WAV or Apple Lossless Encoder?

Dtc - thanks for trying that out and posting. Your results do not surprise me given I could hear the difference clearly on one system and not on another. Peter's system, and my main system are highly resolving I'd say, whereas the system I could not hear the difference on is not. I think also the two systems where the difference was clear had much more effective jitter reduction active, and I'd guess that played even more of a roll. I'd be very interested to hear if anyone else gives it a try. Glad you enjoyed PopPop - yes it is a fun CD! I don't follow the Grammy's so wasn't aware that Winstone had been nominated - cool beans. Yes ECM artists and recordings reflect a consistently high standard of excellence.

Jax2 - Have you compared the same tracks from a CD player to the same DAC you are using for iTunes? I found that on my system, there is little difference. Once I got to the state of being as good as my CD player, I have sort of stopped until I can try a setup that plays 24/192 material.

Unfortunately, on the Grammy show they play stuff I am not interested in listening to. Not sure if they ever played any of the jazz on the show - only got through about 20 minutes before turning it off.

Jax2 - Have you compared the same tracks from a CD player to the same DAC you are using for iTunes? I found that on my system, there is little difference. Once I got to the state of being as good as my CD player, I have sort of stopped until I can try a setup that plays 24/192 material.

Yes, I compared the EAC>Apple Lossless file to the actual CD it was ripped from spinning on my Oppo 983H fed into the digital input of my Modwright Transporter (same DAC used for the file comparisons). I could not tell any difference there, but there was the same marginal superiority to the straight Apple Lossless file in terms of soundstage and definition of the instruments in space.

Haven't had TV hookup for 10 years and don't miss that tremendous waste of time it represented to me, so I know what you mean about the Grammys. There was a thread about that very subject here. IMO who cares...a highly 'political' popularity contest and most of the music they highlight just doesn't interest me much.

Marco

oh my thanks for reminding me of Pop Pop. I've had it playing much of the day and just ripped it using Apple Lossless, glad to hear some of you don't hear huge differences. I can handle re ripping everything to Lossless.........
Yes that CD is great fun - really enjoyed it, lots of detail over a very modest system - the used Vandersteen 1c's I got here on Audiogon and a new NAD 326 integrated amp and NAD 545 cd player....fabulous for the money!

Now if I can just get my new Squeezebox to work, of course, Murphy's Law for me means that our wireless router isn't accepting it and we're waiting on the Logitech folks to call with recommendations.....
but in the meantime, there's the NAD and Pop Pop!

oh my thanks for reminding me of Pop Pop. I've had it playing much of the day and just ripped it using Apple Lossless, glad to hear some of you don't hear huge differences. I can handle re ripping everything to Lossless.........

PopPop's a classic, and a whole lot of fun to boot. Hey, don't get me wrong, I would not say (and don't think I did say) I heard "huge" differences. The differences are immediate and apparent on my main system, but the degree of difference, no matter how immediate, would not have me scurrying to re-rip my library.

I just had a friend over yesterday morning who I'd told about the files and said had to hear for himself. To make it more interesting I put a cover over the iTunes display so he could not read the file ID (which identifies the EAC file in this case). I played the two files for him and his obervations were that the two files definitely sounded different stating a clear preference for what was the EAC file. He described the one that was EAC>lossless as having a more extended bass and more clarity to vocals and instruments. He did not mention soundstaging, but his love of music, though very discriminating, has not yet been infected by Audiophilia Neurosis. He also did not go away wanting to re-rip his entire library (which is currently in AL). Dtc also sent me his files yesterday but I did not discover their arrival until after my friend had left, and I'd disassembled my system for an upgrade. Dtc - I'll load them to my music server and give them a listen and report what I hear. I'm sending my MW TP out for a modification of the power supply so when I get it back I'll take a listen to the two files you sent.