MP3 encoding

[waverider]

I've always encoded my music disks into MP3 with the following setting: 128 Kb Joint Stereo. But I don't fnd the quality good enough. I'm going to use 160 KB, but what would be best for the other settings: Varible Bit Rate (yes/no), Stereo or Joint Stereo? I'm using the Fraunhoffer codec.

 

[Workin']

Many people like the LAME mp3 encoder better than Fraunhoefer. It's freeware, get it at the LAME Homepage. Or a better alternative is to use CDEX, a freeware ripper that uses LAME to encode mp3's. It works similar to AudioCatalyst, really easy, and the LAME .dll comes with it. Get it at the CDEX Homepage.

You'll get excellent results using Variable Bit Rate, quality level 4 or better (i.e., in LAME-speak VBR4, 3, 2, or 1) VBR 1 gives best quality but bigger files. Use Joint Stereo. Set minimum bitrate to 96 kbps. Encoding is sort of slow, but the quality is outstanding.