Audio: Testing audio formats

[ClearwaterBchSteve]

I've always encoded at 256bps mp3 and then 256 AAC with iTunes. Am thinking about encoding in ALAC since I have almost all Apple products. Does the Model S still not support ALAC or is FLAC the better way to go (as a general rule for future backup). I don't see Apple going anywhere anytime soon but if Tesla won't support it then maybe FLAC is better. Thanks.

For my initial USB stick load for the S, I did FLAC files ripped direct from actual CDs @ 44.1Khz / 24 bit. The files sound great (essentially exactly like a CD would with no compression artifacts). The compression is only about 2 or 3 to 1, but the improvement in quality over lossy compression is worth the extra storage space requirements.

 

[rcc]

Can you hear a difference between 44.1 / 16-bit and 44.1 / 24-bit given that the source is 44.1 / 16-bit?

As for ALAC vs. FLAC, I rip to ALAC using iTunes because I play that on the ipod. Then (on Windows), I copy files en masse and use MediaMonkey to convert to FLAC with a song, artist, album type title to make sure I don't get collisions.

This because the Model S doesn't support ALAC for some reason whereas it supports FLAC just fine.

 

[ClearwaterBchSteve]

Can you hear a difference between 44.1 / 16-bit and 44.1 / 24-bit given that the source is 44.1 / 16-bit?

I have not done any extenisve comparisons between 16 and 24 bit FLACs created from CDs. However, even though the source material is only 16 bit, using 24 bit in the conversion should theoretically provide a bit more headroom during the compression process - it's worth a good listen because if there truely is no perceptable difference, the 16 bit destination files would use less space.

 

[Rodolfo Paiz]

A quick file-size update for everyone...

Just got my 128GB USB stick for the Model S, and ripped 3471 songs to FLAC. My starting point was 16-bit/44.1-kHz WAV files ripped directly from the original CD's. The total file size for WAV files was 140GB (40MB/song) and the total file size for FLAC was 80GB (23MB/song). The resulting lossless compressed files are (as a group) 43% smaller than the originals.

 

[Tommy]

A quick file-size update for everyone...

Just got my 128GB USB stick for the Model S, and ripped 3471 songs to FLAC. My starting point was 16-bit/44.1-kHz WAV files ripped directly from the original CD's. The total file size for WAV files was 140GB (40MB/song) and the total file size for FLAC was 80GB (23MB/song). The resulting lossless compressed files are (as a group) 43% smaller than the originals.

Thinking of ripping my collection of CD's as well. Does Tesla show the album artwork on the display for either of these formats?

 

[Rodolfo Paiz]

I don't have my Model S yet.

On the way to Tesla service center to trade in my Roadster, another car sideswiped me and scratched up the Roadster. So the repair process is holding up the trade-in and delivery process. It'll take another day or two, but I'm getting all my other stuff -- like music and SunPass -- in order already.

 

[dsm363]

I don't have my Model S yet.

On the way to Tesla service center to trade in my Roadster, another car sideswiped me and scratched up the Roadster. So the repair process is holding up the trade-in and delivery process. It'll take another day or two, but I'm getting all my other stuff -- like music and SunPass -- in order already.

Oh, sorry to hear that. Sucks but glad you're ok. Your music will be ready though to rock out on your new car!

 

[aaronw]

I have tested FLAC, Ogg Vorbis and MP3. Multi-channel (5.1) FLAC does not work. I also tested a USB drive formatted with the Linux EXT4 filesystem and it worked quite well.

 

[jerry33]

Thinking of ripping my collection of CD's as well. Does Tesla show the album artwork on the display for either of these formats?

Sometimes. About half my music just shows ? instead of a picture and XXXX XXXX instead of text. On the remaining half, most of the album covers are tiny (unseeable) with a large border. It's happier when the Nav system is doing guidance and nothing related to music is displayed on the instrument cluster. However, the music sounds great (at least the ones that are lossless).

 

[dsm363]

I e-mailed ownership about added ALAC support. They said they'd pass it along to the correct team for consideration in a future update.

 

[Al Sherman]

I've always encoded at 256bps mp3 and then 256 AAC with iTunes. Am thinking about encoding in ALAC since I have almost all Apple products. Does the Model S still not support ALAC or is FLAC the better way to go (as a general rule for future backup). I don't see Apple going anywhere anytime soon but if Tesla won't support it then maybe FLAC is better. Thanks.

IS ALAC the same as Apple Lossless? What's the difference between FLAC and Apple Lossless?

I'm loving the sound package in the S but keep hearing about how great it is with lossless. I'd like to experience this. So I'm thinking of using MusicShifterCD Ripping Service, CD Conversion Service
to rip all of our CD's. Yes, I'm lazy.:smile:

Seems as though everyone likes FLAC on the MS. I'm a MAC guy. IS one or the other easier to work with as far as down converting them back to MP3 for IPods and iPhones etc...?

 

[dsm363]

IS ALAC the same as Apple Lossless? What's the difference between FLAC and Apple Lossless?

