Highest quality audio possible?

What is it? Is it a DVD's surround sound, a CD, a record? I guess the recording process would matter too. Anyone know how the ultimate recording could be achived?Highest quality audio possible?
I've heard of 800kbp FLAC filesHighest quality audio possible?
Depends on the hardware you play through.

If you're using an ipod with the phones they come with, you won't take advantage of the quality of the medium.
[QUOTE=''Ace_WondersX'']I've heard of 800kbp FLAC files[/QUOTE]

FLAC can go well beyond 800kbps
http://gizmodo.com/5213042/why-we-need-audiophiles
You would need this: http://www.realtraps.com/video_ultimate.htm
Wouldn't the highest quality audio possible be live music?



-WCG
[QUOTE=''Rollingstones7'']http://gizmodo.com/5213042/why-we-need-audiophiles[/QUOTE] Good read. So basically records are still better than CDs, I guess that's why they still make them.
[QUOTE=''West-Coast-G'']Wouldn't the highest quality audio possible be live music? -WCG[/QUOTE]No. Audiophiles have ways of making recordings sound better than even real life. :o
i would say CD are high quality. mp3 aren't as good because they are compressed files.
[QUOTE=''Infinite-Zr0''][QUOTE=''Ace_WondersX'']I've heard of 800kbp FLAC files[/QUOTE]

FLAC can go well beyond 800kbps[/QUOTE]

I've heard a 4000kb/s FLAC version of Dark Side of the Moon.



It was amazing.
What are you planning on playing this through?

Like I said, the hardware is just as important, and imo more important than the medium.

As long as you aren't using mp3 format, your hardware is gonna be a bigger crutch.
my vote goes to flac
[QUOTE=''thepwninator''][QUOTE=''Infinite-Zr0''][QUOTE=''Ace_WondersX'']I've heard of 800kbp FLAC files[/QUOTE]

FLAC can go well beyond 800kbps[/QUOTE]

I've heard a 4000kb/s FLAC version of Dark Side of the Moon.



It was amazing.[/QUOTE]



Wow... I want. Bad.
Ok, since no here read the article I posted I'll give you a rundown. I collect records (I'm not an audiophile though) and I think they are way superior than CD's or mp3's. The tracks on mp3 are really muddled and bleed into , and on vinyl the clarity between tracks is amazing. It give the sound a 3-D quality. CD's on the other hand traditionally offer sound close to records, however, recently CD's are mastered the same way as mp3 so they both suffer from ridiculous loudness. FLAC is great but I doubt you have your computer directly hooked up to great speakers and comuter CD writers tend to compress the sound.Just a note, ANYTHING run through an ipod headphone jack is REALLY compressed, you will only get full sound out of your ipod by using the bottom thingy.
[QUOTE=''Rollingstones7'']Ok, since no here read the article I posted I'll give you a rundown. I collect records (I'm not an audiophile though) and I think they are way superior than CD's or mp3's. The tracks on mp3 are really muddled and bleed into , and on vinyl the clarity between tracks is amazing. It give the sound a 3-D quality. CD's on the other hand traditionally offer sound close to records, however, recently CD's are mastered the same way as mp3 so they both suffer from ridiculous loudness. FLAC is great but I doubt you have your computer directly hooked up to great speakers and comuter CD writers tend to compress the sound.

Just a note, ANYTHING run through an ipod headphone jack is REALLY compressed, you will only get full sound out of your ipod by using the bottom thingy.[/QUOTE] What about a DVD? Dream Theater's last album was mixed in 5.1 surround, what would that be comprable to?
[QUOTE=''Rollingstones7'']Ok, since no here read the article I posted I'll give you a rundown. I collect records (I'm not an audiophile though) and I think they are way superior than CD's or mp3's. The tracks on mp3 are really muddled and bleed into , and on vinyl the clarity between tracks is amazing. It give the sound a 3-D quality. CD's on the other hand traditionally offer sound close to records, however, recently CD's are mastered the same way as mp3 so they both suffer from ridiculous loudness. FLAC is great but I doubt you have your computer directly hooked up to great speakers and comuter CD writers tend to compress the sound.Just a note, ANYTHING run through an ipod headphone jack is REALLY compressed, you will only get full sound out of your ipod by using the bottom thingy.[/QUOTE]

The reason ipods suck, is because they have an extremely weak internal amp. Everything you use to play music through uses an amp. Your TV has an amp, mp3 players, stereos etc.

The reason ipods ''sound better'' through the ''thing in the bottom'' is because that sends a digital signal to the receiver. There you would still need a good amp to play your music through.
[QUOTE=''blackngold29''][QUOTE=''Rollingstones7'']Ok, since no here read the article I posted I'll give you a rundown. I collect records (I'm not an audiophile though) and I think they are way superior than CD's or mp3's. The tracks on mp3 are really muddled and bleed into , and on vinyl the clarity between tracks is amazing. It give the sound a 3-D quality. CD's on the other hand traditionally offer sound close to records, however, recently CD's are mastered the same way as mp3 so they both suffer from ridiculous loudness. FLAC is great but I doubt you have your computer directly hooked up to great speakers and comuter CD writers tend to compress the sound. Just a note, ANYTHING run through an ipod headphone jack is REALLY compressed, you will only get full sound out of your ipod by using the bottom thingy.[/QUOTE] What about a DVD? Dream Theater's last album was mixed in 5.1 surround, what would that be comprable to?[/QUOTE]DVD's soudn better because you can put music on it uncompressed (there's more memory space) so it really could sound great. Personally I like my music Right/Left, not five seperate channels.
CD is the mininum for high end audio, at 1411kbps (16bit 44.1KHz Stereo)you can get SACD and DVD Audio which will do higher bitrates and channels (for example, 24bit 48khz or higher in 5.1 surround)Vinyl is analogue, and most people record it to digital file at 24bit 96Khz (4000kbps+).Many CDs nowadays are beginning to sound worse because record companies demand that most parts of the song are made louder, this ruins the dynamics and makes it uncomfortable to listen to, and a decent vinyl master can blow a cd out of the water (Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Stadium Arcadium is a good example)This is called the Loudness War, reseach it more on google, wiki and youtubeThere are lot more details that i wont go into, its very complicatedOh and when people say FLAC is the best you can listen to, flac is just a way of compressing wave files down without losing data (hence the term lossless codec). I can make a 192kbps mp3 into a flac and a 256kbps mp3 would still sound better. But yes ripping a cd or vinyl straight to flac (or wav or any other lossless format) is the best way of preserving audio
lossless flac with good headphones and/or other alternative.