[hear_the_sound]

Hi, i think this belongs more in 'music science' than 'portable audio'...correct me if I am wrong.


Does 128 AAC sound better than 192 MP3??
Does VBR sound better than standard bit rate?
What format and bitrate do you rip your music in for the ipod or portable mp3 player? (I have no idea what FLAC or apple lossless
but am open to anything)
What would be the "sweet spot" between quality and size?
Thanks.

 

[PiccoloNamek]

For my portable needs, I normally just rip the CD to 128kbps AAC. I have a ton of music and not a whole lot of space to put it in, so I need something that sounds good while keeping file sizes small. With my iPod/Bithead/ER4S setup, it sounds just fine, with no audible artifacts, such as pre-echo.

For my home setup, however, I rip most CDs using EAC in secure mode, then encode them in high-bitrate MPC. For those special CDs, I use FLAC to encode them losslessly.

 

[krmathis]

I rip my music to Apple Lossless.
* Lossless for the sake of mind. No need to worry if I loose out on something or not.
* Supported everywhere I need it (iTunes, AirTunes, and iPod).

 

[Singapura]

Most of the time, when I'm ripping music I'm wearing shorts and a t-shirt.

 

[bralk]

AIFF

 

[Nocturnal310]

Lossless ALAC or MP3 320 Kbps.

 

[LnxPrgr3]

I would choose 192kbps MP3 over 128kbps AAC, especially if the MP3 is VBR from a good encoder. Then again, I'm only really familiar with the AAC encoder in iTunes. Other encoders may be better, though I can't find any listening test results that aren't a few years out of date.

VBR should beat CBR for a given bitrate.

For my portable player, I use LAME -V0 (about 256kbps VBR). I would use AAC or Vorbis, but it won't play those -- on my laptop, I am actually using Vorbis -q9 for new rips. These settings are definitely above the sweet spot for quality vs. bitrate -- if I were low on storage space, I'd probably go down to LAME -V2 (about 192kbps VBR) or Vorbis -q6.

 

[mallethead]

EAC to computer then compressed file at 128 MP3 for my iPAQ. I can't tell the difference with 192.
When I trade up to bigger capacity player I will use FLAC or another lossless- though this will chew up battery quicker.

 

[cerbie]

Quote:

Originally Posted by hear_the_sound /img/forum/go_quote.gif Hi, i think this belongs more in 'music science' than 'portable audio'...correct me if I am wrong. Does 128 AAC sound better than 192 MP3??

No. While 192 v. 128 will usually be something a halfway trained ear can tell apart, the differences in codec will make it vary by sample used more than anything else. If it's for portable listening, add in distractions and background noise, too.
Quote:

Does VBR sound better than standard bit rate?

Depends on your perspective. In general, VBR saves space. The encoder, at high quality, will go up to its maximum bitrate when it thinks it needs to, but then lower the bitrate when all it will do is waste space (according to the encoder). Generally, a VBR of high quality will sound as good as a CBR with the highest bitrate, but not be as big. If you compare VBR to it's average bitrate CBR (LAME MP3 V4 to 192, FI), they should either sound the same, or the VBR should be better. Lots of should, though. The idea is to find sounds you don't hear, remove them, and make what is left more palatable, so you notice changed sound less (or not at all)...and it's not always perfect, in any lossy codec.
Quote:

What format and bitrate do you rip your music in for the ipod or portable mp3 player?

FLAC for PCDP, as I haven't decided on a new DAP, yet (1GB and no gapless is getting stale, you know?).
For my flash DAP, LAME MP3 V2 or V0, or Ogg Vorbis q8
Quote:

(I have no idea what FLAC or apple lossless but am open to anything)

They are lossless formats. They tend to take about 2/3 the space of the CD itself (for me, 62% average over 500+ CDs with FLAC), while maintaining all of the audio data, and allowing you to tag it, like MP3, AAC, etc.. With all of the data there, they are archive quality codecs (rip to lossless, then you don't need to get to the CD again to change formats).
Quote:

What would be the "sweet spot" between quality and size? Thanks.

I would choose AAC, if you have a compatible DAP, as it fails with sonic grace, compared to MP3, and, on average, seems to be better on a DAP's battery than Ogg Vorbis or WMA. Bitrate is something for you to decide, though.

 

[krmathis]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Singapura /img/forum/go_quote.gif Most of the time, when I'm ripping music I'm wearing shorts and a t-shirt.

He he

I guess he meant "Which codec/format do you guys rip your music to?"

 

[sunseeker888]

AIFF or FLAC. If I must do lossy, I use mp3 VBR at about 256 average kbps.

 

[Al4x]

everything i have is 200-320 mp3 cbr/vbr

space is at too much of a premium for anything bigger

 

[MetalGeek]

I always rip to FLAC. I listen to FLAC whenever I possibly can.

From there I will convert as necessary to either ~256k Ogg Vorbis or ~256k VBR mp3. I prefer to use Ogg Vorbis when possible, but not all of my players support it.

I can hear the difference up to ~256k VBR (for either Ogg Vorbis or mp3), but above that it's very difficult to tell. I use FLAC just to know that I'm listening to it at the best possible quality I can, assuming the original source was a CD.

 

[mikaronni]

AIFF for me by EAC.

 

[LFF]

I rip all my music to FLAC and MP3 128. FLAC stays on my computer and the mp3 goes on my iPod.