snagitseven

Mostly iTunes.

subterFUSE

It is very true that not all encoders are equal. That said, I still find 320 MP3 to be an unacceptable format which has no excuse for existing anymore. Hard drive space is cheap, and internet speeds are up to almost 70 Mb/s. It's a shame the music industry ever embrased MP3, but an even bigger shame they continue to use it today.

I can easily tell the difference between MP3 and WAV in my car. In fact, I can hear the difference between WAV on an iPod and the same WAV from a CD. (difference is more felt than heard, actually) It's pretty easy to tell the difference on a decent amplified system. In headphones, might be harder to tell.

DeerHunter

Unless the iPod is introducing artifacts or has a particularly bad digital to analogue converter, I can't see how a lossless .wav file could possibly sound different. Digitally, they're identical.

subterFUSE

I thought the same, but have tried it in my car and the difference is quite noticable. Regardless, I still use iPod for the convenience.

newmoon

I used to think like you guys that you got to stay all digital and lossless, and need to spend big bucks on every component in the chain to get the absolute best sound quality...

And then I did the blind ABX test, listening intensely to short 10 sec passages over and over again. I thought I could tell the difference, but the results showed I was just guessing. It was quite an eye-opening (or ear-opening ) experience that you guys should try if you are interested. Or if spending big bucks on audio equipment makes you happy, then DON'T do the test .