128 or 256 bit for MP3s?

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kt

Diamond Member
Apr 1, 2000
6,032
1,348
136


<<

<< oh please, people. wake up and smell all that poop you just sh!t out on the floor. unless you're an audiophile, you won't noticed a huge difference. just let me play any mp3 without telling you what bitrate they are, i bet you can't tell what the bitrate is. >>


You are full of it. Maybe I don't know the diffrence, but you tell me, you can't hear a diffrence between 128 and 192? For my ears, 192 = CD quality. Can't hear a difference between CD and 192, but 128.... that's just bullcrap.
>>


I am not the one claiming to be able to tell the difference. So don't tell me I am full of it when you're the one is full of it. Like I said before, I will play a random bitrate and you tell me what the bitrate is. And read, I said "unless you're an audiophile". If you are, good. Then your head is just full of yourself. Otherwise, you're just full of it.
 

kt

Diamond Member
Apr 1, 2000
6,032
1,348
136


<< To RSI and other smartasses: Note that I said most people, not all people. And RSI, I really doubt you have the ear to hear a big difference between 128kbps and 256kbps--it's most likely psychological effect. I suggest you do a blind test, using LAME-encoded mp3s, and then report your results back to us.

To Yucky: They weren't using cheap $50 headphones. If they repeated the experiment with some cheap headphones, I doubt they could pick out 50% of the 128kbps material. Also, note that these were not average people, but audiophiles with highly-tuned ears.
>>


Finally, someone who's not full of himself. Like I said before, I know audiophile do have really keen ears and will be able to tell the difference if it involves highly sophisticated sound. But if you are going to play trance or techno music (basically electronic produced sound) I doubt any of you will be able to tell the difference. I am just sick of people claiming be able to tell the difference just for the sake of it. But in fact, you're just full of yourself.
 

mithrandir2001

Diamond Member
May 1, 2001
6,545
1
0
This is easy.

Download LAME 3.91 stable.

Use the "--alt-preset standard" switch solely.

That's it! Bitrate varies automatically from ~150-250kbps. Very few artifacts, managable size.
 

ndee

Lifer
Jul 18, 2000
12,680
1
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<<

<<

<< oh please, people. wake up and smell all that poop you just sh!t out on the floor. unless you're an audiophile, you won't noticed a huge difference. just let me play any mp3 without telling you what bitrate they are, i bet you can't tell what the bitrate is. >>


You are full of it. Maybe I don't know the diffrence, but you tell me, you can't hear a diffrence between 128 and 192? For my ears, 192 = CD quality. Can't hear a difference between CD and 192, but 128.... that's just bullcrap.
>>


I am not the one claiming to be able to tell the difference. So don't tell me I am full of it when you're the one is full of it. Like I said before, I will play a random bitrate and you tell me what the bitrate is. And read, I said "unless you're an audiophile". If you are, good. Then your head is just full of yourself. Otherwise, you're just full of it.
>>


I'm full of it, you're full of it, we're all full of it!

I didn't say I can tell which bitrate they are, I just said there IS a diffrence between a 192kbps file anda 128kbps file. Why don't you encode a wav to 128 and 192, re-record them to wav, so that they are the same size, and I'll tell you which one is the 128kbps. I'm in no way an audiophile. I'm listening to r'n'b and hip hop, and you can clearly hear the diffrence. Never heard a trance or something similar mp3. You can clearly hear that when a hi-hat-kinda-sound is played. You just have to listen for it, then you'll notice it. And I'm using some cheap-ass 50$ Sony headphones, btw.
 

mithrandir2001

Diamond Member
May 1, 2001
6,545
1
0
Remember that bitrate isn't everything. I'd rather have FhG 128 than Xing 192. Why? Pre-echo control, joint stereo usage, noise shaping, quantization modes and more. LAME sounds as good as it does because it addresses these little, but very important, details.
 

jaydee

Diamond Member
May 6, 2000
4,500
4
81
One quick question: what song or songs have you found to be most useful in noticing the difference between bitrates?
 

kt

Diamond Member
Apr 1, 2000
6,032
1,348
136


<< 2pac - Changes >>


again, full of yourself.

any type of music that is produced electronically isn't the best testing sample. you need music that is naturally produced from real instruments. classical music would be good samples.
 

thebubala

Member
May 4, 2001
48
0
0
EAC in secure mode to rip cds
LAME in --alt-preset standard
I usually use an MPC encoder though, I find MPC is a much higher quality format.
 

spidey07

No Lifer
Aug 4, 2000
65,469
5
76


<< oh please, people. wake up and smell all that poop you just sh!t out on the floor. unless you're an audiophile, you won't noticed a huge difference. just let me play any mp3 without telling you what bitrate they are, i bet you can't tell what the bitrate is >>



