Studio Albums in Surround Sound!

[TXT]

The following is a long explanation by me where I attempt to describe how to get outstanding sound through the DVD player with existing .mp3 files you already own. I am an audiophile and this is HUGE for me.....

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So I've read a past (old) thread about people buying DVD-Audio discs which are pretty much a music album that can only be played on a DVD which has 5.1 Dolby Surround output. Another way of getting that great sound is buying a concert DVD that also has that 5.1 surround audio but of course, it was live music and not the studio album.

I have a concert DVD with surround output and it sounds GREAT! Way better than an Audio CD or music from my iPod.

Reason any type of DVD sounds great (Movie, concert..etc) is because the sound output is Dolby Digital 5.1........that is key which any other audio format our cars offer will not be able to give because its not coming from the DVD player.

For a long time, i've searched and searched and have come up with a solution to get incredible sound through the stock 14 speaker system. The instructions will be vague.....but some or all of you should get it.

I have a program called Nero to burn, copy or make DVD's/CD's

To be exact, the version I have is Nero 10 and I use NeroVision that comes in that suite. I begin to make a DVD movie from scratch. It asks me what type of Audio I would like the DVD to have and I select 5.1 Dolby vs the other option of 2 channel stereo (The most important part). I add all the tracks which are in MP3 format into a slide show that is being made. I dont put any type of visual or photo since I cant see it while I drive, I just want audio.

last step is to separate each track into chapters that I can use to skip, if not, it will think its just one 60+ minute track that includes every song in an album you have downloaded. Last step of course is to burn it onto a DVD.

I just went out and tried it out, again, sound is incredible, haven't heard music in my car sound like that before until today....very noticeable difference and LOUD!

The maximum sound loudness I get through XM, iPod, Aux or CD can be achieved easily by only raising the volume a little less than half way when playing my music this method through the DVD player. It gets very loud...too loud...and it sounds clear and undistorted throughout the entire volume band.

For the curious, I downloaded J Cole - Born Sinner album which includes about 21 tracks. Yes, the original .mp3 files are in 2 channel stereo but once it is burned onto DVD with 5.1 channel dolby audio, it makes a huge difference.

It took me a long time to burn this DVD...about an hour and that is because it had to decode/encode and convert the mp3 files into DVD files and then actually burn all that information onto the DVD. I have an older laptop about 6 years old but if you have a faster computer, this can be achieved much quicker.

My next test is to download an album in FLAC format instead of mp3. FLAC is lossless audio with studio quality sound.
Most Mp3's have bitrates between 128 to 192 kbps. FLAC is sometimes 5 times that bitrate or more and yes, the files are huge. That should give me an even crispier, clear and tighter sound if I burn a DVD this way.

I highly suggest this if you are capable of doing this at least one time to notice the sound difference and see what the stock radio is capable of doing with music.

[DaSerb]

I always wondered about the same thing.

I think 320kbps will be sufficient for DVD. FLAC's are much bigger files but you are right, they do sound flawless.

I'm not sure about Nero, but Ashampoo burning studio has two different options for burning MP3 DVD that can be played on DVD players capable of playing mp3's, or burn just a regular DVD with bunch of files that can be played only on PC.

Great job doing this.

[TXT]

I always wondered about the same thing.

I think 320kbps will be sufficient for DVD. FLAC's are much bigger files but you are right, they do sound flawless.

I'm not sure about Nero, but Ashampoo burning studio has two different options for burning MP3 DVD that can be played on DVD players capable of playing mp3's, or burn just a regular DVD with bunch of files that can be played only on PC.

Great job doing this.

DaSerb,
Are you saying our DVD players can play Mp3 files as long as a dump those MP3 files onto a DVD as a data disc? I didnt know it was capable of doing that. I'll try it and see. If so, then this may be easier and quicker but the sound output not being 5.1 dolby and instead the 2 channel stereo might sacrifice the full use of our car's sound system. I'll see if it makes a difference!

[wingFeather]

get outstanding sound through the DVD player with existing .mp3 files you already own.

You are my HERO!!!

Logically, this shouldn't happen, as the source file was still compressed even though it was turned into something else. Perhaps the M's sound processor gives preferential treatment to 5.1 audio sources? Perhaps it only applies x watts per channel, so if you have a two channel signal, it is only (x) watts time two... but with a six channel signal, it applies (x) watts time six???

PS - I never realized how much of an audiophile I am until I begged my ex girlfriend to listen to some dvd audio in my M. She was unimpressed with the difference between the dvd audio, and her aux input of Pandora. To her, the song was more important than the quality. Either that, or she really is a cold-hearted b****

[TXT]

get outstanding sound through the DVD player with existing .mp3 files you already own.

You are my HERO!!!

