in mastering cost $700.00, and you would probably be shocked at how similar these $99.00 phones sound to them. When you get a quality pair of phones like the SR-80i, don't be hasty. If you pull them out of the box and immediately listen to them, you'll likely hate them as the sound will be rather harsh and brittle. Most quality phones (and speakers) require as much as a 100 hour 'burn in' or 'run in' at medium-loud volumes before they develop their smoothness and richness, so put them under a pillow in the spare bedroom with an iPod and let them play for four or five days before you use them. 

Aside from that, the long standing major brands AKG, Sennheiser, Sony, Beyer and Audio Technica as well as Grado offer outstanding choices. Go listen for yourself. 

NUMBER TWO

There are two components in your computer that are reducing your sound quality. First is the DAC (Digital-to-Analog Convertor). The DAC converts the digital audio to analog so your analog ears can hear it. (We are still carbon-based analog life forms, though they're working on that.) The quality of DAC built into even the most expensive computer may be decent compared to DAC's of 10 years ago, but they fall way short of the quality that is available today. A good DAC will deliver, among other things tighter, punchier bass, snappier, more defined mids, a clearer, more detailed top end, and a larger soundstage, which is the apparent width, height and depth of a recording - it sounds more 3-dimensional. 

The second thing that is degrading your sound quality, if you're listening to headphones, is the headphone amp built into the computer. Like the DAC, Apple or whoever is not going to increase the price of a computer by integrating a super high-grade headphone amp; it is just good enough to get by. Adding a high quality pair of headphones will dramatically improve your sound, but you won't really hear what your phones sound like until you match their quality with a DAC and a headphone amp. 

Another factor concerning the headphone amp - some hi-end headphones are extremely power hungry, and standard headphone amps built into computers and iPods can't even begin to drive them properly. The recommendations I'll make will all have plenty of power to drive these monsters. (The Grado SR-80i's are not power-hungry, btw.) Also most of the combo's I'll mention have standard 1/4" stereo jacks to match hi-end headphones. 

The good news is, there are some superb DAC/headphone amp combinations starting around $100.00. And as a bonus, most of them also have standard analog outputs so you can connect them to your preamp or receiver, or to powered speakers. The DAC's I'll be talking about are outboard as opposed to sound cards that go inside the computer. Outboard DAC's will almost always outperform sound cards that cost twice as much or more, as sound cards are heavily engineered for the gaming market, so you are paying more for FX gimmicks and surround capability than you are for sound quality. 

Now we need to learn a little new terminology. An outboard DAC will have one or more of the three standard consumer digital inputs:

USB - standard USB.

S/PDIF - also referred to as 'coaxial', which uses one standard RCA connector (same as the connectors on your hi-fi) for stereo input, one for stereo output. (Although it looks like a standard audio cable, you should get a specific digital cable for connecting to S/PDIF.)

TOSLINK which is an optical connector that uses fiber-optic cables. A single TOSLINK connector can be both an input and an output. (Like S/PDIF digital cables, TOSLINK optical cables are available at any electronics store including Radio Shack.)

And one final helpful term, if a piece of gear has both an input and an output, this is referred to as an 'I/O'. 

The most convenient way to connect an outboard DAC to your computer is via USB, and most computers will immediately recognize the DAC without having to install any additional drivers. The DAC will show up under System Preferences/Sound as a playback option (Mac). On newer Macs, the headphone jack is also a TOSLINK I/O. If you connect your Mac to your DAC using a TOSLINK cable, the Mac knows it's connected to an optical digital input and not headphones - you don't have to set anything except the sample rate in Audio Midi Setup. (The Mac's volume control does not affect the TOSLINK digital output.)

As you look at my recommendations, remember that for best sound the DAC should support the sample rate of the audio file you want to play. And you have to set the sample rate in Audio Midi Setup (Mac) to match the sample rate of the audio you're playing, just as we learned in Part 2. Also, a 24 bit DAC will play 16 bit audio with no problem, but a 16 bit DAC will cause some distortion if playing 24 bit audio. Newer DAC's are almost always 24 bit.

Most people will be absolutely thrilled with 44.1k/16 bit CD-quality audio once they hear it properly. For them, life is easy, as any DAC will play 44.1k or 48k/16 bit. For those who want to explore the hi-resolution world of 88.2k/24 bit and above, things are a little tricky. Due to a completely half-assed engineering kluge in the USB standard, USB does not support 88.2k digital audio. Granted most hi-resolution downloads on sites such as hdtracks are at 96k, but there are many outstanding releases that are in 88.2k (the amazing ABKCO remasterings of the Rolling Stones catalog 1963 - 1970 for instance) However if the same DAC also has S/PDIF or TOSLINK inputs, they will almost always accept 88.2k. So if you don't want the restriction, and if you have a Mac or PC with a digital output, you probably want to get a DAC with both USB as well as TOSLINK or S/PDIF inputs. You actually don't need the USB connection in that case, so if you find a DAC with TOSLINK or S/PDIF inputs only, you're good as long as your computer has a matching output. Rumor is the USB spec will change fairly soon to accommodate 88.2k, and the better manufacturers will likely offer a retro-fit for your DAC, and in some cases it may be a firmware update that you can download and install yourself. 

This is an interesting time to look at DACs. There are some amazing values in all types of high end gear from China. Where Chinese manufacturers used to be just (very good) imitators of classic audiophile designs, they have now established their own technologies and theories of sound and are creating some amazing audio gear at very affordable prices. 

Here are some suggestions for great sounding DAC's and DAC/headphone amp combos:

Filo E7 $90.00 DAC/headphone amp only, no outputs for connecting to other gear. 44.1k and 48k 16 bit only. USB input only.

Filo E10 $80.00 DAC/headphone amp. 1/8" stereo analog line out for connecting to external gear. USB input only, 44.1k, 48k and 96k/24 bit. Amazing sound quality at this price. Cheaper than the E7 but seem to be hard to find.

