On Sat, 16 Dec 2017 21:47:33 -0500, Ron wrote:

On 12/16/2017 8:25 PM, Char Jackson wrote:
On Sat, 16 Dec 2017 20:15:09 -0500, Ron wrote:

On 12/16/2017 5:02 PM, Nil wrote:
On 16 Dec 2017, Ron wrote in
alt.comp.os.windows-10:

If you care about sound quality like I do CDs is the only way to
go. I didn't invest thousands of dollars in my stereo eqt to
listen to crappy MP3s that have to be downloaded.

MP3s don't have to be downloaded, you can make them yourself. And you
don't have to listen to crappy MP3s, you can listen to high quality
ones that are all but indistinguishable from the source. There are also
lossless digital audio formats that are bit-for-bit identical to the
source.

Yeah, make them myself from my own CDs, otherwise, you have to download
them. On my stereo system *I* can tell the difference, no matter how
"high quality" are "lossless" they are,

Over the past decade, I've seen an awful lot of "I can hear the
difference" claims. Those who have submitted to blind listening tests
have fared no better than chance. Every time. I haven't seen a single
exception.

All I can tell you is what I've heard. And *I* can tell the difference
between a song that was downloaded from iTunes and then playing that
same song from a CD.

I can't tell you anything about iTunes. I consider it to be a fairly
benign form of malware, so it's not something I have access to. Still,
I'd be surprised if iTunes only offers a single quality setting because
surely they are aware that customers have differing expectations
regarding the quality of what they download. In your case, check to see
if they have a higher quality version of what you want. Then again,
iTunes is far from the only game in town. If their product sucks, look
elsewhere.

As for the lossless formats such as flac and a few others, you won't
hear a difference because there *is* no difference, so that's a
non-starter.

I know that. I'm talking about MP3s that some people claim are lossless
and sound just as good as a CD.

To echo Nil again, if they are mp3 then they aren't lossless, but mp3 at
it's higher quality settings can be indistinguishable from the source
for the vast majority of listeners. For the remaining elite, you have
the non-mp3 lossless formats, for which there is no difference at all
because, well, it's lossless.

The same applies to DVDs/Blu-rays. Streaming movies lack bass.

That may be true in some cases, but not in general. Any audio
degradation would be due to compression, which would be most audible in
the high frequencies. You are at the mercy of whoever and whatever
processes the audio, and they/it could attenuate the bass as well, but
I don't think it's general practice. Also, the audio on most DVDs is
compressed in similar ways to streaming audio. The processing can be
done well or poorly.

I have streamed movies and you couldn't even tell I have a subwoofer.
The same is true with my cable TV audio. DVD and Blu-ray is far superior
in the bass department.

It's just as Nil said, your streaming experience depends to a large
degree on where you're streaming from. You might try putting your
DVD/BluRay movies on your own server so that you can stream locally.
That, at least, saves the discs from possible damage from handling and
lets you watch movie after movie without getting up from your chair, in
case that's important.

A streaming movie is so compressed it can't compete with a Blu-ray or
DVD when it comes to audio, especially i the bass.

Same as above. If your streaming movies are that compressed, I suggest
that you stream from another source. There's nothing inherent in
streaming that mandates heavy compression or lack of bass.

By the way, if you're still watching DVDs, I think you're not as serious
about video quality as you are about sound quality.

We are talking about audio here, but since you mentioned it, a DVD looks
fine when played on a Blu-ray player because it's upscaled. It is close
to Blu-ray quality.

I hate to be the grinch, but upscaling doesn't generally improve video
quality to a noticeable degree. An upscaled DVD won't magically look
like a BluRay. You can't make a silk purse from a sow's ear.

In short, I wanna put a CD into my machine and enjoy high quality music.

I've offered options to improve on that process.

I wanna put a Blu-ray or DVD in my machine and enjoy high quality video
and audio. It's just that simple.

BluRay, yes, DVD not so much. I don't know about anyone else, but I
cringe when I watch a DVD. The video quality takes me out of the viewing
experience and I start watching the presentation instead of the movie
content. Fast motion and evening/night scenes are the biggest offenders.

Oh, and my main TV is a high-end 60" Panasonic Plasma. So I do care
about video quality.

I'm not familiar with that model, but no matter how good the display is,
it's no better than the source that you feed to it.

I'm pretty sure that once my Panny ****s the bed there will
be something better than OLED.

The 4K displays are supposed to be the hot thing. I don't have one
because I don't have any source material that can take advantage of it.