iPod users - what is your bit rate of choice?

FunkyT said:
Do you encode your MP3s @ 128Kbps, 192Kbps or some other bit rate? :)
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128 is quite good enough for me and I play them at the maximum volume through decent headphones.
My suggestion would to take your favourite song and encode it at several bit rates and then get somebody else to play them in a random order and see which ones you can tell the difference on and from there make your choice.
If you choose 64 go and see your doctor.
 
dmpoole said:
128 is quite good enough for me and I play them at the maximum volume through decent headphones.
My suggestion would to take your favourite song and encode it at several bit rates and then get somebody else to play them in a random order and see which ones you can tell the difference on and from there make your choice.
If you choose 64 go and see your doctor.
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Nice one dude :cool:
 
Lost-Prophet said:
320Kbit AAC. I have no choice really as I you can't use a different bit rate on your iPod without messing with your library :(
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So use winamp with the ml_ipod plugin. :D

I despise iTunes
 
I've spent about 30 minutes on this and surprised myself so please download and look at the test results.

I grabbed an audio track at full WAV bandwidth and then encoded at 320, 192, 160, 128 and 64.

The picture shows the Spectrum Analyser graphs and where the roll offs occur on each sample.
The graphs start with -

Full frequency Wav file
320 bit MP3
190 bit MP3
160 bit MP3
128 bit MP3
64 bit MP3

Spectrum Analyser results of different Bit Rate MP3's (500k)

have fun
 
james.miller said:
you're right, that IS interesting, and not expected. What encoder and settings did you use for that?
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encoder.jpg


Spectrum Analyser results of different Bit Rate MP3's (500k)
 
do you have options to pass command line settings to an external encoder? if you've got time, can you test 320k using the lame 3.97 beta 2 encoder with the following settings please?
Code: 
-V 2 --vbr-new --add-id3v2 --pad-id3v2 --ta "%a" --tt "%t" --tl "%g" --ty "%y" --tn "%n" %s %d

that really isnt expected, but lame 3.97 beta 2 should fair a lot better, especially with those settings and using VBR.
 
james.miller said:
do you have options to pass command line settings to an external encoder? if you've got time, can you test 320k using the lame 3.97 beta 2 encoder with the following settings please?
Code: 
-V 2 --vbr-new --add-id3v2 --pad-id3v2 --ta "%a" --tt "%t" --tl "%g" --ty "%y" --tn "%n" %s %d

that really isnt expected, but lame 3.97 beta 2 should fair a lot better, especially with those settings and using VBR.
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Whooooosh :D

Links and a bit more instruction

or

send me part of a MP3 that you've encoded and I'll run it through the analyser.
 
sorry yes, lol. i should explain a little :D

*download lame 3.97b2 for here: http://www.free-codecs.com/download_soft.php?d=1661&s=22
*extract the zip file into a seperate director in your audiograbber folder. call it lame for simplicity
*in audiograbber, where you had the internal tab hilighted in your pic, click on external hit 'browse' and find the new lame encoder.
*in the 'arguments' field, copy and paste the code i posted above, hit ok and you should be ready.

'-v2 vbr new' sets the bitrate to 190vbr, so thats a good basis to start. If you want to try 320k CBR, change '-v2' to '-b' and remove the '--vbr new' part. I hope thats clear enough lol
 
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bedtime - will attempt it tomorrow.

What goes in the Predefined Arguments field?
At the moment its saying Lame 128 kbit/s Joint Stereo

Ok, lets get this right.
If I want 320 bit I put the top field in and 190 for the bottom field.
What is 128 bit?

-b --add-id3v2 --pad-id3v2 --ta "%a" --tt "%t" --tl "%g" --ty "%y" --tn "%n" %s %d

-V 2 --vbr-new --add-id3v2 --pad-id3v2 --ta "%a" --tt "%t" --tl "%g" --ty "%y" --tn "%n" %s %d
 
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When it was conceived, the mp3 standard was for music encoded at 96kbps to be inaudibly different to the original. This is tested using trained and certified "good listeners". This still hasn't been achieved, but certainly with good encoders, a 128kbps mp3 should sound no different to the original.
 
Also, if you rip to FLAC, you know you never need rip again.

You can always transcode from there if you need smaller files for portable players. The amount of storage on players is becoming so large these days that it won't be an issue soon anyway.

If you're ripping to mp3, you're going to find yourself doing what I did over xmas and re-ripping everything anyway at some point :o
 
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