NuForce Icon uDAC-2 $129.00 A fantastic value, great sounding DAC and headphone amp. USB input only. Supports 44.1k, 48k and 96k 24 bit. Analog outputs on standard RCA connectors for connection to external gear. 

Topping D2 DAC/Headphone amp $160.00 USB, S/PDIF, TOSLINK and analog inputs, RCA analog outputs for connection to external gear. 44.1k, 48k and 96k/24 bit via USB input, also 88.2k via TOSLINK and S/PDIF inputs. Analog input lets you connect analog gear for headphone playback. Chinese DAC/headphone amp that outperforms other high end combos up to the $700.00 range. 

Fubar IV $269.00 DAC/headphone amp, USB input 44.1 & 48k/16 bit, TOSLINK & S/PDIF inputs 44.1, 48, 88.2 & 96k/24 bit. RCA analog out for connecting to other gear. 

Fubar IV Plus $379.00 As above but upsamples to 192k for even better sound quality from headphone jack or line output.

CEntrance DACport $349.00 USB only, but supports 88.2k as well as 44.1k, 48k and 96k, 24 bit. Headphone only, no line outputs. This may seem extreme for 'just a headphone amp', but even the craziest audiophiles agree this is a real world class hi-definition DAC and amp. Unbelievable since it's so small, and the fact that it is totally powered by the USB port yet sacrifices nothing in terms of sound quality, as in others that give you USB-port powering.

NuForce Icon HDP $449.00 This is an excellent value because it is a preamp as well as a DAC/headphone amp, meaning the volume pot controls the RCA analog outputs when no headphones are plugged in, so it can be connected directly to a power amp or powered speakers as a preamp, and it has standard RCA analog inputs so you can connect another piece of analog gear (a phono preamp would be tasty, for instance). The USB input supports 44.1k, 48k and 96k/24 bit, and TOSLINK and S/PDIF inputs also support 88.2k, 176.4k and 192k/24 bit. 

Audio-GD NFB-2 $450 DAC only, no headphone amp. Another Chinese piece that rivals DACs beyond the $1500.00 range. USB input accepts 44.1k, 48k and 96k/24 bit, S/PDIF and TOSLINK also accept 88.2k, 176.4k and 192k. 

CONVERT YOUR VINYL TO DIGITAL AND MAINTAIN THE ANALOG SOUND

If you have a large record collection, you might consider an ADAC (analog-to-digital/digital-to-analog converter), meaning it can be used to record as well as play digital audio. The ADAC will have standard RCA analog inputs where you would connect a phono preamp or the recording outputs of a receiver or preamp. Like the DAC, these will connect to your computer via USB, TOSLINK or S/PDIF. You will also find many affordable applications for recording your records that will help you remove clicks, scratches, surface noise and rumble. 

The Furutech GT-40B at $525.00 is really an excellent value. It's an ADAC with both analog line inputs AND an excellent phono preamp (MM and MC), as well as a super hi-end headphone amp. This USB-only ADAC will allow you to record (and play) at 44.1k, 48k or 96k/24 bit. Recording your albums at 96k/24 bit, in combination with the superb quality of the convertor, will maintain all of the richness of your vinyl's analog sound.

You will see many 'USB turntables' on the market that have an ADC (analog-to-digital converter) built in, so all you have to do is plug them into your computer and go. They often even include recording software. However, you are getting neither a good turntable nor a good phono preamp nor ADC in these things. If you want to maintain the quality of your albums' analog sound, you need a good turntable, good cartridge, good phono preamp and good ADC.

When you record your albums, you will be creating standard AIF or WAV files, which we learned about in Part 1. Your best albums should be recorded at 88.2k or 96k/24 bit. Others at 44.1k/24 bit will still sound excellent while taking up half the space. As we talked about there, these files will be huge compared to mp3's, AAC's or even CD-quality 44.1k/16 bit files you've ripped from your CD's. So after recording and de-noising an album, you would use iTunes or the XLD utility to convert the AIF or WAV files to one of the lossless-compression formats Apple Lossless or FLAC, after which they will be almost half their original size. And of course you could create mp3's or AAC's if you prefer those for your iPod. 

That is way too much for Part 3. In Part 4 we'll continue this thread and talk just a little about amps and speakers, and options for integrating your computer audio into your larger entertainment center, including wireless options. We'll also talk about software and 'asynchronous' DAC options that will take your system over the top of true audiophile sound. 

Making Your Computer an Audiophile Quality Music Player - addendum

A side note before Part 3 -
In Part 1 we learned how to rip CD's into iTunes and other media players without losing sound quality, and that CD quality and better music files are available on websites such as www.hdtracks.com. You may realize that this means you will eventually have a jumble of music in data compressed mp3 and AAC formats mixed in with your better quality lossless files. That's fine if you occasionally want to mix the two in playlists or shuffle mode for parties, casual listening etc. But some people prefer to keep their iPod-friendly data-compressed music separate from their high-quality files. It is a simple matter to create a whole new iTunes library just for your CD-quality and better files, or for any other reason. On a Mac, hold down 'Option' as you launch iTunes, or on a PC hold down 'Shift'. A dialogue box will open stating that iTunes needs a library, and asks you to either select a library or create a new one. Create a new library in your music folder named 'iTunes Hi-Res Music' for instance.
Now music you rip into this library will not appear in your other library and vice-versa. If you don't hold down 'Option' when you launch iTunes, it will open the last library that it was using. If you want to use the other library, quit and relaunch with the 'Option' modifier.
Of course you can create alternate libraries for any reason - keeping pop, jazz and classical libraries totally independent for example. You can always import music from any library you're not using into your current library by choosing "Add to Library' under the File menu.

