Alpine CDA-9887 Apple Lossless vs CD
08-25-2011, 06:04 PM
#11
I changed my reply if you missed it above...the 9887's ipod out is analog meaning the ipod does the dac'ing..the signals through the 422 cable are analog. check back my reply it has a link to a thread that discussed this in more detail. Sorry for some reason I thought you had a cda 117 which is pure digital.
08-25-2011, 09:41 PM
#13
I'm pretty sure it's analog as I checked back all the brochures from when the 9887 came out and none mentioned the pure digital stream unlike the products that now have it. That's usually the best way to know, as it would have been a big deal at the time when the 9887 came out. Until a few years nobody had direct access to the ipods digital stream, even in home audio it wasn't until the Wadia itransort dock came out. Right after that many more head units came out with direct digital usb hook up. The first Alpines with it were the x series ipod controllers around 2008/9. The big deal was the 24 bit burr brown dacs and imprint when the 9887 came out.
08-27-2011, 09:22 AM
#15
I'm pretty sure the eq settings will affect sq only if it's an analog output, as it's processed in the analog domain. With a pure digital out, only the oriinal digital stream is outputted..I guess that's an easy way to check if it's analog or digital. If someone with a cda 117 or 105 can check this it would great, and an easy way to know if you have a digital output. Unfortunately, I have an analog output and I know the eq affects the sound as I've tried it a number of times.
08-30-2011, 09:34 PM
#16
0 Watt CAFz'r
Thread Starter
Join Date: Apr 2008
Posts: 15
The EQ settings only affect the headphone out, not the line.
I was holding out for proof that it was an analog connection. Nobody seemed to have proof, only opinion.
So I decided to test it myself. I disconnected the left analog pin on the iPod 30 pin cable, and the left channel went dead. I reconnected it and sound came back. So, all evidence points it to being analog. What a waste of 24bit Burr-Brown DACs, I only get to use them with the CD player, nothing else.
I was holding out for proof that it was an analog connection. Nobody seemed to have proof, only opinion.
So I decided to test it myself. I disconnected the left analog pin on the iPod 30 pin cable, and the left channel went dead. I reconnected it and sound came back. So, all evidence points it to being analog. What a waste of 24bit Burr-Brown DACs, I only get to use them with the CD player, nothing else.
09-02-2011, 07:49 PM
#17
50 Watt CAFz'r
Join Date: Jul 2011
Posts: 57
I think the thing that is missing in mp3, mp4 etc vs. CD's it that CD's have more dynamic range (at least the newer releases in the CD "era") then any compressed or non compressed format. I think a copy of media can have the same sound quality but lack the dynamic range (or punch as some would say) that the original does
If you have a high quality system, the differences would be more pronounced then a cheap one.
that is why if I want the best sound, I am staying old school and sticking to CD format, even if they are harder to find.
cheers
randy
If you have a high quality system, the differences would be more pronounced then a cheap one.
that is why if I want the best sound, I am staying old school and sticking to CD format, even if they are harder to find.
cheers
randy
09-03-2011, 10:22 AM
#18
I think most of us are forgetting that the cd comes from the data on a computer to start with. After the tracks are all mastered, they are burned to a cdr or stored on a drive and sent to the cd manufacturer...it is this info that creates the glass master, father and mother pressing discs that make the cds that we buy. So, to assume that a file of the exact information that is on the cd is not as good as the plastic disc makes no sense..it all originated from a stored file on a computer. If the file is corrupt in some way, then certainly that will affect quality, but if it's bit accurate lossless, then it's the same information.
09-03-2011, 10:28 AM
#19
The EQ settings only affect the headphone out, not the line.
I was holding out for proof that it was an analog connection. Nobody seemed to have proof, only opinion.
So I decided to test it myself. I disconnected the left analog pin on the iPod 30 pin cable, and the left channel went dead. I reconnected it and sound came back. So, all evidence points it to being analog. What a waste of 24bit Burr-Brown DACs, I only get to use them with the CD player, nothing else.
I was holding out for proof that it was an analog connection. Nobody seemed to have proof, only opinion.
So I decided to test it myself. I disconnected the left analog pin on the iPod 30 pin cable, and the left channel went dead. I reconnected it and sound came back. So, all evidence points it to being analog. What a waste of 24bit Burr-Brown DACs, I only get to use them with the CD player, nothing else.
09-04-2011, 11:57 AM
#20
50 Watt CAFz'r
Join Date: Jul 2011
Posts: 57
I think most of us are forgetting that the cd comes from the data on a computer to start with. After the tracks are all mastered, they are burned to a cdr or stored on a drive and sent to the cd manufacturer...it is this info that creates the glass master, father and mother pressing discs that make the cds that we buy. So, to assume that a file of the exact information that is on the cd is not as good as the plastic disc makes no sense..it all originated from a stored file on a computer. If the file is corrupt in some way, then certainly that will affect quality, but if it's bit accurate lossless, then it's the same information.
but when you compress music SOMETHING has to go... even when you use lossless compression there still is a trade off somewhere as with the old saying "can't get something from nothing"
so I could be totally wrong, but this is why I believe CD still can sound better then mp3, mp4 etc
cheers
randy