Logically, this shouldn't happen, as the source file was still compressed even though it was turned into something else. Perhaps the M's sound processor gives preferential treatment to 5.1 audio sources? Perhaps it only applies x watts per channel, so if you have a two channel signal, it is only (x) watts time two... but with a six channel signal, it applies (x) watts time six???

PS - I never realized how much of an audiophile I am until I begged my ex girlfriend to listen to some dvd audio in my M. She was unimpressed with the difference between the dvd audio, and her aux input of Pandora. To her, the song was more important than the quality. Either that, or she really is a cold-hearted b****

Thats exactly right and I knew this along but didn't actually think about it this method until it just randomly clicked one night. Yes, the M's sound processor does give what seems to be more power to the speakers at is using the Dolby processor. The reason for doing all those steps I mentioned is to turn the .Mp3 file I already own and turn them into .VOB and .TS files which is what a DVD player is reading.

[mr_luv]

I have been trying and failed at this since you posted. I have Nero 12 and it doesnt seem to have nero vision any suggestions or idea to perform this on Nero 12?

[moedawg140]

I have been trying and failed at this since you posted. I have Nero 12 and it doesnt seem to have nero vision any suggestions or idea to perform this on Nero 12?

Nero 12's "Nero Vision" is now called Nero Video, so you will use that to create the Dolby Digital 5.1 DVD Disc. It took me a little bit of playing around with the application to get it to create correctly, but the end result is better sounding music. However, I'll list a few pros and cons:

Pros: (1) The music is rendered in full Dolby Digital 5.1 sound, has crisp, clear sound and it seems to even make the sound of my Alpine Type X sub fuller.
(2) You'll be using the DVD drive so you have an extra 'slot' to use for music.

Cons: (1) The DVD Disc is created based on time, not by data, meaning, using this method to create music takes you back to the olden days of being able to only add ~17-20 songs for your cd to be used in your cd player that did not have .mp3 data reading capabilities.
(2) You are not able to see the song title data, or length of each song because each chapter 'runs on' the time, i.e. the start of Chapter 5 may be 20:12 instead of starting at 0:00 for that particular song.
(3) Creating each chapter is a slow process. You have to find out the exact point to create the next chapter by playing back the music and then marking it as each song ends, using a print-screened picture of the songs you added that has the times for each start and end.

If you want the best sounding music possible, creating the DVD Disc is the way to go. I'll be making CDs from now on though because creating a CD is a whole lot faster and easier than creating a DVD Disc. I can play over 10 times the amount of songs, see the titles, elapsed time for each song and...burning the 320kb .mp3s onto a CD does not sound that much different than the DVD Disc in the end.

[TXT]

I have been trying and failed at this since you posted. I have Nero 12 and it doesnt seem to have nero vision any suggestions or idea to perform this on Nero 12?

Nero 12's "Nero Vision" is now called Nero Video, so you will use that to create the Dolby Digital 5.1 DVD Disc. It took me a little bit of playing around with the application to get it to create correctly, but the end result is better sounding music. However, I'll list a few pros and cons:

Pros: (1) The music is rendered in full Dolby Digital 5.1 sound, has crisp, clear sound and it seems to even make the sound of my Alpine Type X sub fuller.
(2) You'll be using the DVD drive so you have an extra 'slot' to use for music.

Cons: (1) The DVD Disc is created based on time, not by data, meaning, using this method to create music takes you back to the olden days of being able to only add ~17-20 songs for your cd to be used in your cd player that did not have .mp3 data reading capabilities.
(2) You are not able to see the song title data, or length of each song because each chapter 'runs on' the time, i.e. the start of Chapter 5 may be 20:12 instead of starting at 0:00 for that particular song.
(3) Creating each chapter is a slow process. You have to find out the exact point to create the next chapter by playing back the music and then marking it as each song ends, using a print-screened picture of the songs you added that has the times for each start and end.

If you want the best sounding music possible, creating the DVD Disc is the way to go. I'll be making CDs from now on though because creating a CD is a whole lot faster and easier than creating a DVD Disc. I can play over 10 times the amount of songs, see the titles, elapsed time for each song and...burning the 320kb .mp3s onto a CD does not sound that much different than the DVD Disc in the end.

All true above but I have found a way to go through the set up process of making the DVD quicker. After I add all my songs, I can press a button that skips between different audio files, thats when I right click on a certain area and create my chapter.

[TXT]

I have been trying and failed at this since you posted. I have Nero 12 and it doesnt seem to have nero vision any suggestions or idea to perform this on Nero 12?

I actually downloaded Nero 12 but it was in a format that Im not used to using so I downloaded Nero 10. Reviews say Nero 10 is better due to better stability and not having bugs and such that are found in Nero 12.

Still no luck?

[DaSerb]

I always wondered about the same thing.

I think 320kbps will be sufficient for DVD. FLAC's are much bigger files but you are right, they do sound flawless.