Your Home Music Library and iCloud - Important Info

3/6/12 - Big news on this front. Apple is talking about its new 'Adaptive Streaming' technology, whereby music you purchase in the iTunes Store and  'store' in iCloud would be downloaded to mobile devices in the standard iTunes+ AAC format, but in a lossless format to your computer or any device with adequate storage and fast enough internet connection. They have also begun urging their music partners to upload their tracks in 96k/24 bit HD, so this is one more positive sign that we're moving ever closer to HD audio downloads and streaming for the masses. It still remains to be seen whether you can upload music to the iCloud that you're ripped yourself in lossless ALAC, WAV or AIF, but signs still point to no on that. For more details click here.

--- original post below ---
Apple is now offering iCloud, whereby your photos, music, movies, calendars, contacts etc. can be stored in the iCloud and accessed or updated from any of your computers and mobile i-devices. You will see that Apple offers to not only store the music you have purchased from the iTunes Store (they're not actually storing it - it will be streaming from the iTunes Store), but for $25.00 a year will also match music you have ripped from CD's yourself or acquired elsewhere and store (stream) it from the iTunes Store as well. And they brag that it will be in 256kbps AAC, regardless if your files are at a lower rate. The only thing you have to upload is music that is not available in the iTunes Store. But what's 'cloudy' is the fact that if you ripped your CD's correctly as lossless files (see Part 1 of my computer music posts), or if you have purchased hi-resolution music from hdtracks.com etc., they will also be 256kbps AAC's on the iCloud, not the better quality files you ripped. You will have another option to upload your own files, which can be your lossless audio files. You get 5GB of space for free, but the music or TV shows you have purchased from the iTunes store does not count against your space (again since it's not really being stored there), only music, movies, pictures and documents you actually upload counts against your space. So that means 15 hours of music if you've ripped CD's to Apple Lossless files. That's not much, but you could just keep a rotation of favorite music there for access on your remote i-devices or laptop. And you can buy more space - $20/year for 10GB for instance.
If you don't care about better sound quality on your remote devices, then the matched 256kbps AAC files will be fine. And your high quality files will still be on your main computer for serious listening.
Also, for all you pro-audio guys, don't be too hasty. For iCloud you have to upgrade your computer to OSX Lion, and you need to be really sure that your pro audio applications will work on that operating system.

Part 2 - Making Your Computer an Audiophile-Quality Music Player

HOW TO GET THE BEST SOUND QUALITY FROM ITUNES

Now that you know from Part 1 how to import or purchase full quality audio files, the next step is to get the best sound from the basic iTunes app itself. There are settings in iTunes that will degrade the playback quality and should be defeated when you want totally accurate sound. It's O.K. to use them for casual listening, parties etc. if that works best, but this is what to do when you want to hear things right. When all of these steps are followed, iTunes is actually a bit-perfect 16 or 24 bit digital audio player. These steps apply to Mac computers. It is much more difficult to get bit perfect audio from a PC. You need to do these 4 steps and more. For that I'd suggest a google search.

THIS IS WHAT TO DO IF YOU'RE ONLY INTERESTED IN PLAYING CD-QUALITY AUDIO FILES (44.1K/16 BIT)

Most music lovers will be more than satisfied with CD-quality once they rip their CD collection properly or begin purchasing 44.1k/16 bit downloads. These 4 easy steps cover what to do so iTunes itself isn't affecting the sound quality. If you're interested in high-definition audio (48k, 88.2k or 96k/24 bit), you have to do these four plus step 5.

STEP 1 - Launch iTunes, open preferences and select 'Playback' at the top. Make sure 'Sound Enhancer' and 'Sound Check' are NOT turned on, then click 'OK'. The 'Crossfade' feature will not hurt anything if you like it.

STEP 2 - Under the 'Window' pulldown menu at the top of iTunes select 'Equalizer'. Uncheck it, and to be safe set the Preset menu to 'Flat', then close the window.

STEP 3 - At the top of the iTunes screen, set the volume control all the way to the right. If you are feeding the computer's analog audio output jack to your hi-fi system or powered speakers, the computer's volume control should also be all the way up. You should adjust the volume from your system or speakers, not iTunes or the computer. If you're listening on headphones from the computer's headphone jack, or if your powered speakers don't have volume controls, use the computer's volume control, not the iTunes volume control.

STEP 4 - To complicate things, you can also adjust volumes per song or per album. If you have never done this, don't worry about it, there's nothing to undo. If you have made volume adjustments to individual songs or albums, do this: Highlight an album on which you've made volume adjustments and 'Get Info'. You'll be asked if you want to edit multiple songs, click 'Yes', then click 'Options' at the top of the info window. You'll see a slider for volume adjustment. Leave it set at 'None' and check it, then click O.K. All of the songs on the album will be reset for no volume adjustment.

That's it for regular CD-quality audio files. Proceed to Step 5 if you're interested in playing high-definition audio files (48k, 88.2k or 96k/24 bit AIFF, WAV or Apple Lossless).

STEP 5 - Even if you knew that iTunes can play high-definition 24 bit files up to 96khz, there's something devious going on under the hood that you may not be aware of. When you are listening to any audio media player like iTunes, you are listening to an 'audio engine'. iTunes manages your music library, and provides the DSP functions we defeated in steps 1 - 4. But in Mac computers, the audio engine you are listening to is the QuickTime player. The little secret to this is, you need to set QuickTime's sample rate to match the sample rate of the file you're playing. The default setting is 44.1k, the standard rate for CD-quality files. And that's why you don't need to mess with this if all you'll be playing is 44.1k/16 bit files. But if you play an audio file with a sample rate that does not mot match QuickTime's setting, QuickTime does a rather awful internal sample rate conversion to whatever rate it is set for. So if you don't know how to do this, the extra money you spent for 96/24 downloads was wasted - it will sound worse than the same song as an mp3 if Quick Time is sample rate converting it. Here's how to set QuickTime's sample rate:

In your utilities folder launch the "Audio MIDI Setup" app. Highlight 'Built-In Output'. On the right you'll see pulldown menus for setting sample rate and bit depth. Set the sample rate to match the audio files you're about to play and bit depth to 24 bit. When you go back to playing 44.1k/16 bit lossless or mp3/AAC's, it's still recommended to leave the bit rate at 24 bit. As a side note, any mp3 or AAC that you've purchased will be 44.1k. They can be 48k, but that is very rare.

