MP3Pro: What do you think?

[S0me1X]

I just tried a demo of the mp3pro encoder (64kbit only for demo), and it seems to be at least as good as mp3 at 160 kbit. Thinking of re-encoding my 7.5 GB collection (averaging 224 kbit) into mp3 pro. Have to listen to it more to really get a feel for it.

 

[IamDavid]

I don't think they sound any better then 128kb. I'll wait to upgrade.

 

[S0me1X]

Using a pair of Sennheiser 540's, I compared a 256kbit LAME encoding to a 64kbit mp3pro encoding of the Presto, Chorale movement of Beethoven's 9th, and I found that the 64kbit encoding:
- the violin section seems 'blurred' together
- the timpani, as well as the overall bass effect, lacks definition ('boomy')
- the solo vocals sounded close to the 256kbit recording
- the biggest problems are when many sections are playing at the same time. For example, when the choir sings, the orchestral sounds much worse than when just the orchestra is playing alone(but not so bad that you can't tell what instrument is playing)