USB 3.0 and .wav

[Taz]

Couldn't find a posting on anything about or similar to this so thought I would share it with all of you.

So being somewhat of an audiophile I hated that having so many music files meant I had to use .mp3's vs a lossless file format, which is my opinion sounds no where near the same.

I was going to buy a larger hard drive and install it into my existing laptop and just go from there but I figured it would just be filled up over time so I would always be upgrading to a larger hard drive. Around this same time USB 3.0 came out and I had the idea of it would be easier to have all my .wav files on a external hard drive and considering the speed of 3.0 it should be no different than if the files were directly on my internal hard drive.

About $1,500 dollars later I can gladly say it works flawlessly. I got a Asus laptop with an i7 processor and of course USB 3.0. I upgraded the RAM from 4GB to 8GB with a 7 cas latency, and a 2TB Western Digital external hard drive.

So far I have only processed about 150 songs through Platinum Notes but they all sound great. I've tested it with my VCI-100 and Traktor time code vinyl and didn't have a single problem.

If you have any questions let me know.

[sj03w4t]

epic anticlimax

[Taz]

epic anticlimax

True it was a very anticlimactic story. Mainly I was just trying to get the info out there for other digital DJs that this is a working setup. Next time I'll be sure to include a dragon, wizard, or maybe even some walking trees.

[sarasin]

Midgets!!!!....why do they always forget the midgets?!?!?

[DJ Nada]

So I'm guessing you have physical format to rip from then? What about us guys that don't do that or can't afford that? I get most of my music from subscription services, and RARELY I'll get sent a promo track in .wav format. Unless there's a music store out there that sells cheap .wav format, how can I go about getting better quality files?

What's wrong with FLAC format btw?

[SirReal]

So wait, you're saying spent $1500 on hardware to convert 150 of your MP3's to .wav format so that they sound better? I think had you just bought the .wav format of the track it might've been a bit cheaper.

[Taz]

I do rip from some physical format but most of my music files I have are mp3's bought from online sources. I use Platinum Notes to convert my mp3's to .wav, and yes they sound ten times better, especially when playing on a good system.

There is nothing wrong with FLAC or any format for that matter. Lossless is just better sounding. I was just using .wav as an example. The main issue was space.

I spent $1,000 on a new laptop with a USB 3.0 port (I was going to upgrade soon anyway and just decided to go big), $250 for 8GB of DDR3 RAM, and $250 for an external 3.0 USB hard drive with 2TB of space. (I do have other purposes for all this equipment). Good equipment is never cheap

I was just stating in the post I had converted 150 files so far to run the test and see if there were any glitches, dropouts, bad feedback, etc. during my mixing. I have over 5000 songs in my library so far, which ends up to be a lot of space when in .wav format.

[Sherlock Ohms]

Not sure I understand the point of taking a lossy compressed .mp3 file, and then unpacking to to .wav - it's not like you can get the data back ...

[Afterhour Ali]

I use Platinum Notes to convert my mp3's to .wav, and yes they sound ten times better

MP3 is a lossy format.
It cuts out frequencies a lot of people can't hear anyways.

So when you convert them back to Wave these frequencies still won't be there.

You probably use some filters/eqs/compressors to make them better sounding, but remember whats lost is lost.

Also mad props on already going the USB3.0-way.
You won't regret that.

[midifidler]

I use Platinum Notes to convert my mp3's to .wav, and yes they sound ten times better

Sorry mate might want to do some research around that ... I garuntee that if they do actually sound better then it is not because you have converted your compressed (information permanently removed) MP3s to wav. I would suggest it is probably just an increase in volume as a result of processing them through platinum notes.

MP3 compression works on the psycho-acoustic effect, when certain adjacent frequencies bands differ in volume by a certain margin the human ear will only hear the dominant frequency, MP3 compression removes the weaker frequency component. Once that information is gone it is gone forever, converting back to WAV is not going to change that.