The following screen captures show how good - and bad - iTunes can be depending on preferences and QuickTime settings:

A 48k 24-bit 10kHz sine wave played through iTunes with QuickTime sample rate set to 48k and bit depth to 24 bit, iTunes DSP defeated and volume control at 100%. The tone shows as a pure spike at 10kHz with no artifacts around it. This is a bit-accurate reproduction of the tone.

A 48k, 24-bit 10 kHz sine wave played through iTunes with QuickTime set to 44.1k, 16 bit. All audio energy outside of 10 kHz is due to distortion caused by the QuickTime sample rate conversion and truncation. 

IF YOU WANT THE DETAILS, HERE'S WHY YOU DEFEATED THE FUNCTIONS IN STEPS 1 - 4
Each feature we disabled is a DSP, or Digital Signal Processor. Each of these will degrade the signal quality to one degree or another. The worst offender is 'Sound Enhancer', which is a pretty awful 'spacial expander'. This makes the music sound as though it is coming from outside of the L/R speakers, creating a much larger sound field. Even though it may wow you when you first hear it, it is highly distorted and not at all accurate.

The EQ is the second worst offender. Even quality eq's add phase distortion, and this is not a quality eq. If you have a decent hi-fi system, especially if it's a good analog preamp or receiver, its eq should be much better.

The master volume control, individual song/album volumes and the Sound Check feature degrade the signal the least. But even bringing the master volume down the smallest amount will cause a digital distortion called 'truncation distortion'. This will be most noticeable on mp3's or AAC's, a little less so on 16 bit lossless or lossless-compression audio files, and barely perceptible on 24 bit files. If you want to use the individual song or album volume adjustments, you should still leave the master volume all the way up; a combination of the two will degrade the audio much worse than using only one.

The Sound Check feature is a rather clumsy attempt at matching the volumes of songs between older vintage CDs and newer ones. Any music produced or remastered after 1995 is usually much louder than music released prior to that. This shouldn't matter if you're sitting down to listen critically to an album, just turn it up as loud as you want. But for parties or casual shuffle-play listening it ca be distracting, so that's a good time to use the feature. You'll soon be hearing of a much more accurate method of matching 'perceived' volumes.

That's all for Part 2. Part 3 will address how to improve the quality of your digital-to-analog convertor over what is built into the computer, which is where we really start getting into the audiophile side of things.

Part 1 - Making Your Computer an Audiophile-Quality Music Player

Even though this subject is for music lovers who are not necessarily involved in music production, I think it is important information for music professionals as well. Whether you produce, engineer, or are 'just the musician', the better trained your ears are, the better your musical output will be. And having a trained ear involves listening to music in true high-definition. Also for vinyl lovers, this is how you can learn to love digital just as much.

Most people still listen to music on their computer through earbuds, internal speakers, or small external speakers. For serious listening they have the big entertainment system, and they may have an iPod/iPhone dock so they can play their iTunes library. But there is a growing trend of integrating the computer into the entertainment system as a main source for music (and video). Truthfully the majority of people love it. But almost everyone who is somewhat of an audiophile, especially vinyl lovers, like what they hear from the computer or iPod dock even less than CD's. We're going to talk about why that is and how it can easily be fixed. And it can be done in surprisingly affordable steps, the basic ones costing nothing but a little time.

One reason most vinyl-lovers don't like the sound of digital is that they've never really heard CD's reproduced properly and with really good converters. And even more likely they've never heard high-resolution digital audio, which is much better than CD quality. In fact, a large number of analog-only guys have come over to the digital side after hearing high-resolution digital properly reproduced. I'm not going to get in depth about your choice of speakers, amps, preamp vs. receiver etc. etc., though I will make some important points about that at the end of the final part 4. My focus will be on how to improve your computer's audio-media player (iTunes etc.), how it's going to convert digital to analog, and what kind of audio files you're feeding it.

I will be talking specifically about how to use and improve iTunes, but almost everything I'll talk about you'll find in Windows Media Player and others. I am not going to be crazy technical, except in a few cases where I'll warn you in advance. Otherwise I think anyone will understand this. So you don't get too beat up, I'll do this in four parts that you can digest one at a time before I post the next. And each successive part will make a little more improvement in your sound. This first step of part 1 involving audio files may bore audio pros who probably already know most it, but I promise you in parts 2, 3 and 4 you'll learn something you didn't know.

In part 1 we'll cover four steps:

Step 1 - Understanding digital audio file formats.

Step 2 - Importing CD's into iTunes without losing sound quality.

Step 3 - Dealing with the iPod, iPhone and mp3 players.

Step 4 - Obtaining high-definition digital audio files that are better than CD-quality.

STEP 1 - UNDERSTANDING DIGITAL AUDIO FILE FORMATS

We're not going to get overly technical, but it's important to know at least a little about audio files. If you're interested in high-quality sound, it's important to know which digital audio file formats deliver the best fidelity. Despite all the improvements I'll suggest you make to your audio player and system, all they can do is reproduce what they're fed, and if it's garbage in, it's garbage out.

The first thing to know is that we have all been sold down the river by having the data-compressed formats mp3 and m4a (iTunes AAC) crammed down our throats as the 'future of digital audio'. The ONLY advantage these files have over full quality files is they are much smaller - about 10% to 20% the size of a CD-quality audio file. But you lose considerable fidelity, which probably isn't apparent if you're listening on standard-issue earbuds or computer speakers, but on a good system it's obvious it's not right.

