MP3 128K vs WMA ?? which is better

[jose]

Hi everyone,

I got a 8gig flash based mp3 player for christmas.. 🙂

I really care about sound quality, so I'd like to start off the right way.

My player is the new Creative Zen V Plus 8gig player.

It's not even listed on their site but it's there.. Cost $219 from creative..

Anyway , I want to start encoding some of my cd's ..

I figure I can put between 140-160 cd's at mp3-128 encoding.

But my brother has a napster subscription and get WMA files.

They sound pretty good to me..

Any pro's/con's on which way to start ? mp3 128bit vs WMA ??

Thanks for the advice,

Regards,
Jose

 

[SuperFreaky]

Go higher than 128, or you will regret it later... do at least 192, I personally do 256.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Yeah, are you limited to 128 for some reason?

VBR is another option for getting better quality but keeping file size down a bit as long as your player supports it.

 

[ForumMaster]

don't do lower then 192kbps with lame encoder. you'll regret it otherwise. at lower bitrates, WMA does have the advantage.

 

[BDawg]

EAC + LAME FTW

You should be able to download some good presets that helps makes creating great sounding mp3s a snap.

 

[andy04]

192 atleast 256 VBR no lower. You are going to miss a LOT otherwise - go VBR that will reduce size

BTW I would go with MP3 - Rule of thumb: Avoid MS whenever you can 😉

 

[jose]

I'm not limited other than seeing that mp3-128 is almost the same size as WMA..

I have Nero & Creative's MediaSource5 to create mp3's & wma's..

I've been going back and forth between the same song "Let me touch you a while" from Union Station.

Listening thru some nice headphone's I think there's a difference between the two.. the mp3 version seems to have more base and the WMA seems more flat/even.

To me at these's settings the wma is clearer.. you can tell when the violins are playing.

I'll try 192 & 256 to see how they compare.. About the VBR ?? is it noticiable better than 192/256 ?? Which is better out of these three ??

Since I have a 8G flash player, I need to get a good balance between quality and space...

Thanks everyone,

Regards,
Jose

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

The main advantage to VBR (Variable Bit Rate) is you keep the file size down vs. encoding the whole thing at the high bitrate.
For when the song has enough going on that you need 256kbps, it will encode it at that rate. When there isn't much going on it lowers the bitrate to save space vs. having the whole thing encoded at the high bitrate.

 

[andy04]

Keep it 192 VBR that way the MP3 will swing from 256 to 128 and so on depending on sound complexity...

 

[oynaz]

Yes, MP3 VBR at about quality 7 is the best trade off between size and quality IMO.

WMA is not your friend, at some time you will end up having problems with it.

BTW, the Creative players support OGG Vorbis don't they? That format might be worth trying. IMO, it is the best one out there, especially with VBR.

 

[jose]

So within Nero use the following setting ?

VBR , 192, and quality 7 ?? which is better 0 or 9 ? which way does the scale go ? 0 = best or worst ?

Thanks alot everyone..

Regards,
Jose

 

[gwag]

can it play AAC?

 

[Ika]

I would suggest using the program Exact Audio Copy (EAC). It's probably the best CD Ripper you can use, except it is a bit complicated. It's easy to find guides, though, such as this. That particular one gives you a chart showing the different command lines you can use for VBR quality. Personally, I used V2 VBR, but of course you're free to pick for yourself. If size is more important to you than sound quality, then pick a higher number (which would lower the average bitrate quality, decreasing SQ).

Unless you ABSOLUTELY need to use Constant Bit Rate (CBR), don't use it - VBR is definitely a better choice than CBR, as it saves space without decreasing sound quality noticeably.

What kind of headphones are you using with your player?

and oynaz, my two Creative players do NOT support OGG (otherwise, I would use it).

 

[hurtstotalktoyou]

I'd go with ABR-128. Sound quality is important, but a big selection is more important, in my opinion. As for the wma vs. mp3 debate, wma sound slightly better, but mp3s are much easier to manage.

Exact Audio Copy is indeed a great ripper, and if you were archiving lossless data I would recommend it. However, it's a little silly to use that complicated program to make mp3s. I suggest dbPowerAmp Music Converter version 10, *not the latest version*. It's probably the most convenient ripper/converter available.

 

[jose]

I've been expermenting a little w/ nero's setting..

Here's what I've found. all file sizes are of the exact same song..

Napster's wma:---2,842
128 mp3:----------2,820 worst sounding
192 mp3:----------4,230
vbr 0 setting:-----4,637
vbr 5 setting:-----3,203
vbr 9 setting:-----2,511

Got to take a break, it's getting hard to tell the diff other than the 128bit encoded mp3..

I think because of file limits of my 8gig mp3 player, that I'll go w/ vbr 5 settings..

Does anyone know what are the difference's in the vbr settings ? 0-9 ??

I guess 0 is the highest because it yielded the largest file, but what are the average bit rates for each setting ??


thanks everyone..

Regards,
Jose

 

[Noema]

I also vouch for 192kbps VBR, using EAC+LAME of course. I personally use lossless on both my iPod and PC, but I helped a friend to encode some CDs for his 2GB Zen Nano, and they sounded pretty good at 192kbps.

 

[jose]

I just found out from creative tech support that the vision V Plus doesn't support MP3 VBR ... 🙁

So I'll go w/ either 192 Mp3 or WMA ...

What's so bad about WMA's ?

Also if I use 4KB as the average for each song and 12 songs per cd as an average, how many will fit approx. on a 8g flash player ?

I'm getting 2000 songs ~ 166 cds ... is this right ?

Thanks everyone.

Regards,
Jose

 

[BDawg]

Originally posted by: jose

What's so bad about WMA's ?

Well, it's a proprietary format; not everything supports it. MP3 is open and supported by everything in the present and will be in the future.