I'm not sure about Nero, but Ashampoo burning studio has two different options for burning MP3 DVD that can be played on DVD players capable of playing mp3's, or burn just a regular DVD with bunch of files that can be played only on PC.

Great job doing this.

DaSerb,
Are you saying our DVD players can play Mp3 files as long as a dump those MP3 files onto a DVD as a data disc? I didnt know it was capable of doing that. I'll try it and see. If so, then this may be easier and quicker but the sound output not being 5.1 dolby and instead the 2 channel stereo might sacrifice the full use of our car's sound system. I'll see if it makes a difference!

No luck with Ashampoo and adding mp3's to data DVD. I did burn the data DVD (DVD-R) but car would not even read the disc.

I found a program called Audio DVD maker which will convert audio files into DVD format. I have not tried it yet in the car, but will let you know if it works. The downfall is that it will fit only about 100 (320kbps) songs onto a single DVD disc, which makes me stick with CD mp3 format. But anyways, I will try it.

[mr_luv]

Just saw this guys, I will get nero 10 this evening, the time and effort doesn't matter I just want the studio sound and the 5.1 audio there is a big enough diff to go through the trouble in getting it done.

[TDot]

Just my 2 cents.
All of the things you are doing by reprocessing an already compressed audio file, you are actually doing more harm than good to your source file, and in essence the quality of your audio.

What you are effectively doing with your process is increasing the amount of audio ch therefore increasing the headroom you have to turn up the volume with less distortion and clipping. Hence, your ability to give less volume and get more output. Translate that to putting in 5 speakers instead of one, and turning your volume up the same amount. The 5 speakers are going to sound louder and cleaner with less volume. You have six channels to work with on 5.1...the sixth being a reduced frequency range for subs. More headroom than two ch stereo. I've stated and shown before that the Bose system really isn't good, and the louder you turn it up, the more distortion you'll get. So you are basically getting the best volume out of your system before it hits the distortion point of the overall Bose system...which in my findings is right under half volume if I remember correctly. Congrats for finding this workaround though.

Then you have the next issue with the amount of conversions you are doing with an already compressed file. An mp3 is bad enough with the truncating of its bandwidth, but then to go through this isn't improving it. EVERY TIME you process audio you lose something, which is why in a studio they start out with 96khz instead of what you hear as a consumer with 44.1khz; because every time you eq, reverb, delay, compress, convert or whatever else is done to the audio, information is truncated or lost. Besides, dolby 5.1 on dvd video is just another compression algorithm, I believe somewhere around 440kbps...not much better than the max mp3 of 320kps. And I doubt...although I haven't really listened to it to examine the quality...there is perceivable difference between 320 and 440.
If you really want "quality" (get rid of the Bose...just j/k), just listen to broadcast wav, regular wav, or aiff format (i.e. cd), those are the best formats you will get if quality is what you are after, those are studio grade formats, not flac. All be it, flac is supposed to be a compressed format that doesnt affect the sound...i dont really believe that, just me being ignorant I guess...but if all you're going to do is use it as a source to make this dvd, you might as well go with the wav.

If its spl you're after, and to compensate for the Bose short comings with the distortion, then your current route is good. You can achieve the same if not better if you're using an aftermarket amp, a/b class, with a low noise floor; just turn the Bose 1/4 way, and turn up your gain (although the gain isn't really meant to be used that hard in this fashion), use the volume of your aftermarket system and play wav files...crystal audio without going through this whole process.

[TXT]

TDot,
I was thinking of getting .wav files and converting what essentially will be a "movie" to the dvd player. I have tried and done some testing. First, I downloaded an album at 320kbps. I burned it to a CD as an audio disc. Then I burned those same files to another disc as a data disc so the stock head unit can read the.mp3 files. Again, those sames files i put into my iphone and lastly, I burned the DVD with the 5.1 surround.

btw I have an aftermarket subwoofer and amp.

I tested all of those ways and found the DVD is by far the best. I do know what your saying about the volume of the bass someone getting lower after the halfway mark. If i raise the volume up 3/4 of the way, the mids and highs are clear and seem to match perfectly with the bass. Once i lower the volume to less than half, the bass overpowers everything but not too bad.

I was doubting myself and trying to find a reason to not go through the hassle of doing all of this but i've done it a couple of times now and am quicker in doing it. After testing the other 3 ways of playing those .mp3 files the DVD is much louder plus my subwoofer hits much cleaner. It has to do with the way the DVD player outputs the audio through the dolby processor I'm guessing which is why its so much louder. If I didnt like loudness, i wouldnt have done this but I love to listen to my music very loud on the interstate.

[Twizz]

I just make CDs of 320kb files and go from there. I am sure the DVD route is amazing, but hoe much better will it sound vs the 320kb ? Besides, I personally dont play my music past 1/2 anyway.