These formats were pushed on us for two reasons; around 1998 when mp3 was introduced large hard drives were very costly, and internet speed was comparatively slow, so mp3 player manufacturers could brag about how many songs you could store without using a lot of space, and how quickly you could download a song. But now that large hard drives are so inexpensive, and internet speeds much faster, there is no reason to data-compress your main music library. The first mistake we're correcting is sacrificing the quality of your main music library just so you can get 2000 songs on your iPod. As you'll see, you can still do that if you want, but it can be done without ruining your main music library on the computer. Even though your mp3's and AAC's played from iTunes will sound better on your hi-fi after you make my suggested improvements, you're not really going to get audiophile-quality sound until you're listening to at least CD quality files, and eventually better. And if you don't think CD's really sound better than mp3's, you'll change your mind once you hear the difference on your improved system.

THE BASICS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT DIGITAL AUDIO FILES

1. Lossless Files

A lossless audio file is a full quality, full size audio file. AIFF and WAV are the two types of lossless audio files you will be seeing. They have been standards in professional production and broadcast since the 70's. The audio tracks on a CD are WAV files. The quality of a lossless file can be determined by its 'sample rate' and 'resolution', also called 'bit depth'. No need to worry about what that means, but it's simple to understand the numbers. The audio files on a CD are ALWAYS 44.1k sample rate, 16 bit resolution, which is indicated as '44.1k/16' or simply '44.1/16'. You will see only two bit depths in consumer audio - 16 and 24 bits. But sample rates can be 44.1k, 48k, 88.2k, 96k, 176.4k and 192k! With a few caveats, the higher these numbers are, the better quality the sound will be. Also the higher the numbers, the larger the file. There is no difference in sound quality between an AIFF and a WAV file. Most audio media players like iTunes and Windows Media Player can play both AIFF and WAV. We'll get into specifics about that and iPods later.

2. Lossy-Compression Files

mp3 and m4a (iTunes AAC) are 'lossy-compression' audio files. They are much smaller than full quality files - normally 10% to 20% the size - because a lot of the data is discarded, meaning the file has been 'compressed', at the expense of sound quality. You will see these files rated in numbers that indicate their 'bit rate'. For instance, 256kbps is the bit rate for the standard iTunes+ AAC. Before that, the standard was 128kbps. The higher the bit rate, the better the sound quality and the larger the file. But even the highest bit rate AAC or mp3, which is 320kbps, is still not as good as a full CD-quality file.

By comparison to WAV's and AIF's, mp3's and AAC's can be either 44.1k or 48k. All music available as downloads from music retailers in mp3 or AAC formats are 44.1k. 48k is very rare.

3. Lossless-Compression Files

'Lossless-Compression' files use around half to two-thirds the space of AIFF and WAV, but unlike mp3 and AAC the compression is done in a way that does not harm the sound quality. They are rated by the same number system as lossless files (44.1/16 etc.). The one you will see in iTunes is Apple Lossless (ALAC), and for reasons we'll discuss later this is probably the best format for home hi-fi use for now. The lossless-compression format that seems to be gaining the most popularity is FLAC. iTunes cannot play FLAC files directly yet, but it's rumored it soon will. If you create some Apple Lossless files from your CD's now, and then FLAC files later when iTunes supports it, they are completely compatible and iTunes will play from one to the other with no problem. There is no difference in sound quality between the two, but FLAC files are adjustable and can be made almost half the size of the equivalent lossless file, while ALAC's are fixed and are usually a little less than 2/3 the size of a lossless file. 

The reason some don't like using lossless-compression files is that AIFF and WAV are long-established standards that you can be sure will be playable by systems for decades to come, but not everything can play Apple Lossless or FLAC. Media Player can play FLAC but not Apple Lossless. iTunes can only play FLAC with a third party plug-in at this time. However, you can download free utilities that will convert Apple Lossless or FLAC files back into full AIFF or WAV files if you run into compatibility problems.

Many are surprised to discover that iPods/iPhones can play AIFF, WAV and Apple Lossless files. You'll find the details below. Many mp3 players can also play lossless and lossless-compression files. You'll need to check your player's spec sheet.

The next step is to get at least your favorite, most listened to CD's into your computer without harming the sound quality. Here's how to do that:

STEP 2 - IMPORTING YOUR CD'S INTO ITUNES WITHOUT LOSING QUALITY

If you don't care about details, just do this:

Insert a CD and open it in iTunes. At the bottom right click the 'Import Settings' button, which you'll also find under preferences. In this window you'll see an 'Import Using' menu. Set this to 'Apple Lossless Encoder'. At the bottom is a checkbox for selecting error correction. Even though it takes longer, this is the best setting for any file format including mp3 and AAC, especially for ripping in older scratched CD's.

If you'd prefer to use AIFF or WAV, select it in the 'Import Using' menu. You'll then see a second 'Settings' menu. Set this to 'Automatic' and turn on the error correction.

That's it! You are now importing your music without losing sound quality, but you are using a LOT more hard drive space. Here's a comparison (approximates):

For one hour of music -
44.1k/16 (CD-quality) lossless files use 650MB.
44.1k/16 lossless-compression files use 325 - 450MB.

256kbps lossy-compression files use 130MB.
128kbps lossy-compression files use 65MB.

So a good, and probably necessary thing, is to eventually buy a hard drive that will be your dedicated music vault. And soon after, get a second for backup. You can at least get started using your internal drive, and then export your library when you get an external drive. You'll find quality 500GB and 1TB drives in the $150 range, and that should be enough for most music listeners. a 1TB hard drive can hold around 2500 - 3000 hours of CD-quality lossless-compression files or 1500 hours of lossless files.

The mistake most people have already made is they have ripped their CD collection into the computer as mp3's or AAC's. And sadly, many people get rid of their CD's after doing this. Most didn't realize that importing the music would degrade the sound, because the default setting in iTunes is for AAC, just like the default in Media Player is for mp3. At least since iTunes+ was launched in 2009, the default has been for 256kbps, which was an improvement in sound quality. Prior to that, defaults were set for the God-awful 128kbps bit rate. Your library will eventually contain a mix of lossy-compression, lossless compression and possibly lossless audio files. iTunes can play between all of these, even in the same playlist, with no problem.

