Mp3 ... disappointing quality...

[Nissan2006]

bought a pioneer 3050 mp3 player with usb input.

 

plug-in my usb , played some mp3, cannot stand the poor sound quality...

 

do you think mp3 sounds better on CD than on USB?

[Beavc]

Depends on what is the bitrate that u rip it... regardless of CD or USB...

[Darth_mel]

Best if you rip from your own CDs with at least 192kps.

 

Use a good ripper like iTunes or Audio-grabber.

[Genie47]

Variable Bit Rate option. Better. No need 192kbps. MP3 is to keep the file size small but too small, lose quality. Higher bit rate, lose compactness. So use the variable bit rate option.

[The_young_once]

i think mp3 cd is a better bet, but still the best is store-bought cds;

 

i dont really like the use mp3 format but from experience barely passable is at least 128k, optimum at 160 or 192, 320 if you can afford the file size

[Friendstar]

usb or cd doesnt matter... cos they'r just storage.

 

like wat the bros mentioned... its the bitrate etc

[Friendstar]

perhaps ur ICE speakers are top notch and simply amplified the poor quality typical of MP3s

[Genie47]

Precisely. Poorly encoded MP3s will be revealed in high end stuff. So to really get better music from MP3s you got to have the originals and encode them properly and well.

 

Check this out: http://jthz.com/mp3/

 

Was using LAME but now Ogg Vorbis.

 

That statement above pretty much will diss any freely downloaded MP3 or even pay to download MP3s. Most are just crap compared to what you can carefully rip and encode yourself from your own store bought non-pirated CDs.

Edited June 21, 2008 by Genie47

[Dunno]

Check the bit rate. If it's 128k and above, it should sound quite ok. If it does not, either the source or the HU sucks. Still CDs still sound better than MP3.

[Dizzyg]

sound quality depends on the source of the music... normally good pressed CDs will sound good on audio equipment... mp3 IMO will sound ok if it's at a relatively high bitrate (i normally rip my cds at 192kbps) and it sound good on audio devices like the ipod (with good earphones)... I sometimes play my mp3s from my ipod with my Sony HU and frankly speaking it sounds not that good as compared when listening from my Shure earphones...

[Barttron]

sorry to hear man buyers remorse is the worst!

[Super410]

I must be the crazy one. I ripped my mp3 at 320kbps.

[Punkeyboozter]

I use my usb at times in my headunit and find there is a lot more noice compared to mp3 on a cd. as for bit rate try to use the highter option if you can

[Sonata]

It u get the Bewith MM1 it sound better than CD .But it cost .

[Spinworkx]

I guess if you take an MP3 ripped at high bitrate from a good CD, it will definately sound better than a badly recorded CD.

BUT if you take the same CD the MP3 is ripped from there's no way the CD will sound worse than the MP3, simply because no matter at what Bitrate, MP3 is still compressed audio compared to CD.

 

Of course it also depends on the HU playing the MP3 and CD. Some HU do MP3 well when burn into a CD, some do well when connecting a USB drive to it and some players don't read CDs very well...so it's hard to compare this way.

 

Take for example, using a good player like the D2 to play a CD and compare it to another HU that plays the same song via USB, even if the entire setup is identical, there's no way the D2 will sound worse than the MP3.

 

But if you take a good MP3 HU like the Alpine Ipod player and compare it with let's say an entry level CD player, then maybe the Ipod will sound better.

 

So to me, ultimately, the source player is important and so is the source of the CD/MP3...but in theory, compressed music regardless of what btrate, extraction method or player you use, will never sound better than from a CD played back from a good CD player...

[Sony]

not really.. those songs on my ipod are on 320 as well.. anyway, got space, so why not

[Sony]

bought a pioneer 3050 mp3 player with usb input.

 

plug-in my usb , played some mp3, cannot stand the poor sound quality...

 

do you think mp3 sounds better on CD than on USB?

 

 

beside the MP3 and USB, the HU is also impt.

 

with the original disc in my friends HU vs ripped to the Ipod and playing on the same speakers on the same car using Harman Kardon controller, the ripped MP3 sound much better than the CD which is played on the HU.