FLAC pulls the data off the CD perfectly. FLAC = CD quality. MP3 is only about 1/3 the bitrate of normal FLAC but it's done in a way that makes it seem good.
I don't like FLAC. Only have nirvana discography in FLAC, and i think it takes like 2GB or some crap...
And actually sometimes I even prefer to encode my music as .mp3 128kbs at 48hz, than having it at higher rate samples like 300 and something...
About the speakers, well I do prefer quality of nowadays. While an expensive system from the 80's are just normal speakers... An expensive system nowadays comes with like 5 or even more different speakers as a single speaker in a vintage WOOD and accomplished by a powerfull sub. So 5 different speakers, means each one will reproduce only a certain frequency, so that the speakers don't have to lose all their power trying to reproduce every frequency like old systems...
Also nowadays you have special coil cases wich inside has like a labyrinth (if that's how you say it)... Nowadays some expensive ones uses titanium which is a pretty special material also neodymium which is pretty rare.
Visual example for a comparable concept of loosing details in a block of data, no matter it being an image, a sound clip, or even text, for what it matters.
Starting only with the image on the right, do you think you can precisely take back any detail (even 1 pixel) of the original image on the left? You can't, because you just don't have the data. You can even fake or do a process called pixel binning to simulate a more accurate representation, but it's where all it ends. You can fake a wider representation of a sound clip but it will sound for what it is, a distort rendition in comparison to the original.
Well it may not physically restore the quality, but what it does, is that the crappy compressed songs which are dead songs (sound that has only lower frequencies but poor mids and highs), are listened they way they used to be played before the compression or even have more bass and still with more mids and highs than the original...
ps: if it affects.... yes it does (somes like it, somes don't).
Vintage Sony amps are fantastic if you ever have the chance to listen to one.
As far as modern materials in speakers, I don't know what the advantages are but I do know that modern speakers don't sound as good as vintage ones. It's a fact. It's why 40 year old speakers cost so much. A lot of the JBL speakers from back then were built without a budget. Meaning, the best they could possibly make. What manufacturer does that now? It's all about Made in China at a low budget. I challenge you to try and find a modern speaker that's made in the USA, not just assembled in the USA with Chinese components.
Why would you crank headphones that high on a receiver? That's just abuse.
If you ever have the chance, try a real stereo setup. None of this multichannel crap. Somehow get a hold of some 3-way vintage speakers and an amplifier capable of driving them properly. I KNOW for a fact that your Logitech system is highly lacking mids. Those little satelite speakers are fine for highs and the subwoofer puts out bloated lows but you're not getting mids from anywhere. I know, I had a Logitech setup and it's absolutely night and day difference between it and a real speaker & amplifier setup.
I had a HUGE 5.1 Dell setup where the amp/subwoofer was larger and heavier than a desktop computer:
I hated it, even after using it for a week trying to get used to it and tweaking it. I was using my X-Fi card at the time too. It was way too loud and those satelite speakers just can't output a decent dynamic range at all. When you have good speakers, you don't need a subwoofer. They're really only for multichannel home theater enthusiasts that need the big boom and BIC makes some pretty good subwoofers for that purpose.
I'm really not trying to sound all high and mighty and that MY WAY IS THE BEST WAY. I'm just simply talking from experience. I've had a lot of those "gamer" components and I don't have any of them anymore. I've reached a point where I'm 100% happy with my audio setup.
I hear details in music and games that I've never heard before. One minor silly example is how the M16 shot in AA echoes on for several seconds after you fire. I hear things with great clarity. Properly placed and angled speakers allow you to have an experience that I can only describe as up front and personal. You don't have to crank the volume to hear details, it's like the audio is being piped directly from the speakers into your brain. It doesn't sound like it's coming from any specific direction. That's the only way I can describe it.
Actually non of the old amplifiers are a match for any good amplifier of nowadays, everything is processed with special cpu's, better improved components (mosfets...3rd generation japanese condensers....).
I actually had a music table in my house for over a year that had like 20 500w professional outputs and two huge JBL 1000w RMS professional speakers, and I never heard any old system beating this one...
Specially you can put it on full volume with no source and you won't hear the bzzzzz crappy sound like old amplifiers...
ps: But I still prefer the sound of my logitech Z5500 digital to the more than 10K dollars amplifier I had here for one special reason... You can put the Z5500 at 40db and it will always sound like if you had a good amount of power like with the bigger speakers on higher volume... hint: (SUBWOOFER). And actually the logitech is not that bad on the mids, it's nothing good on the high frequencies, but I had the creative 2.1 special version I have wich have a very high frequency, and everything gets perfect.
ps2: And I prefer a billion times the sounds in the PC those days with a good sound card, using some true bad ass 50mm driver Headphones with neodymnium magnets, it's way more sound quality than you could ever have wanted...
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