It's important to understand that at least for now the music you download from iTunes, Amazon etc. will still be mp3's and AAC's; the changes we made in import settings only affect CD's you are ripping in, and files you are changing from one format to another. What a lot of people don't know is that many artists already offer CD-quality 44.1/16, and even better, downloads on the band's personal site for quality-conscious fans. They may cost 10 cents more than the mp3, but it is so worth it. Also, in February 2011 Apple began talks with major labels for iTunes to be able to offer the full-quality download option. This is what we have been waiting for!!!

To see what format songs in your existing library are, select a song and get info. On the summary page you'll see kind, size and bit rate. More efficiently, looking at list view, control-click or right-click on a column header, 'Name' for instance, and you'll find Kind and Bit Rate that you can add as columns. That way as you get into ripping CD's back into your library correctly, you can sort to see what hasn't been upgraded yet. Note that in the info window it refers to resolution (number of bits) as Sample Size. 

As you explore high resolution downloads, you will find 44.1k and 48k in both 16 bit and 24 bit resolution. But once you get to 88.2k and above, they will always be 24 bit. We'll get into that in just a bit.

STEP 3 - DEALING WITH THE IPOD/IPHONE

Many aren't aware that iPhones and iPods can play AIFF or WAV files at 44.1/16 and 48/16, and Apple Lossless files at those two sample rates and either 16 or 24 bit. In playlists or shuffle mode, like iTunes they'll go happily between mp3's, AAC's and Apple Lossless/WAV/AIFF. Some mp3 players can as well, but you'll have to check the specs of your player. Yes, this means you can only get 24 hours of CD-quality Apple Lossless files on your 8GB iPod Nano. So if that's a problem, and you don't really care about getting better sound from your iPod, there's two solutions.

First, connect your iPhone/iPod and select it in iTunes. At the bottom of the summary page is a checkbox labeled 'Convert higher bit rate songs to 128kbps AAC'. When this is checked, your lossless or lossless-compression audio files will be converted to the smaller AAC's as they load into your iPod, but the original files on the computer will remain untouched. It will take a bit longer than usual, but after you get your main choices loaded you are usually only changing an album or so at a time. [edit 7/5/12] - GOOD NEWS ON THIS SUBJECT. GO TO iPhone/iPad Import News. 

If you are using standard issue earbuds, or just above, you will probably not hear the difference between these 128kbps and the iTunes+ 256kbps AAC's. You could hear it if you were listening over your good system, but the point is you will now have full CD quality files for that. However, if you have invested in high quality earbuds, and you've done the test and can hear the difference between 128kbps and 256kbps on them, then your only option is to create a whole new library of stuff you want on your iPod as 256kbps AAC's. Yes, this is a whipping and takes up even more space, but once you hear your digital music sounding even better on your hi-fi system than you remember the CD's sounding it'll be worth it. Also, if your earbuds are that good, and you've got anything 8GB or above in iPod space, you're probably going to want to go with the full quality Apple Lossless or AIFF files anyway. If you do create a separate AAC library for iPod use, it is MUCH faster to create them from the full quality files you've already imported rather than using the CD's, and there'll be no difference in quality.

STEP 4 - HIGH-DEFINITION, OR HIGH-RESOLUTION DIGITAL AUDO

Most music lovers will be totally satisfied with 44.1/16 CD-quality digital audio. But for those interested in true audiophile quality sound, 24 bit digital at 48k and higher sample rates is the answer. So the obvious question is, where can I get music in these better sounding formats? Besides artists offering CD-quality and better downloads on their personal sites, you will find a growing number of sites that sell music in high-definiton formats. For instance HD Tracks has an amazing selection of music available in 44.1/16 and up to 192/24 in either AIFF or FLAC files. If you don't think the second Rolling Stones album could possibly sound any better at 88.2/24 bit than it does on CD, or even mp3, you're very wrong. Though their selection is tiny compared to iTunes I would always check both, because the same album on hdtracks at 44.1/16 is almost always the same price or cheaper than the iTunes Store's inferior AAC.

Normally 88.2k and above, 24 bit audio is only available from these sites as FLAC files so they don't take so long to download. But you can download a free utility for the Mac called XLD (X-Lossless Decoder) that will convert the FLAC files to Apple Lossless, AIFF or WAV without degrading the quality, or to the best sounding mp3's or AAC's possible. And as I pointed out earlier, iTunes should support FLAC files soon anyway.

Realistically, 96k is the highest sample rate that even the most serious audiophile will probably be interested in, and 88.2/24 is ideal in my opinion. In blindfold tests listeners were not able to identify 88.2k vs. 176.4 or 192k with any consistency. Part 2 will have some VERY important information regarding playing any sample rate above 44.1k in iTunes.


*** UPDATE 1/3/12  *** It seems that a big push is happening to make 96/24 the standard for consumer hi-definition audio. As I stated above, it should be 88.2k in my opinion, and there are technical=quality reasons for that regarding production and mastering in hi-resolution and then downsampling for CD and downloads. But some mastering rooms, like DES for example, have the gear and know the secret for eliminating any difference in quality. So keep and eye on audio production news and forums, but production at 96k/24 bit would seem to be the future. 

So get busy starting the arduous task of getting your best CD's properly imported into iTunes. You may just want to leave what you've already imported as mp3's or AAC's alone for use with your iPod and start a whole new library for the high-quality files. Click Here for info on how to create separate libraries. Now that you know what files sound the best, Part 2 will cover how to get the best sound quality from iTunes itself when it plays these files. There are sneaky little settings that will degrade the sound.

