Re: [ARSCLIST] Soundcard/iTunes phollies

[Rob Poretti <r.poretti@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Hey Eric .... How are you doing?

I don't use iTunes, but I use WMP extensively.  I've ripped nearly my entire
1500 volume (CD and records) music library and placed it on my media server.
There are usually 2-3 systems playing music from that server constantly.

When I ripped my library I did a lot of experimenting and ended up with the
LAME encoder and VBR at the highest bit rate.  This can get up to, an
"averaged" 320 kbits/sec bit rate.

WMP definitely has a tougher time with VBR, compared to FBR using
"approximately" the same bit-rates... So I'm not surprised that another
player might have the same problem to a lesser or *greater* extent...

Cheers!

Rob Poretti
Sascom - Toronto
vox.905.825.5373    fax.905.469.1129     cel.905.580.2467
www.sascom.com    www.cube-tec.com


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List 
> [mailto:ARSCLIST@xxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Eric Jacobs
> Sent: January 17, 2007 11:42 PM
> To: ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Soundcard/iTunes phollies
> 
> 
> I've not tested this hypothesis to a great extent, but 
> anecdotally it seems that iTunes is much less efficient at 
> handling VBR encoded MP3s than Fixed Bit Rate MP3s, whereas 
> WMP seems to handle VBR and FBR MP3s equally well.
> 
> Anyone else notice similar VBR/FBR difference between iTunes and WMP?
> 
> Eric Jacobs
> The Audio Archive
> tel: 408.221.2128
> fax: 408.549.9867
> mailto:EricJ@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> 
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List 
> [mailto:ARSCLIST@xxxxxxx]On Behalf Of Tom Fine
> Sent: Monday, January 08, 2007 4:46 PM
> To: ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: [ARSCLIST] Soundcard/iTunes phollies
> 
> 
> This post may be of help to a Windows user having playback 
> problems with iTunes. I swapped in a M-Audio Delta 2496 card 
> to replace on-motherboard junko-sound in a computer and a 
> strange problem resulted. Playback of MP3 or MPEG or whatever 
> in Windows Media Player was just fine. Likewise for 
> RealPlayer and other assorted playback software except for 
> iTunes/Quicktime. Sound would be chopped and full of 
> dropouts. Apple's website was marginally helpful, at least it 
> gave me a clue where to look. After going through Apple's 
> checklist of things to "fix" and coming up empty -- including 
> updating to latest M-Audio driver and DirectX software -- I 
> noticed their instructions for the older versions of 
> Quicktime involved tweaking the hardware buffer. I checked 
> out the M-Audio controls and noticed that by default they are 
> set for small-size buffer and thus low latency (since the 
> presumption is that they'd be used for recording or as part 
> of a small Protools rig). I increased the buffer size to 1024 
> samples from 256 and the problem went away. Apparently, 
> iTunes/Quicktime is such a resource hog that it needs more 
> data-caching than any other media player on this computer.
> 
> This cure might not work in all cases or with all cards but I 
> figured I'd share. I think most soundcards have a place 
> either in their control panel or in their device driver panel 
> to set latency and/or buffer. I must also add that the 
> M-Audio card -- bought as B-stock from BSW for $70 -- sounds 
> far better than the Intel on-motherboard sound chip.
> 
> -- Tom Fine
> 
>