Hi-fi Mp3

[hairryharry]

Considering getting GP2X for lots of reasons but wondering if the MP3 player sounds any good connected to a Hi-Fi.

Thanks
HH

 

[thelamer]

No , If you are a real audiophile then you will notice the subtle differences in even playing just an MP3 over raw ( not to mention that it is being carried over a headphone port )


With that said , this will sound just as good as an ipod hooked up to a stereo and it also depends on how high your bitrate is .

 

[NoidZ]

That's just cause it is MP3.

 

[reallynotnick]

It will sound just as good as any other mp3 player.

For better quality use either 160kbs or 192kbs and maybe switch to OGG.

 

[Fishbong]

IMO, the sound quality of the GP2X is not as good as an iPod or an PSP, i tested it with one and the same mp3 file and there were differences.

Also the GP2X´s EQ settings sound bad.

 

[pantera6]

I dont think they sound that bad.
You might aswell just play the music from the in-built speakers
they do go really load
Sure its not the best sound but its still good

 

[thelamer]

Yeah I remember when my power went out during a party , I used my gp2x for music for like and hour . It was hilarious .

 

[reallynotnick]

IMO, the sound quality of the GP2X is not as good as an iPod or an PSP, i tested it with one and the same mp3 file and there were differences.

Also the GP2X´s EQ settings sound bad.

Were we using the same headphones for each, and just leave the EQ off.

 

[Drak]

The Pop equalizer is superb on the gp2x. The other ones arent bad.. the 3d one is pretty neat.

Use 320kbps files and hi-fi will sound great. Hell, if you got sony soundforge convert them to 128kbps vbr and they sound nice, plus it has the same quality as 320kbps.

I myself use 64kb since there isnt much difference except for file size. Only a little bit of quality is lost when I use 64kb, so far I have only noticed one of my songs to be 'ruined' from converting it to be so small

 

[donny662]

If you think 64kbps sounds good, I wouldn't really trust your claim that using "320kbps files and hi-fi will sound great." No offense intended. Most people would not pay attention to the difference in quality between a CD played in a decent player and a portable mp3 player, but the difference is obvious to others.

What really should be compared is the quality of the digital to analog converter in the GP2X to the D/A converters in other mp3 players.

Also, LAME is capable of ABR (average bit rate) encoding too. Plus, it's free.

 

[iignotus]

Use 320kbps files and hi-fi will sound great.

Hell, if you got sony soundforge convert them to 128kbps vbr and they sound nice, plus it has the same quality as 320kbps.

I myself use 64kb since there isnt much difference except for file size.

lol what? I don't want to sound mean, but you have very untuned (read: poor) hearing. It's a good thing, though, really; you get to save lots of space without noticing the difference. I kinda wish I had that ability.

 

[PSyMastR]

For me 192 and above on a portable audio player are all the same, but at home, on my pc, with 5.1, you WILL hear a difference.

 

[reallynotnick]

For me I use AAC so 128kbs is really good, 160kps is super great and 192kbs is the max for me.

I do recomned VBR if you use mp3's also, gives the quality a nice boost.

 

[Drak]

If you think 64kbps sounds good, I wouldn't really trust your claim that using "320kbps files and hi-fi will sound great." No offense intended. Most people would not pay attention to the difference in quality between a CD played in a decent player and a portable mp3 player, but the difference is obvious to others.

What really should be compared is the quality of the digital to analog converter in the GP2X to the D/A converters in other mp3 players.

Also, LAME is capable of ABR (average bit rate) encoding too. Plus, it's free.

I use a LAME VBR converter pilled up with Sony Soundforge. 64kbps with the vbr is like 128normal so it sounds nice. Besides... I listen to online radio channels that use 32kbps and they somehow get it to sound great as well. I wish I knew there secret

So in a sense my 64kb is really 128kb that takes up less space. I would use 320kb, but I see no real point since there is basically no difference with the gp2x from what my ears can desipher. A ipod however shows great difference, and I would use 320kb with it. Plus.. theres the fact of battery drain. A few of my 320kb mp3s actually lagged with the mplayer

Ive tested before with these things and well.. my headphones aren't very godly. all I know is that it sounds great to me so im fine with that.

 

[donny662]

So, you are saying: buy a ~$300 (I don't know how much soundforge is these days) program to basically use it as a GUI for a free program. Good thinking . I know soundforge is a good program for audio editing (I use an older Sonic Foundry version for recording, myself), but if you want to suggest a program for encoding mp3s, all you need to say is LAME is great for doing just that.

If you think 64kbps VBR sounds just as 128kbps CBR, I am happy for you and that may be the case for many people using cheaper headphones with the GP2X. Quality can be very relative, and I hope your perception doesn't change later on. I listen to some of the music files and CD's I fiddled around with 4-5 years ago, and I am appalled at some of the descisions I made, which effected the quality, which I now deeply regret because the originals have been either lost or damaged.

For any of my rips, I use ogg with the Constant Quality settings with a nominal bitrate of 160kbps. Getting an exact filesize is really what ABR is for, and since I don't need exact filesizes for fitting a certain amount of music on a CD or something, I use the better optimized CQ settings (at least better for ogg). Also, the overall quality of the tracks should be consistent; with an ABR encode, the overall quality of the tracks may vary individually with the complexity of the song.

 

[iignotus]

So, you are saying: buy a ~$300 program

Ahoy, matey! There be a rogue vessel off the starboard bow!

 

[PSyMastR]

So, you are saying: buy a ~$300 program

Ahoy, matey! There be a rogue vessel off the starboard bow!

XD :lol:

 

[hairryharry]

Thanks for all the postings -didn't think it would stimulate such replys. Anyway -I have used lame so thoughts on conversions really helpful.

Thanks

 

[rokdcasbah]

but 128 sounds bad!

 

[Hanz™]

but 128 sounds bad!

I would go with 192 VBR. As the difference between that and 256 is not really very noticeable.