MP3 encoding bitrates....how good are your ears? What's your standard choice?

[xist]

Okay, so here's mine. I usually use 320 kbit/s (but nothing beats a good vinyl!)

Spoiler

best: fourth
third
fifth
first
worst: second

And I'd accept everyone of these to be honest... But if I were to choose, I'd reject the bottom two.

Thanks! That's perfect (spoilered too!)

 

[DinohScene]

MP3, WMA, WAV.
Whatever me cars HiFi accepts .__.

I prefer MP3 with 320 kbit/s


However, nothing beats FM/AM radio signals on a old vacutube radio with mono speaker from the 40's <3

I'll give a listen to the music when I get home;]

 

[TheRedfox]

When i get home i'll use my ampifiler with 96khz digital input xP
On my smartphone i generally use MP3 320k
If i listen music with my ampifiler(most of my music is ripped from vinyl, from artists like sonne adam where vinyl is a much better listining experience) i use 96KHZ stereo FLAC(variable bitrate of 4-6mbit/s, higer than YT 1080p lol)

 

[xist]

When i get home i'll use my ampifiler with 96khz digital input xP
On my smartphone i generally use MP3 320k
If i listen music with my ampifiler(most of my music is ripped from vinyl, from artists like sonne adam where vinyl is a much better listining experience) i use 96KHZ stereo FLAC(variable bitrate of 4-6mbit/s)

It's actually to get results from a good set-up, so as long as you don't try to "cheat" i look forward to your ratings.

As for Sonne Adam being much better on Vinyl...i think that probably falls into the same sort of argument we have about acceptable bitrates. I've only heard Transformation in digital form but it's still densely ridden with that oppressive atmosphere.

One thing is for certain..Vinyl is a billion times better than this new fangled craze for limited cassette tape runs.

 

[kristianity77]

I always went with 320 but now Im not bothered. There are certain processes now which can make even a low bitrate MP3 sound absolutely amazing. Sonys own Clearaudio+ on their own Walkman and Xperia devices can make a low bitrate MP3 sound unreal. I wont pretend to understand how it does it, but it just...does

http://www.sony.co.uk/hub/1237476652649/5/2

 

[kisamesama]

there is difference between 320kbs vs 128kbs.. i usually listen to 320kbs and for some music i also have flac versions

 

[air2004]

That's great and everything but which are you happy with the encode quality and which would you reject as not good enough?




I do mention that it's hardware related in the first post when i suggest that your best (or just your regular) listening set-up is used. It seemed redundant mentioning every different element as i can count the number of people i know with an external DAC on one hand (excluding myself!) As for the encoder, for this test we're assessing MP3, the most common format and that being the case i've opted for the most recent LAME binary (which has no history of regressions and should be ideal). The encoder choice you have to view as optimal so it's primarily about if you're ripping your own music then what bitrate would you be happy with?

1 is horrible , I would go with 4 being the best , then 3 .

 

[nukeboy95]

(but nothing beats a good vinyl!)

VINYL FTW!

 

[air2004]

VINYL FTW!

I had to look up FTW awhile back , when I was growing up , it used to mean something different lol
and even now when I see it , I'm like wtf ? why do people say that ? For the win , really ? This isn't hollywood squares ( I dont even think people who use theFTW , know that it came from that show )

 

[nukeboy95]

I had to look up FTW awhile back , when I was growing up , it used to mean something different lol
and even now when I see it , I'm like wtf ? why do people say that ? For the win , really ? This isn't hollywood squares ( I dont even think people who use theFTW , know that it came from that show )

its not for the win its "Fuck The World"

 

[air2004]

Thats what it used to be when I was growing up lol Fuck The World , my punk friends used to to write it here and there , and my non punk friends ( disgruntled youth , aka thought they were cool , would write FUFL )

 

[Hanafuda]

I'm 45 years old so I know better than to even try. Besides the exposure I got being in a couple bands in the 80's, shooting firearms, and a couple industrial jobs when I was younger, it's inevitable that a male's hearing will deteriorate with age. My music collection is 99% FLAC and I encode to 320CBR when I make mp3's for portable use, but I know it's probably wasted on my ears.

Just giving you all something to look forward to

 

[air2004]

I'm 45 years old so I know better than to even try. Besides the exposure I got being in a couple bands in the 80's, shooting firearms, and a couple industrial jobs when I was younger, it's inevitable that a male's hearing will deteriorate with age. My music collection is 99% FLAC and I encode to 320CBR when I make mp3's for portable use, but I know it's probably wasted on my ears.

Just giving you all something to look forward to

LOL

 

[xist]

I'm genuinely surprised that there aren't more people who are picky about their encodes, and those that are aren't even interested enough to try (c'mon Hanafuda, 320 isn't portable! Give this a shot)

Even if you can't be bothered to give an order at least single out the best and worst....only 2 people have played properly, and that tells us nothing...

 

[pasc]

Qualitywise: 320kb is just good enough if I get the choice to rip from flac/cd to a file.
IF however I only get lower samples than this I just accept them aswell as long as it is the music I like.


talking about ears... I find my (now 6 years old) trusty headphones ouputting lower quality music nowadays.

Gotta get some new ones.

Guess they play a huge part for me when it comes to music.

 

[xist]

Qualitywise: 320kb is just good enough if I get the choice to rip from flac/cd to a file.
IF however I only get lower samples than this I just accept them aswell as long as it is the music I like.


talking about ears... I find my (now 6 years old) trusty headphones ouputting lower quality music nowadays.

Gotta get some new ones.

Guess they play a huge part for me when it comes to music.

How about you rate the sample? Pretty please?

 

[Hielkenator]

192kbps is the minimum for me.

After that some dynamics are lost.
It depends on the music.
I love metal, this type of music generally has lots of highs and lows.
Most noticabily first are the Drums ( rides, hi-hat and crashes)
A lower bit rate tends to get 'wavery' on those fronts.
Sometimes kick drums can get 'fluffy' if there's a lot going on in a track.

I thought number 4 sounded the best, but I'd have to compare it to the original wave file.

Remember 16-bit 44100khz is probably the most a human hearing can in terms of quality.

BUT when conversions are made the source file tremendously matters.
I would go no lower than 96000 khz source in that regard.A higer bit rate can bitrate during recording can help eliminating artifacting when downsampling during the mastering process.
I can hear a huge difference between my own home recordings ( 24-bit - 96000khz source)
converted to 192kbps mp3 opposed to a retail CD ( 16-bit-44100 khz source) converted to 192kbps.
This is also the reason almost all music is mastered directly to mp3 from its digital recording source 'to be sold in that format via i-tunes and alike.
Aside of it's digital pressed disc release( cd=44100khz - 16 dithered)

So it all depends on the source used before compressing.

 

[the_randomizer]

Either FLAC or WAV, but if I ever compressed, I'd go with 320 kbps MP3s. Anything less than 128 kbps makes my ears bleed.

 

[Minox]

Personally I tend to base my decision of music format upon how much storage space the device I'm going to listen to it on has. Granted, I probably can't tell the difference between these formats by listening but if I have the space to spare and the file sizes seems reasonable I don't see an issue.

FLAC - For storage and transcoding purposes on my desktop.
MP3 V0 - Laptop
MP3 V2 - Smartphone

 

[pasc]

Well that song (Lemonheads ?) sounds neat (bass/pitch wise).

I'd give it a 4/5.