John Chad, Bachelor Degree in Computer Science & Computer Engineering.
Russel Collins
There are many different types of media cards on the market today. In this article we will discuss what’s the best micro sd card to use with your portable devices. We’ll also take a look at what kind of audio file you should be using with it.
You can find out how all these things tie together in our ultimate guide to listening to lossless audio.
What is a micro SD Card?
MicroSD (Secure Digital) cards have been around since 2003 and were originally used as an embedded storage solution within digital cameras or camcorders. They were not intended to be removable from the device itself. As technology evolved, so did the size of the microSD cards themselves. Today they come in various sizes depending upon their applications. The most common form factor is known as “mini” which measures approximately 4 mm by 10mm. Other forms include micro-HDMI and micro-USB connectors. A microSD card typically has 8 GB of space and costs between $10-$50. You can read more about them here.
However, if you want to do more than just play back music and videos, there are some other considerations you need to make.
For example, if you’re going to stream video content over the internet, you may want to consider streaming directly off your computer. This way you get better quality while reducing buffering issues due to network congestion. If you’re looking for something that supports higher bitrates, you might want to check out high definition audio player adapters like the SONOS Bridge.
The Best Micro SD Cards For Flac Files Streaming Music and Video
If you’re interested in playing music and/or video files on your PC or mobile device, then you probably already know that MP3s aren’t the ideal format for playback. While it works fine for casual listening, MP3s don’t offer much compression which means you end up with lower sound quality. It also means you have to deal with larger file sizes which takes longer to download, or worse, eat through your data plan. Instead, you should be looking into another popular audio codec called FLAC.
FLAC stands for Free Lossless Audio Codec. It was created by two engineers who worked at Google named Michael W. McLellan and Daniel L. Rey. Unlike MP3, FLAC doesn’t compress any information. Rather, it uses a sophisticated algorithm to remove unnecessary noise and artifacts while maintaining the highest possible level of audio fidelity. Since it removes such a large amount of data, FLAC files are significantly smaller than those encoded in MP3.
As a result, you can store a lot more music on a given sized memory card. That said, even though FLAC offers better audio quality, it isn’t perfect. There are still certain situations where FLAC won’t work perfectly. One of these cases is when you try to stream an FLAC file online. Because it contains no compression, the resulting audio is likely to suffer from significant degradation. To avoid this issue, you should convert your FLAC files to another format before attempting to upload them somewhere. However, converting FLAC to MP3 is not always practical because it requires a third party app. Fortunately, there is one free tool available right now called SoundWire. It’s a cross platform application that lets you convert FLAC to MP3 without needing additional software.
SoundWire allows you to transfer your music library from your desktop computer to your microSD card. After doing so, you can simply pop the microSD card into your Android smartphone or tablet. It will automatically recognize the new media card and display it on its own home screen. Then, you can start browsing your music collection by song, album, artist, genre, etc.
A word of warning — if you choose to use SoundWire to move your music library, you may run into performance issues. On my Samsung Galaxy Note 3, I found that SoundWire would frequently drop frames during playback. Although the app does provide options to reduce frame rate, I didn’t notice any real improvements.
What type of SD card is best for music?
When choosing the right micro sd card for music, keep in mind that your choice depends largely on what kind of audio files you intend to save onto it. For instance, if you want to record songs in the studio, you’ll need to stick to high capacity micro sd cards. Conversely, if you want to carry your entire iTunes library on your phone, you should opt for a small micro sd card.
This is why the following chart shows the recommended minimum storage requirements based on the maximum bitrate supported.
One thing to note is that the charts above assume you will only listen to music via a wired connection. If you plan to connect your micro sd card to an external speaker system, then you’ll need to account for the extra bandwidth required to send uncompressed audio. Unfortunately, there’s currently no way to tell exactly how much power an individual audio track utilizes. Thus, if you plan to hook up your micro sd card to an external speaker system, then you should either ensure that the bitrate stays below 64 kbps or purchase a larger micro sd card.
Is SanDisk Ultra good for music?
SanDisk’s entry-level micro sd card line includes several models ranging from 16GB to 128GB. All SanDisk micro sd cards feature built-in error correction code and are compliant with USB 2.0. In addition, each micro sd card comes equipped with a shockproof rating of IPX8 making them suitable for outdoor activities.
Although SanDisk’s micro sd cards are relatively inexpensive, they tend to perform poorly. Users report that they experience frequent drops outs when downloading or uploading files. Additionally, the company’s internal testing suggests that SanDisk’s micro sd cards have poor write speeds.
Because of these shortcomings, I recommend staying away from SanDisk micro sd cards unless you absolutely must have lots of storage space.
Instead, I suggest purchasing a Sandisk Extreme micro sd card. These cards support UHS-1 Class 10 speed and boast excellent file transfers and read times. Sandisk’s Extreme series also features a rugged design capable of handling falls, rain, dust, sandstorms, humidity extremes, and temperatures down to -40 degrees Fahrenheit (-40 Celsius).
The downside to buying a Sandisk Extreme micro sd card is that you’ll pay quite a bit more for your extra protection.
To recap, if you’re planning to buy a micro sd card specifically designed for music, you should go for a Sandisk Extreme micro sd card.