I really do feel sorry for you. :(:(

Please get help somewhere or possibly clean out your ears. If you truly can't hear a difference to the extent of justifying your statement then you my friend don't need a CD player. What you need is to keep listening to the radio. sounds great to you right?

jesus christ man, even my wifey immediately knows when I'm listening to a 128k MP3. Really, I'm truly sorry for your loss. I'd probably go into deep depression if I heard music the way you do.
 

pillage2001

Lifer
Sep 18, 2000
14,038
1
81
320k all the way. :)

Who says that there's no difference in between 128 and 256?? Something must be wrong with the ears. :(
 

worth

Platinum Member
Feb 4, 2001
2,369
0
0
You are probably listening to 128kbps encoded with XING or some other inferior encoder.

Damn, didn't think there were so many "audiophiles" with "Hi-Fi" sound systems on AnandTech...
 

DAWeinG

Platinum Member
Aug 2, 2001
2,839
1
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128bit mp3s should be shot and killed... not even close to clear and crisp as 192 and above. Although sometimes I can't tell the difference (methinks because some people don't know how to encode)
 

Maverick

Diamond Member
Jun 14, 2000
5,900
0
71
the biggest difference I hear is that I usually have to turn up the volume on 128 more than I do on 192. Obviously turning up the volume more can bring more distortion and background noise into the picture. Thats really where the difference in quality lies for me. I always go 192 with the occasional 256 if its available. I like VBR, but those don't always come out right when burning as CD-tracks for mixes.
 

ThisIsMatt

Banned
Aug 4, 2000
11,820
1
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<< You are probably listening to 128kbps encoded with XING or some other inferior encoder.

Damn, didn't think there were so many "audiophiles" with "Hi-Fi" sound systems on AnandTech...
>>

Eh, settle down. I don't have any great system(s), and I wouldn't consider myself an audiophile (I consider myself above the general population in that regard, though), but I can definitely hear the difference between 128 & 192 on all of the systems I've played them on...when I encode I use 192 or higher, or go with VBR between 128 & 320...using LAME
 

GoHAnSoN

Senior member
Mar 21, 2001
732
0
0
studies have shown that 256 is already CD quality
so, anything above 256 is consider useless

in this case, for nomad player, i personally like 160, for compact/quality

for pc ? VBR will be great, 128, 256, lame, if u complaning u cannot accept the quality, sorry pal, mp3 is NOT for u , u need to buy CD ! :D
 

Jerboy

Banned
Oct 27, 2001
5,190
0
0
160 or 192kbps

Most people don't know it anyway..

I've ripped a CD into 128, convert it to 320 and put it on sharing before. haha
 

ndee

Lifer
Jul 18, 2000
12,680
1
0


<<

<< 2pac - Changes >>


again, full of yourself.

any type of music that is produced electronically isn't the best testing sample. you need music that is naturally produced from real instruments. classical music would be good samples.
>>


Why isn't it the best testing samples? I told you which music I listen to. And I thought I read that people who listen to classical music really dislike mp3s cuz of the quality.
Oh well, get a cassette-walkman and be happy with it.
 

MisterPants

Senior member
Apr 28, 2001
335
0
0
I just recieved Slow Riot for New Zero Kanada by GYBE! on friday. Prior to that, I had been listening to it in 128kbps MP3. I encoded in 324-32kbps w/ LAMEW 3.91b, and could not notice a difference from CD. 128kbps MP3s masked/distorted the highs in BBF3.
 

tweakmm

Lifer
May 28, 2001
18,436
4
0


<< 160 or 192kbps
Most people don't know it anyway..
I've ripped a CD into 128, convert it to 320 and put it on sharing before. haha
>>


ok, i hate the jerks that do this:|
I'm sorry, but why the hell would you do something like this?
 

Barnaby W. Füi

Elite Member
Aug 14, 2001
12,343
0
0


<< studies have shown that 256 is already CD quality
so, anything above 256 is consider useless
>>



it might be indistinguishable, but it is not CD quality. mp3 is lossy by nature and encoding an mp3 will lose sound information no matter what.
 

halik

Lifer
Oct 10, 2000
25,696
1
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i go for 128 and 196. You defnately can hear th edifferece, but it all depends on the song. When you have something with lotsa background, usually the background gets messed up. TRy looking for nirvanas smells like teen spirit and get both 128 and 192+ version. The percussions and al the other stuff sounds bad on 128
 

Bob151

Senior member
Apr 13, 2000
857
0
0


<< Read This >>



Thanks. That was a good link. Fortunately for me I was aready using CDEX at my freinds recommendation, and it defaults to lame.

After readying that the the heated discussion following my post, I think to be safe so I'll not have to rip again, I'll do at least 192, and am strong considering 256.

Thanks all.