A MISCONCEPTION:

The Import Setting in iTunes determines what kind of files your CD is ripped as, and it can also be used to change one audio file type to another. So a lot of people are under the misconception that they can take lossy-compression files they've already created, and covert those to a lossless file. Yes, you can do that, but it will not sound like a lossless file that you ripped straight from the CD. If fact, it will likely sound worse than the lossy-compression file you started with, it will just take up five times the disc space. You can change one lossless format to another, AIFF to WAV for example, without losing quality. You can go from lossless to lossless-compression files, and back, without losing quality. And you can go from lossless or lossless-compression to lossy-compression files, which will reduce quality. But converting lossy-compression to a lossless file does not 'get back quality'.

FOR THE HIGH-TECH CROWD:

If you want the best possible quality, the XLD (X Lossless Decoder) utility I mentioned is considered to be the best CD ripper and audio file convertor made. Its proprietary method of absolutely accurate CD ripping is called 'CDParanoia', and that kinda sums it up. Plus, besides WAV and AIFF it can create Apple Lossless, FLAC, AAC, mp3 and others in the best possible quality. Just search XLD for the free download.

10 COMMON MIXING MISTAKES THAT CAN RUIN YOUR PROJECT

From having dealt with literally tens of thousands of mixes, here are 10 mistakes that I see people make over and over again. These are mistakes that will prevent your final mastered tracks from having the clarity, sparkle, punch and volume that you want, and they're fairly easy to address. These are general common-sense guidelines, but it's always important to remember the #1 rule of recording - There are no rules.

1.) THE MIX IS TOO LOUD - This is the most common mistake engineers make today. The mixes you submit for mastering should not be done with eq's, compressors and limiters across the stereo buss. If a stereo buss compressor gives a particular flavor to your mix that you can't get any other way, then by all means use it. But don't do it for the purpose of making the mix louder. If the mix is over-compressed and limited, that cannot be undone. And it totally ties the hands of the mastering engineer. What do you think will sound better? Letting the mastering engineer compress the mix with his $10,000.00+ analog mastering compressor, or letting the mix engineer do it with his $100.00 plug-in? You should also leave headroom, which means your peaks should not be hitting full scale digital 0 (0dBfs). Looking at your stereo peak meters; the hottest peaks in your mix should not exceed -3dBfs, and if you're doing a proper 24 bit mix, -6dBfs is ideal.

2.) THE MIX IS TOO DYNAMIC - Everyone wants their mastered tracks to be huge and loud. But that can't all be done in mastering. As I said in point #1, you generally should not compress or limit the stereo mix. But you should control the dynamics of individual tracks and groups. That doesn't mean squash them, it means control them. Assign your drums to a stereo group and put a stereo compressor/limiter across that group. Usually a compression ratio around 2:1 showing a gain change of around -3dB will do wonders for tightening up the drums, increasing tom & kick sustain and emphasizing the ambience of the drum sound. Adjusting attack and release is critical, as too fast of an attack will kill the punch. You might also want to put limiters on the kick and snare tracks alone if they are too peaky. When you hear a song that is just huge, loud and opened, you can be sure a lot of care was taken in eq'ing, compressing and limiting the individual tracks.

3.) TRACKING AND MIXING AT LOW SAMPLE RATES AND/OR BIT DEPTH - In these days when hard drives are so inexpensive, why would anyone track at 44.1k, and even worse at 16 bit resolution? Even 48k sounds better, but if you want your mix to come alive, you should be tracking and mixing at 88.2k or 96k, 24 bit. If your music is going to be released as an audio CD, 44.1k/16 bit .wav or .aif downloads, or even mp3's or AAC's, the ideal sample rate for tracking and mixing is 88.2k. This allows the mastering engineer to do a linear decimation to 44.1k after mastering, meaning the sample rate converter has to simply divide by 2, which results in the best sound. ESPECIALLY if you are using a real mastering room that will be using analog processing, the difference between a 44.1k mix and an 88.2k mix is night and day.

4.) CRASH CYMBALS TOO LOUD - Want a big, powerful drum sound? Get those crash cymbals down! Loud crash cymbals will completely diminish the apparent size of the drums, and consequently the entire mix. And they will totally cloud and blur the rest of the top end of the mix. It's fine if you want a crash to punch through a couple of times during the mix to emphasize transitions etc., but the entire mix should not be awash in crash cymbals. Solo your drum mix; the crash cymbals should be lower in volume than the snare.

5.) TOO MUCH 'POINT' ON THE KICK DRUM - The 'point' is the slap or click at the leading edge of the kick drum. It adds apparent punch to the kick, but too much can totally destroy an otherwise good mix. You may think it's just a narrow sliver of frequencies that could easily be pulled back in mastering, but in reality it is very broad-band and sits right in the sweet spot of critical upper-mid frequencies where vocals, guitars, strings, synths etc. need presence, and they will all suffer if it has to be pulled back. In the case of the kick drum's point, as in so many things in recording, less is more.

6.) KICK DRUM, SNARE AND TOMS ARE NEGATIVE POLARITY - This is related to phase, but different than being out-of-phase. This means the leading edge of the signal falls rather than rises, which will cause the speaker to pull rather than push at the attack of the drum. That doesn't happen in nature, and it will diminish the punch of the kick and bigger toms. Look at the wave forms of your drum tracks. If the waveform at the beginning of a note goes down before it goes up, it is negative polarity. It's a simple matter on any DAW to highlight the offending track and select "Reverse Polarity". Then you'll see the leading edge rise, as it should. Surprisingly, many professional drum samples are negative polarity.

