I don't even have a CD player in my 300D anymore. The Apple Lossless files are each about 30-40MB, so that leaves me with plenty of room .... probably only about 15% of my playlist is the type of music where I'd notice any difference between lossless and lossy files. Most of it is rock or pop, and sounds very full in a high-quality mp3. There are a handful of songs that are more "intricate" that I'm willing to sacrifice some extra space for.

Right now the two richest things on my iPod are this album I just got (Muse) in Apple Lossless, and two Nine Inch Nails albums that were free downloads off their site in high-quality mp3. The NIN albums were also available in FLAC, m4a lossless and 24/96 WAVE, free. Pretty cool, but in that case I went with the familiar, the mp3s, and it sounds far superior to any other mp3 on my iPod. Maybe I'll re-download it as lossless and see if I can tell the difference.

I'll tell you one thing though, since I got the speaker upgrade in the 300D, I can really tell which of my files are lousy quality.

__________________
1987 300D, arctic white/palomino--314,000 miles
1978 240D 4-speed, Euro Delivery, light ivory/bamboo--370,000 miles
2005 Jeep Liberty CRD Limited, light khaki/slate--140,000 miles
2018 Chevy Cruze diesel, 6-speed manual, satin steel metallic/kalahari--19,000 miles
1982 Peugeot 505 diesel, 4-speed manual, blue/blue, 130,000 miles
1995 S320, black/parchment--34,000 miles (Dad's car)

Hehehe, so true. Wait until you install an external amplifier. I bet you will get picky on which songs you listen to because of the quality.


RE the formats... You would need to rip the FLAC file into a format that iTunes would be able to recognize, which would be AAC or MP3. The iPod cannot read FLAC unless you go and install iPod linux onto it.

__________________
-Justin

91 560 SEC AMG - other dogs dd
01 Honda S2000 - dogs dd
07 MB ML320 CDI - dd
16 Lexus IS250 - wifes dd

it's automatic.

Forgive my ignorance, but what do you mean by external? I already have one external to the head unit, in the trunk, an Alpine PDX-5. Since I got the system there are now certain songs that I gravitate to especially when I am in that car. I've also honestly noticed that some songs have components I never even was aware of on the old stock sound system or in the Jeep, which has a decent but boomy system. I am starting a little list, though, of songs I'd like to get in a higher quality format, even if just a higher quality mp3 (I have a few songs I downloaded long ago that are just awful quality, but good songs worth "upgrading").
The iPod does read the ALAC (Apple Lossless) m4a files, as does iTunes, which I guess goes to figure since Apple came up with it. But, I'm not sure if it will play all m4a files or just the Apple ones. That's one reason I stuck with the little ol' mp3s on that NIN album ... the FLAC and WAVE files sound neat, but seem kind of like rocket science.

__________________
1987 300D, arctic white/palomino--314,000 miles
1978 240D 4-speed, Euro Delivery, light ivory/bamboo--370,000 miles
2005 Jeep Liberty CRD Limited, light khaki/slate--140,000 miles
2018 Chevy Cruze diesel, 6-speed manual, satin steel metallic/kalahari--19,000 miles
1982 Peugeot 505 diesel, 4-speed manual, blue/blue, 130,000 miles
1995 S320, black/parchment--34,000 miles (Dad's car)

Awesome. Didn't know that. Having an external amplifier helps out in terms of controlling distortion and adding volume. Much cleaner output than just a head units internal amplifier. I have a list of "demonstration" songs that I play for people when they want to hear what my system sounds like. Eric Clapton, The Eagles, Santana, and The Who make for some awesome demonstrations.


I would try to rip or convert the FLAC or WAVE files into ALAC or a very high quality AAC file. More than likely those mp3 files are ripped at a fairly high bit rate, to try and minimize the loss that you get with lower quality MP3 files.

__________________
-Justin

91 560 SEC AMG - other dogs dd
01 Honda S2000 - dogs dd
07 MB ML320 CDI - dd
16 Lexus IS250 - wifes dd

it's automatic.

Yeah, I figured if I was dropping money on some fairly high-end speakers (although apparently Focal offers a waaaayyyyyyyy higher end ... yikes) I might as well get a good amp to get as much as I can out of them. The Alpine PDX is nice; it's 75X4 plus 300X1 for the sub. The system is not insanely loud, but very, very clean and bright, which is what I was going for. The amp also doesn't get hot at all, and is pretty small.

Oh yeah, I also have a "demonstration" playlist! I have a feeling my friends have zero interest and can't tell the difference between the boomy crap in their Hondas and the system I have, but I like to torture them anyway. A lot of times I use Coldplay's "In My Place" because, poppy or not, it has a good bassline, a bright little guitar riff and sharp drums ... and everybody's heard it on the radio and on lousy sound systems, so they can really hear how different it sounds in my car. I'd really like to get some Pink Floyd in there in a higher-quality form, though ... all of my Pink Floyd is 128 kbps. I'll have to swipe some of my dad's CDs and see if I can learn about ripping into a high-quality AAC as you mention.

The NIN files are 320 kbps ... so that probably explains why they sound so great. NIN probably seems like a dark, edgy band to a lot of people, but they really have some incredible music ... the last album they released is all instrumental and is extremely cool ... very different.

__________________
1987 300D, arctic white/palomino--314,000 miles
1978 240D 4-speed, Euro Delivery, light ivory/bamboo--370,000 miles
2005 Jeep Liberty CRD Limited, light khaki/slate--140,000 miles
2018 Chevy Cruze diesel, 6-speed manual, satin steel metallic/kalahari--19,000 miles
1982 Peugeot 505 diesel, 4-speed manual, blue/blue, 130,000 miles
1995 S320, black/parchment--34,000 miles (Dad's car)