Poll: MP3 Compression Bit Rate?

[Nebben]

Anyone that rips and encodes at 128kbps should be shot.

192 CBR or VBR, depending on whether I ripped it myself or obtained it elsewhere.

 

[Elcs]

Originally posted by: Nek802
is there a guide explaining and comparing all these different types of music files from LAME, EAC, FLAC and all the other stuff?

cause all I know is MP3 and wma files...
/q]

Same and I know ogg also.

Its rather confusing to me as things stand.

 

[EglsFly]

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo

Originally posted by: EglsFly
Well, I had been using 128K CBR for a compromise between quality and space. I had chosen this because I use MP3 for my car audio player (Alpine CDA-9847) with 700MB CDR discs, and my portable MP3 Player (512MB Creative MuVo N200).

After reading everbody's responses, I am thinking perhaps I should rip to VBR instead?
Although I am not sure if the MuVo supports it?
I use EAC with LAME, I noticed that EAC has different options for VBR.
Such as VBR 128K, VBR 160K, etc...
How do these differ if its variable anyways?

muvo supports vbr. any player worth buying supports vbr and higher bitrates. as for how they differ, the stated bitrate is the average it tries to achieve. thats how it differs. here are the presets http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=28124
http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/1912fine tuned settings that simplify choices. i waver between extreme and insane..depending whether the music deserves the space.

Thanks for the links.
Will have to try a test of VBR 192K and CBR 192K.

Also, I have Nero6 Ultra Edition. It includes software to rip to mp3. For the encoders, it includes "PowerPak LAME mp3 encoder" along with mp3Pro. Anybody tried the Nero tool or should I just stick with the EAC/Lame combo?

Is there a way to rip mp3's at the same volume level with either of these (EAC or Nero) or do I need to try that MP3Gain software?

Thanks.

 

[Cerb]

Use EAC, and secure mode ripping (CDFreaks is good place to check if you don't know your drive's capabilities (sometimes the check in EAC is too random to see what it really can support). EAC is second only to Plextools. Google for EAC setup guides. EAC does not come out of the box easy to use, but after using a decent guide, you can have it as easy as Audiograbber: stick in the CD, wait for FreeDB, then hit the 'MP3' button.

Without MP3Gain, you can't rip them to the same apparent volume level, AFAIK. I can't help much there, as I don't use MP3Gain, but try to see if there isn't a simple way to do the conversion--either inline w/ encoding, or a simple point-and-click after encoding.

 

[Xyclone]

Originally posted by: Kensai
320Kbps for storage.
192KBps on player.

QFT

 

[0roo0roo]

Originally posted by: EglsFly

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo

Originally posted by: EglsFly
Well, I had been using 128K CBR for a compromise between quality and space. I had chosen this because I use MP3 for my car audio player (Alpine CDA-9847) with 700MB CDR discs, and my portable MP3 Player (512MB Creative MuVo N200).

After reading everbody's responses, I am thinking perhaps I should rip to VBR instead?
Although I am not sure if the MuVo supports it?
I use EAC with LAME, I noticed that EAC has different options for VBR.
Such as VBR 128K, VBR 160K, etc...
How do these differ if its variable anyways?

muvo supports vbr. any player worth buying supports vbr and higher bitrates. as for how they differ, the stated bitrate is the average it tries to achieve. thats how it differs. here are the presets http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=28124
http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/1912fine tuned settings that simplify choices. i waver between extreme and insane..depending whether the music deserves the space.

Thanks for the links.
Will have to try a test of VBR 192K and CBR 192K.

Also, I have Nero6 Ultra Edition. It includes software to rip to mp3. For the encoders, it includes "PowerPak LAME mp3 encoder" along with mp3Pro. Anybody tried the Nero tool or should I just stick with the EAC/Lame combo?

Is there a way to rip mp3's at the same volume level with either of these (EAC or Nero) or do I need to try that MP3Gain software?

Thanks.

mp3 pro..stay away from it. its not all that well supported and i don't expect it to gain mass acceptance like mp3. its advantage is only at very low bitrates, and with space so cheap these days we don't have to go that low~64-128kbs... so its useless.

 

[bigboxes]

LAME VBR QL2 (~192kbps)

 

[Tiamat]

.wav

The only way I can listen to music. mp3 just sounds bad. I haven't tried flac though.

 

[EglsFly]

What level of mp3 compression would give you near CD quality?

 

[svi]

That depends on who you ask. 192kbps CBR is near enough for most of us, LAME's alt-preset-extreme (128 to 320 VBR, IIRC) is CD quality according to DBTs. Things change if you're not using LAME, but why wouldn't you use LAME?

 

[eplebnista]

128K

 

[alcoholbob]

You mean 128KB/s...or 1024kbps or 73% of 2-channel CD bandwidth : P

 

[zerocool84]

i think 128 sounds like crap but that's my opinion

 

[DainBramaged]

192

 

[randumb]

flac on my desktop

192 average vbr on my laptop & mp3 player

 

[George P Burdell]

192

 

[DanDaMan315]

For compression I use Media Monkey, it's a great program that does pretty much everything music.

 

[SaturnX]

LAME alt-preset-standard

 

[toekramp]

192 - vbr

 

[BOLt]

Originally posted by: EglsFly
What level of mp3 compression would give you near CD quality?

320kbps.

 

[EglsFly]

I am getting ready to re-rip all of my CD's so I want to make sure I got EAC/LAME setup decent.
If I use:
--alt-preset cbr 192
would that be good?

 

[DaveSimmons]

Originally posted by: EglsFly
I am getting ready to re-rip all of my CD's so I want to make sure I got EAC/LAME setup decent.
If I use:
--alt-preset cbr 192
would that be good?

-extreme lets LAME decide which tracks and parts of the music need a higher bitrate.

Of course with FLAC you get 100% CD quality

 

[jlee]

Usually 256k or 256-320 vbr..

 

[EglsFly]

Seems like most people voted for 192K.
If you voted for 192K was it for CBR as there was a seperate option for VBR?

 

[shortylickens]

320K on my computer.
For my MSI megaplayer I let windows media player auto-compress when it transfers the file.