7.) TOO MUCH SUB-BASS - Almost all home and car systems have subwoofers these day, so it is more important than ever that the sub-bass be correct. But with the home-recording revolution comes the fact that a lot of mixes are being done on small speakers that can't reproduce sub-bass, or on big speakers/subwoofers in a bad control room that can't reproduce the sub-bass properly, or the worst, on headphones. I regularly see mixes from home studios where the bottom end below 40Hz. needs to be pulled back as much as -10dB! Yes, the mastering engineer can do this, but usually not without the rest of the mix suffering. The proper way to address bottom end is by properly eq'ing the individual bass elements of the mix, not by eq'ing the entire mix. An easy answer is an RTA (real-time analyzer) plug-in, which will show you a graphic representation of the tonal balance of your mix. For the majority of rock and pop mixes, the meat of the kick drum is around 40 - 50Hz. You should not see a rise in energy below those frequencies. For hip-hop and r&b, sub-bass below 40Hz. is important, but it should not be out of control. Look at professional mixes on your RTA and see what their tonal balance looks like. As I said in point #2, eq'ing, compressing and limiting the kick drum and bass independently is key to having a huge bottom end without sacrificing the volume the entire mix can eventually be.

8.) VOCAL SIBILANCE WAS NOT ADDRESSED PROPERLY - Sibilance (the sharp ear-piercing 'ess' sound in vocals) should really be addressed during the tracking process. If the tracking engineer let it slip, the second best alternative is to control it during the mix. The worst alternative is to fix it in mastering, which means the entire mix has to be de-essed, and that is going to affect everything else in the 7k - 8kHz. range. If you're working with a vocalist with a lot of sibilance, the best technique is to de-ess some while tracking the vocal, along with mic selection and placement, and then de-ess a bit more during the mix. The results will be much more transparent by preventing one de-esser from having to over-work.

9.) BEING TOO RUSHED - This is a huge one. There is really no reason why you should be rushing the mixing and mastering stages of production. People who have gone through the music production process more than once usually don't schedule release parties, radio promos etc. until they have CD's in-hand. Somehow the music universe has survived without hearing your album for centuries now, it can surely get by an extra couple of weeks. You should allow yourself several days to live with your mastered project before you send it to press. And you shouldn't just rush back to the studio with it. The important thing is how it sounds in your car, on your stereo system, on your friend's stereo system, from the next room, in a retail store if you have a friend working there that can sneak it in - all the ways you normally hear music.

10.) EXPECTING MASTERING TO MAKE YOUR MIXES SOUND PROFESSIONAL - Despite what many mastering engineers will tell you, quality cannot be created in the mastering room. All the mastering engineer can do is enhance the quality that is in your mix, and to make sure nothing is getting in the way of the critical elements of each mix. He cannot 'pull a diamond out of a goat's butt'. The key to having a big, professional sounding product to release is taking your time and paying close attention to each little detail, from the time the first mic is set up to the final tweaking of the vocal during the mix. If all is done properly, the mastering engineer will then be sweetening your mixes, which is what mastering should be all about, and not trying to repair them.

10b.) ALLOWING THE MIX ENGINEER TO 'MASTER' - Yes, anyone can afford a 'mastering' plug-in bundle these days. But unfortunately the plug-ins do not come with the decades of experience that a real mastering engineer will have. And they do not include the room and speakers that are necessary to hear what is really going on. Do not allow your mix engineer's ego, or greed, to get in the way of the quality of your final product. The real heavyweights in the industry know that mixing and mastering are two completely different jobs. The biggest names in mix engineers have no problem with a different engineer being credited for mastering. They know that what is in their best interest is to be credited as the mix engineer on a great sounding album, not being credited for every job on a mediocre sounding album. Whether you use DES Mastering or not, let a professional mastering room master your project.

SOME ALARMING NEWS REGARDING STORAGE OF YOUR MUSIC

Most young artists and producers, and many veteran ones, don't give enough consideration to archiving their music. (Archiving means to securely store important information for a long period of time.) It is wise to archive your stereo masters in both mastered and unmastered form, if not your complete sessions and tracks. Now it turns out that people who think they have their music safely stored are discovering it is gone.

Since their inception, countless artists, producers and labels who endeavor to keep their music properly archived have used the CD-R and DVD-R for storage. This is a seemingly obvious choice because it is not mechanical like a hard drive so it can't fail if properly stored. For the past 20 or so years since CD plants have accepted audio CD-Rs as masters, many mastering rooms have offered an archival service, storing Production Master CD's on a yearly contract.

Mastering rooms are now beginning to report that CD-R's they are pulling from storage vaults where they have sat since they were created are no longer readable. Not only had these discs never been exposed to light, they'd been stored in perfect temperature and humidity. In some cases these have been masters from major labels. It appears that somewhere in the range of 10 to 11 plus years is when the dye in the data layer or recordable discs begins deteriorating, even if the disc has never been exposed to sunlight. As of yet there is no report of anyone being able to recover a deteriorated disc in any way. You may have older discs yourself that work fine, but my thought is it's not worth it to trust them any longer.

The answer to this is "migration", which in the world of archiving means to transfer all of your data from one medium to another on a regular basis. What is now recommended is to migrate your music archive every five years to new discs, drives or whatever future media becomes available. You should store your material on both hard (or solid state) drives as well as a hard medium like CD-R or DVD-R. DO NOT DEPEND ON A HARD DRIVE ALONE!

This will also keep you on top of technology, as you can be sure that the ability to read CD-R, DVD-R, firewire, USB or whatever will be obsoleted as soon as the manufacturers can sneak it in on us.

I would also recommend our blog post Don't Forget the Future for information on what you should get from your mastering room for proper archiving.

Since I've already received comments on this, let me explain - this does not mean your CD collection will become unplayable. A CD-R is not a CD. The data layer of a CD is a metal layer that has physical pits, called 'picts', that the playback laser reflects off of. The only thing that would prevent the laser from seeing the picts is if the surface of the CD is scratched. The data layer of a CD-R is a photo-sensitive dye on which the CD burner creates a a series of black dots, if you will, that simulate the physical picts on a CD. It is this dye that is deteriorating where the 'dots' are no longer visible to the player. The same is true of DVD vs. DVD-R.

One more side note - this is another reason why, when you go to manufacturing, you need to verify that you are getting a replication of CD's, not a duplication onto CD-R's. Unless you're not interested in your music being playable after 10 years or so.