The Beosound 4 manual states that "recordings onto the memory card are encoded in 128kbps MP3 quality".

I'd really like to increase this somehow and wonder if it is possible, either through firmware update (if so, how?) or any other means. I'd consider 192kbps as an absolute minimum these days and would prefer 256kbps if not 320 kbps.

Thanks

Marcus

Greetings Marcus,

I have always thought it MUCH easier (not to mention quicker) to rip to the SD card with CDEX software using Lame MP3 encoder (all free).  That encoder at 192 is very nice, though you are quite correct that 256 and 320 will be better.  You can even do "jitter correction", though an old thread here pretty much declared that a complete waste of energy.  BTW, with BeoSound 5, we are ripping WMA lossless.  Those files are fantastic on the BeoSound 4, but eat up the SD card space very quickly.

Ray

Hi Ray,

Thanks for the tip. I'm a Mac user and so straddle the worlds of Apple and B&O. Finding a common audio format is the bane of my life! When encoding a CD I use Apple Lossless (compatible with my iPod Touch, and a good "archival" format). I transcode this with Max to MP3 (LAME codec) and copy to SD card for use on my Beosounds 2, 3 and 4. When I buy digital music, I go for FLAC when possible (then transcode to whatever format I want) or MP3 at the highest sample rate I can find (256 or sometimes 320). While all this is technologically possible, it certainly requires a degree of effort, skill and time.

It seems a shame to have recording capability in the Beosound 4 that is so seldom used because of its fairly pathetic sample rate.

Beosound 5 eh? Nice machine. I'm glad you are enjoying it.

Marcus

The only time i've used the BS4 to record onto SD is when i didn't have a computer!

The function is truly awful (slow, no track names, poor quality etc.) so i organise my music on my mac before i play SD on the B&o. Works perfect for me, and being connected to the internet means all the track names are automatically attached to my mp3's.

Ray, are you saying that BeoSound 4 can play WMA lossless files?

It has never been mentionned in the user guide..

Chris, et al,

I regret saying the WMA lossless played on the BeoSound 4.  I just went back and confirmed and, to your point, those were lower bitrate WMA.  When I copied real WMA lossless, they did not play.  MY APOLOGIES TO ALL.  BeoSound 5 only, I guess.

Ray

English below:

Cette semaine je me suis renseigné auprès de B&O sur la possibilité de lire du FLAC avec le Beoplayer.

Le service à la clientèle m'a répondu (dans un français parfait, merci Mette) que cela devrait être disponible en 2010.

Peut-on mettre à jour le microcode du BeoSound 4. Si oui il serait alors possiblement capable dans le futur de lire du FLAC sur SD.

L'on peut toujours le connecter à un PC, solution un peu encombrante parfois mais qui donne accès aux OGG, FLAC...

I inquired this week with B&O about playing FLAC with the Beoplayer.

Customer service wrote back that it should be available in 2010 for the Beoplayer.

Is the BeoSound 4 firmware upgradable, that could then make it able to read FLAC from SD.

Being connected to a PC does the trick but can be a bit cumbersome. But then again when connected to a PC one has access to OGG, FLAC...

Alain-Olivier

Montréal, Québec