I'm loving the sound package in the S but keep hearing about how great it is with lossless. I'd like to experience this. So I'm thinking of using MusicShifterCD Ripping Service, CD Conversion Service
to rip all of our CD's. Yes, I'm lazy.:smile:

Seems as though everyone likes FLAC on the MS. I'm a MAC guy. IS one or the other easier to work with as far as down converting them back to MP3 for IPods and iPhones etc...?

ALAC is Apple Lossless Audio Codec. FLAC and ALAC are both lossless formats but not sure there is much difference between the two other than ALAC is backed by Apple and FLAC has been around longer and is more of an open source format I believe. I have all Apple products as well so would prefer doing ALAC since I'd be ripping the CDs myself in iTunes but since the Model S doesn't support ALAC (yet), maybe going with FLAC is the way to go for the Model S at least.
Listen to FLAC audio files on iOS devices | Macworld

In terms of all your Apple products, ALAC would be simpler. Maybe that company can convert them to both formats for you? You could put the FLAC files on a 128GB USB thumb drive and then all the ALAC files go on your Mac with the hopes Tesla supports ALAC in the future.

Jerry to the rescue!:

The easiest way, assuming you have Apple Lossless files, is:

1. Copy the directories with finder containing the music to a thumb drive.

2. Use a program like Max to convert the Apple Lossless to FLAC on the thumb drive. Set the program to delete the original files.

3. Insert the thumb drive in the Model S.

4. Enjoy.

If you don't have Apple Lossless files, then just rip the CDs directly to the thumb drive.

I'd probably have them do all ALAC if you had to pick one then selecting the songs you want and convert them yourself to FLAC.

 

[Al Sherman]

I'd probably have them do all ALAC if you had to pick one then selecting the songs you want and convert them yourself to FLAC.

Thanks Dave. That's the answer!

Jerry; Are you using the stable, or unstable(newer)version of MAX? Does it matter?

 

[ddruz]

So I'm ripping my CDs to FLAC files on my computer while awaiting delivery of my Model S. I understand that the thumb drive I move them to should be formatted as FAT32. Any tips about organizing the files on the thumb drive when I copy them over so Model S has an easier time with them? Thanks.

 

[jerry33]

Thanks Dave. That's the answer!

Jerry; Are you using the stable, or unstable(newer)version of MAX? Does it matter?

Mine says 0.9.1. That's the stable version (says Latest on the site). Note that you need to use Rosetta for this--or at least I did because the "Formats" section in the Preferences didn't work correctly without it in Snow Leopard. Perhaps this is fixed in the unstable version.

 

[Merrill]

So here I sit by my computer and start ripping my CD into iTunes, one of my favorite groups the Eagles starts downloading and I listen to Hotel California. There is a line in this song that should be changed, it goes like this " her mind is definitely twisted, she's
got the Mercedes-Benz, I'm thinking it should be she's got the Tesla S!!!! What is with the Mercedes-Benz? (Do not be offended, I own one of those).

 

[elreydetodo]

I have tested FLAC, Ogg Vorbis and MP3. Multi-channel (5.1) FLAC does not work. I also tested a USB drive formatted with the Linux EXT4 filesystem and it worked quite well.

You got ext4 working? When I plugged in a pen drive with ext4, it hung the main screen repeatedly. It seemed like they forgot to handle a return code from the mount system call, resulting in the UI never getting whatever message it was expecting. I'll try this again tomorrow. What firmware version are you on? My car came with 4.2 and I haven't been offered the upgrade to 4.3 yet.

I'm about to try NTFS today, since I have the complete works of Gustav Mahler ripped from CDs, and it turns out Austrian-oriented song names contain multibyte unicode characters which FAT32 doesn't support.

In other news, the central computer only seems to understand MBR-style partition tables. It completely ignores a pen drive containing GPT, which many modern Linux distros use as a replacement for the archaic other thing from the 80's. When I format my pen drive in Fedora, I have to be sure to tell it to do an MBR partition scheme.

 

[Al Sherman]

Mine says 0.9.1. That's the stable version (says Latest on the site). Note that you need to use Rosetta for this--or at least I did because the "Formats" section in the Preferences didn't work correctly without it in Snow Leopard. Perhaps this is fixed in the unstable version.

Thanks Jerry. That's the version I downloaded. I'm running Lion and the prefs worked without any help. Still not sure how the album art works. Does the 3G in the car just grab it, or do I have to have the tiff (album cover) in the folder on the usb?

I loaded a 4GB stick with about 60 FLACs just to see if I could tell the difference. I'm no audiophile in the least. I already think the upgraded sound is great. I thought it was even better with the FLAC stick.

 

[jerry33]

Still not sure how the album art works. Does the 3G in the car just grab it, or do I have to have the tiff (album cover) in the folder on the usb?

The art comes over 3G. In my case that's almost no art and what's there either doesn't match the album or is tiny with a very large border (about 5% displays correctly). Most of my songs have no text either, just XXX where the characters should be.[/QUOTE]

 

[Jerryd]

Is anyone else having a problem with high frequency static on Internet radio and mp3 or flac files on a USB thumb drive ? When I play HD radio or music through blue tooth from my iPhone, I have no problem, but with the USB thumb drive and Internet radio, all stations, have very annoying static.

Anyone have suggestions?