Sound test: need your input

Today I have a blind taste test for you. I’m trying to perfect (or at least improve) my vinyl-to-mp3 conversions. To do so, I have to use an external sound card because my Mac lacks a line-in port.

I have been using the Griffin iMic. But my boy Royce has turned me on to the M-Audio line, especially this bad boy. The price difference is extreme, but I think it probably parallels the sound difference, too.

This is where you, my loyal reader, comes in. I converted two tracks twice apiece — using the iMic for one and the M-Audio for the other. Would you be so kind as to sample both tracks and leave a reply as to which sounds better? You get something out of this. For starters, a pretty f-ing cool Jungle Bros. B-side from a 1989 45 for Beyond This World. And you’ll get high-quality vinyl tracks delivered to you in mp3 format in the future.

Just vote No. 1 or 2 for each test. Or perhaps you can’t tell the difference. Any comments would be appreciated.

Thanks!

1.) Flaming Lips | She Don’t Use Jelly (from 45 single)
2.) Flaming Lips | She Don’t Use Jelly

1.) Jungle Bros. | Promo No. 2 (Mind Review ’89)
2.) Jungle Bros. | Promo No. 2 (Mind Review ’89)

8 thoughts on “Sound test: need your input”

  1. I think the first of both tracks are higher quility (less hiss, more defined sound). I sincerly hope that’s my eqipment or I have a really expensive paper weight.

  2. With my kinda crappy headphones- I think that the numbers ones sounded better for both tracks. You can mainly tell the difference in the quieter parts of the songs, but overall the ones have it!

    hope that helps, thanks for the tunes!

  3. yeah — i gotta go w/ everyone else. 1st tracks sound better, fuller w/ better definition.

    well, if we all picked the iMic, you should get some promo $$ from them for your blindfold test!

    p.s. excellent JBs track!!

  4. Flaming Lips – Track one is clearer with less hiss, but the bass sounds better on track 2.
    Jungle Bros – same observations. I actually use an M-Audio Transit to get sound into my PC. It was only $75 or so and sounds like a champ.

  5. Definitely the first of each. Same thing as everyone else said. I wonder if an external would help me in coverting my vinyl. I have a direct line-in on my iRiver 40gb hd mp3 player, so I just run my tables through the mixer, to that. But my files, sound a lot more hissy and less well defined than yours. All that hard work and back to the drawing board.

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