Quote:
Originally Posted by john970
In preparation for the 1er, I did another listening test last night to help determine if I would get any benefit out of losslessly encoding my audio collection (I encode at 256Kbps vbr aac and occasionaly buy music at either 128 or more often 256 from the iTunes music store).
Other notes:
HD Radio stations usually push a 96Kbps HE-AAC stream on FM, which is similar sounding to a 96kbps VBR AAC (read: good) from a polk audio hd-radio reciever and my shure e2c headphones.
Satellite radio uses a similar, slightly more efficient codec, at 40-50kbps on average for music stations. It is completely obvious that this is not a CD to even the least discriminating listener, to the point where I do not enjoy music on it. I use their online feed (128kbps wma) and record it, and transfer it to my iPod after converting it to 160kbps vbr mp3 using LAME).
Makes it obvious to me why SACD and DVD-Audio failed.
PHEW.
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:w00t:
+10
Hello, nice write up and I am glad you found a happy-medium for your listening habits. I too sat down over a coarse of a few weeks and did the exact thing you have just done.
Even though I have an iPod (for jogging) I have my entire musical collection ripped to my HD at 320kbps. The iPod and iTunes is just crap for actual listening.
I may have a more discernible ear than most because even at 320kbps, the songs/passages are just not CD quality. VBR sounds too sporadic to me and cymbals just sound weird, etc. A strait bitrate I feel is better than a variable. And to me that is why your listening to music in the first place, is for the sound. VBR is for when HD space was expensive and your trying to save space.
Which is not the case in 2008. They have 16gig thumb drives that will hold about 90 albums. So, to me, choosing a VBR is pointless. The mobility of MP3s are great, but an actual CD album is still better. So that same 16gig thumb drive can still hold about 22 albums.
With the ease of swapping albums on a thumb drive, I see no reason why I would need more than 22 albums for a road trip or weekly driving. I can always swap, or just have a second thumb drive for classical, rock, etc.
The sound of MP3s (320kbps) is just too compressed for my listening habits. Not bad for background music or when entertaining, but when I am alone
listening to my music, I need a wav file.
ED:There is just no point in being conservative with MP3s, just rip them at the highest standards available. Storage is cheap.