What's your favorite audio format?
 

Hi everyone!

Please, could you vote for your favorite format for music?

[moderator note: please don't send people to other forums to vote]

It's OK, sorry. I'll send them to this forum.

8-track

I chose vinyl because, as far as formatting goes, nothing is quite as exciting and enjoyable to the senses as pulling out your favorite album with a nice 12x12 sleeve. Yum

Which makes me very annoyed that the Rogers Sisters "Invisible Deck" didn't get a US LP release. Gonna cost a ton to import it, but it'll be worth it.

I voted SACD, but for portability, CDs win out.

MP3 by a million...the ipod is incredible..at home, though, the best is vinyl.oh my god it sounds incredible. The Beatles never sounded better!!

Reel-to-reel, baby!

Crap, I wasn't thinking and put DTS. For music it would be MP3 simply for letting me listen to my music anywhere. Followed by CD for better sound quality...The rest are too rare for me to care about. I have the Dark Side of the Moon SACD, and it's great, but the fact that the only place I can listen to it is the home theater kinda limits its appeal...

SACD (I voted for this, as it is my favorite, but it is a nearly dead format)
DVD-A (like it, but it is dead)
DTS/DD (but there isn't enough stuff out on it)
*CDs (I guess this wins, based on overall price, durability, catalog available, portability/compatability)
Vinyl (Sounds good, but wears out; not portable; limited new releases)
Tape (Crap)
Compressed Formats (Ok for working out, etc. Not good enough for critical listening. Fatigues my ears quickly).

Have you watched The Anthology in 5.1 DTS?

I had to go with CD, for many of the same reasons as MadMonk.

SACD followed by CD.

Where's the choice for DualDisc?

Never heard a SACD and have zero desire to because of price and hassle. I love the DTS versions I've heard though, but I'll say MP3s beat out CDs for the most listens.

compressed (mp3) files...they are the most convenient. i can fit thousands of cd's onto one ipod and play it anywhere. it might not sound quite as good as CD (or as "real" as vinyl), but it's all about convenience and organization for myself.

Hi Rez DVD-A.

To be honest, I'm stunned at the compressed audio answers in this thread... Convenient, yes. High quality sound? Um, not even close.

vinyl -> mp3 -> cds.

compressed audio, cause it dont cost a thang'

Probably all depends on where you listen to your music. I almost never sit on my couch and listen to a recording anymore (unless it's a 5.1 I really want to enjoy). Car, computer and jambox in the bathroom is pretty much it for me.
Good quality Mp3s are fine for those situations.

CDs for me.

CDs because I can play them anywhere. Albums are cool but I hardly ever play mine. Actually, other than copying them to my ipod, I hardly listen to my CDs either (but I still like having them).

Honestly, I can't tell the difference between a 192 bit encoded mp3 and a CD. Hell, I can barely tell the difference between a 128 bit encoded mp3 and a CD. Of course, I listen to 85% of my music on my computer with good but basic speakers, 10% in my car on my stock system, and about 5% on my mp3 player. I don't even own a 'stereo' anymore.

Yeah, like I said convenient. I can buy that. But have you ever heard a top notch hi-rez DVD-A 5.1 mix? A MP3 file isn't even in the same ballpark.

You're right and I realize that I'm a rare breed these days... But I really dig chillin' on the couch with a nice hi-rez mix and a few cold ones. Of course, that's not often, most of the music listening is done in the car, etc, via CD. I just figured that more people had at least dipped a toe in the water with DVD-A/SACD, the poll question was favorite, not most used, and that's what I answered.

Hi-rez audio was bound to fail because most people can't be bothered with taking the time to sit still and really listen, and that's a shame. But then again this is a country where American Idol passes as "music". So what do I know...

:shrug:

That's one of the things that I really like about SACD/DVD-A - the fact that it forces me to just sit back and listen to an album. So much nicer than listening to a CD in the car or at work.

I know it's a shame, but I generally can only enjoy soaking in musicianship to that degree when at a live peformance. Sort of how I hate jamming/experimental stuff on a recording but can appreciate it when I'm actually watching it played.