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As time passes it seems that a few songs in the form of MP3 files - yea, even a few albums- have jumped the fence and crept into my music collection through the doggie-door. Gifts from friends, a freebie from Amazon, etc. Some are too good to delete. There's streaming radio too. What about so-called HD FM radio? - a tragic lossy CODEC if ever there was one.
The sound of an MP3 playing on my big 3.1-channel rig at decent listening levels can be pretty bad. I get it- 90% of the bits are gone won't ever come back. The result is limited frequency response, time-smear and artifacts; the impression is thick, cardboardy, hollow, missing depth and timbral details. AWOL also are ambience, sustain, reverberation/ambience- things that make music sound alive.
Bummer! But admit it, many recordings across all media can be dreadful for many reasons. Many LP's are dreadful.
Must be some band-aids though. One of the DSP modes on my Lexicon MC-12 preamp occasionally helps but it may just be the artificial soundfield drawing attention away from the lossy CODEC damage. The best seems to be "DTS Neo6 Music" which usually doesn't sound too gimmicky, forced or artificial and it doesn't collapse the stereo image totally. Doesn't feel right somehow.
Follow Ups:
I have found that any half-decent DAC improves MP3. I'm really referring to a stand-alone DAC, but I guess it doesn't have to be. I also think that *typically* DACs in AVRs/pre-pros do not sound very good with MP3. I don't know why, they offend my ears, even the built-in DACs in them that sound decent with other types of digital source. They just suck with the lossy MP3 stuff. Also try uprezzing the MP3 with the DAC, like to 192kHz even, that sometimes helps a lot too, different filters maybe(?).
I have got it so that streaming even low-rate (128kbps) MP3 is quite inoffensive and often quite pleasurable to listen to. Not my preference, but if that's how the (new) music comes, I don't cringe at least.
My experience with HD FM is no better than with Sirius/XM i.e. not good, but in those cases I have no means to use an external DAC. It bothers me that they actually advertise the "quality" of their sound. Not even for spoken voice. And they call the HD FM "crystal clear"; it is, I can plainly hear how bad it is, perfectly.
On a more serious note, I have to agree with oldmkvi and Prisoners on the Sony HAP-Z1ES. I had the lower-end model HAP-S1 that includes a modestly powered integrated amp and it sounded surprisingly good not only on my 'hi-res' files, but a handful of compressed MP3-like AAC files that I moved to it from my phone.
I don't normally listen to MP3 or AAC but if you do, and want to 'magically' improve their sound, the Sony will do it.
DSEE technology
"DSEE technology upgrades the quality of your compressed music files. When an original music source is compressed, you lose the high frequency elements of your music. DSEE restores these elements to produce high quality sound that's closer to the original CD recording."
/
I've been extolling the virtues of this incredible unit for almost two years and it's amazing how many people don't get it. I hear the same questions every time:
"Can I use my DAC with it?"- No, because it's most likely a better DAC than what you're using.
"Can I play CDs on it?"- No, because it replaces your CD player.
"Can I run my audio enhancing software on it that I downloaded to my computer?"- No, because it replaces your computer too.
It's revolutionized the way I listen but it takes awhile for people to understand what it is. When the use it though it's like I can see the lightbulb go on in their head!
I LOVE mine, and at some point it sounded a lot better than when new, tho it sounded fine out of the box.
One day I noticed, wow, it really is sounding great!
I almost never use my 5400 and XA7 anymore.
The only time I use my disc player is either with my SACDs or to try new CDs before deciding to load them into the Z1
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