[Green Radience]

So I'm getting a MP3 player and was wondering about the options of different encodings. I don't know much at all about Audio Encoding so I had some questions. I've already tried Googling it and didn't find any helpful website, but if you know of any please feel free to post. So I understand that 192kbps means that every second has 192kb of information on it. And as such, 300kbps would have more information, but what is the 'more information' that it has? How does the music change, and do you really notice the difference between 192kbps and 300 kbps? Also, I heard WAV files mentioned; Are these 'better or worse' than MP3s? And how do MP3s compare to CD-quality music? Lastly, whats a bitrate.

So many questions Thanks for any info.

[gaara]

Believe that bitrate is the same thing as what you described above in regards to audio quality. It really comes down to personal preference. Some people can tell the difference between different bitrates more than others and some do not like specific bitrates...this really comes down to personal opinion

Me, I'm fine with 128kbps and don't really notice anything "wrong" with it as I see other people describe but that may just be because I've only ever used 128kbps for the most part. Obviously one benefit to lower bitrate is that the file itself uses less space which might be useful for some people

Wavs I believe are the highest quality sounds and are what mp3s are converted into when being burned to an audio CD but don't quote me on that. Once again I only ever use mp3s and don't really notice a difference but it comes down to personal preference again

Basically, compare the bitrate of an audio file to the native resolution of a video file. Obviously a video with a native resolution of 1280x1024 will look better than 640x480

[Green Radience]

Aah, I see. Well I found a fairly detailed article, and I think I understand the stuff now. I think I'll stick to 160kbps or something around that.

[molsen]

yea usually 160kps is close to CD quality. most people can't tell the difference.

[AnthraX]

WAVs are uncompressed audio files. Even the most intense audiophile can't tell the difference between a 320kbps encoded mp3 and an uncompressed WAV.

I recommend 128kbps-160kbps, maybe something a little bit higher (196kbps) when you have a song that has high high's and low low's. But then again, if you don't get a uber high-end mp3 player, you won't benefit from anything higher than 160kbps probably.

Also, a little tip. Don't raise the bitrate of an already encoded song. (IE: From 128kbps to 196kbps) It will lower the quality.

[Green Radience]

Thanks for the advice. What about encoding from 196kbps to 129kbps? Should be fine?

[AnthraX]

Originally posted by Green Radience
Thanks for the advice. What about encoding from 196kbps to 129kbps? Should be fine?

Just the obvious quality losses of going from a higher bitrate to a lower bitrate.

[Green Radience]

Alright. Just wanted to confirm incase I ever started running out of the 30GB of space, lol.

[maroon1]

u can rip cds to lossless format like wma lossless, or FLAC.
these formats are little bet smaller than wav but they have the same quilty.

but anyway for mp3, i don't recommend anything under 192kb/s

[003]

Originally posted by molsen
yea usually 160kps is close to CD quality. most people can't tell the difference.

LOL, your kidding, right? I can easily tell a difference between lossless audio and a 128kbps mp3. The mp3 sounds muddy, with a compressed soundstage, with all the fine details removed. 160 and 128 I can not tell much difference. 192 is where the quality starts to go up. It still dosn't sound as good as lossless, but its a lot better than 160 or 128. Depending on how the mp3 was ripped, I can also tell the difference between 256/320 kbps mp3s, if I sit down for a while and listen to a song I know very well. They fall short in the high frequency range, but most people would not tell the difference.

Of course, I am listening on much higher end equipment than most people, but even on cheap speakers or headphones I can easily tell a 128 or 160kbps mp3.

I rip all my music in FLAC and listen with ASIO.