[JohnR]

I haven't used 'phones in years. About 12 or so in fact. Much of the in-between time I have had an office that I could decorate with tube amps and speakers as I liked... but no longer, so here's the little system I've just finished putting together today in an attempt to defend against the noise and the lack of music in qube-land...

* Fatman iTube
* iPod Nano
* Audio-Technica ATH-M50 (thank you, boead)

I obtained the iTube at less than half retail, thanks to a heads-up from a friend. They must be discontinued now as this was some kind of close-out deal. Considering that you get a standalone integrated amp with two inputs (and headphone socket), plus the iPod dock, cables, and a remote, it was too hard to resist.

I'm new to the iPod world but I've been loading CDs up at 256 kbps into iTunes.

So far initial impressions are very positive for the intended purpose. The iPod will also be used in the car while commuting - some continuity for long (classical) pieces should be nice.

JohnR

[PhilNYC]

Congrats on the new setup...

Quick question...any particular reason why you're ripping CDs into 256kbps instead of a lossless format?

[JohnR]

Quick question...any particular reason why you're ripping CDs into 256kbps instead of a lossless format?

Um... no? I just thought I might start there and see how it goes.

I'd be surprised if I could tell a difference in the car. With the 'phone system, perhaps, I'll try it.

[PhilNYC]

Actually, after I asked the question, I did realize that you were using an iPod, so that maybe you were using a compressed format in order to fit more music on the iPod....?

[JohnR]

That's a consideration - I just have no idea what the best tradeoff is at this point...!

Roughly what's the storage requirement of lossless vs 256kbps?

Ideally, I suppose I should rip lossless and then convert to compressed for times when I need to fit a lot onto the iPod (e.g. for long trips). No idea if iTunes supports doing something like that... another thing to add to my list of things to figure out

[JohnR]

To answer my own question... lossless seems to be about 2.5-3 times the storage of 256kbps. Quick calculation says that is about 25-30 CDs of baroque strings and choral on an 8G iPod.

Good enough. I'll start again with lossless

[richidoo]

With the headphones you'll really hear the difference with lossless. In the car max res mp3 is good enough.

[JohnR]

System picture (hm... perhaps a little more depth of field next time...)

[Len_Dreyer]

To answer my own question... lossless seems to be about 2.5-3 times the storage of 256kbps. Quick calculation says that is about 25-30 CDs of baroque strings and choral on an 8G iPod.

Good enough. I'll start again with lossless

It's worth it because as your collection of lossless music grows you might find that you'll want to tap into that collection with your other systems.

(am attempt at better wording)