mp3 vs CD quality

[loomer]

From what I remember, mp3s were meant to be 10 times less than full CD quality. mp3s are definitely inferior in sound to CDs right? Though you'd only really spot it if you played mp3s in a top sound system.

mp3s are a lossy format (geez, can't you tell I've been doing web design classes at night school) and CDs themselves are compressed to digital - some would say vinyl still offers better fidelity.

But how much less quality would you say mp3s really are to CDs and how is it noticeable?

[loomer]

No answer?

FLOP forum

[Lunar Foetus]

Well it depends what you rip the mp3s as doesn't it? 320kbs is obviouslybetter than 190kbs, but to be honest, I can't tell the differece at all!

[loomer]

Oh well of course. I prefer 192kb, less space!

If you're doing WAV files which is full CD quality, you'll notice that the file size is 10 times bigger. Usually about 50MB a song. The difference is very hard to tell unless you have audiophile ears, but certain details of a song are missed out, less bass or whatever.

[Lunar Foetus]

I cannae tell at all, as long as the song as a whole is so loud that I can't hear anything else, I'm happy!

[Ellie]

I cannae tell at all, as long as the song as a whole is so loud that I can't hear anything else, I'm happy!

:D same

[WiDGe->]

Let me break it down for you, you've got your ratios right there. Things like Media Player used to say that 192 was "CD quality" (which is bollocks). An album at 320kbps is about 150mb, an album of WAVs (lossless) is more like 1GB!

There is no reason to use WAVs though when you have the Free Lossless Audio Codec (FLAC) on the market. Thinking of it as a zip for WAVs, that can actually crunch down the size while remaining lossless. The Aphex Twin - Richard D James LP comes in at 280mb in FLAC. Good stuff.

There is a certain warmth and depth in the sound that you lose with mp3s. Its not like its waving a flying beacon at you obviously, but it just gives you a little more. With size starting to become less and less of an issue, it would be nice to see things go FLAC in the near future, but for now mp3 will still rule.

Of course poorly encoded mp3s will sound shit, with metallic swooshes on the mid/treble ends.

My recommendation? Use mp3s converted using the LAME encoder on either a V2 or V0 setting. Fast to encode, efficient with space and awesome sound quality. In the future, investigate FLAC.

[WiDGe->]

EAC + LAME = CD ripping heaven (http://www.exactaudiocopy.de/)

its about as standard as you get in "the scene"

[Ellie]

I can only play FLAC using VLC player. They take up so much space. I usually download live bootleg albums in lossless and they're sometimes up to 1GB, so I compress them to mp3 then delete the original, unless it's something special I want to keep in good quality even though I can't tell the difference.

[WiDGe->]

oh and iPods don't play FLACs I believe. Hooray for FILE SUPPORT THERE.

[Ellie]

EAC + LAME = CD ripping heaven (http://www.exactaudiocopy.de/)

its about as standard as you get in "the scene"

BAH! Windows only.

[WiDGe->]

I can only play FLAC using VLC player. They take up so much space. I usually download live bootleg albums in lossless and they're sometimes up to 1GB, so I compress them to mp3 then delete the original, unless it's something special I want to keep in good quality even though I can't tell the difference.

Foobar2000 will play FLACs, its great little player. If you want to be really geeky, you can custom it to your hearts content with plugins and all sorts of shit. At the basics, it plays everything you throw at it and takes up a minimum of system footprint.

[Ellie]

oh and iPods don't play FLACs I believe. Hooray for FILE SUPPORT THERE.

And ironically they'd be the only ones fit to hold lots of files of that size since they have the biggest disc capacities :)

[WiDGe->]

You can get LAME for the Mac:

http://lame.sourceforge.net/links.php

you just need to find the EAC equivalent for it.

[Ellie]

Foobar2000 will play FLACs, its great little player. If you want to be really geeky, you can custom it to your hearts content with plugins and all sorts of shit. At the basics, it plays everything you throw at it and takes up a minimum of system footprint.

Meh, I don't care. I only play music casually through my computer. Usually to test something out before loading to the iPod. I haven't got the proper speakers hooked up to the computer.

[Ellie]

You can get LAME for the Mac:

http://lame.sourceforge.net/links.php

you just need to find the EAC equivalent for it.

Cheers, I'll try out anything.

[WiDGe->]

And ironically they'd be the only ones fit to hold lots of files of that size since they have the biggest disc capacities :)

Maddening isn't it? I would love that 160gb iPod barring the fact that I don't believe Rockbox has been released for it yet.

May as well hold fire, the solid state memory keeps on getting bigger and bigger and cheaper and cheaper each year.

I remember when it was something like £70 for a Pro Duo 2 4GB mem stick. That gets you something crazy like 16GB now. Cheaper if you scan about.

As an aside, what the fuck is happening with the mobile player market? Just about everyone has stopped making the things of recent. There was a point where each week would bring news on new and exciting players... then it just stopped.

[Ellie]

I'm glad of that without the money rolling in right now, cos I'd be too tempted to upgrade for no reason.

[WiDGe->]

iTunes Lame!

http://blacktree.com/?itunes-lame

replaces the shitness with the goodness!

[Lunar Foetus]

oh and iPods don't play FLACs I believe. Hooray for FILE SUPPORT THERE.

I've coped fine thus far, so I'm not worried :)

[WiDGe->]

oh god, I'm not saying mp3s are the badness, in fact they're the perfect solution right now.

in a few years, when we're sitting aboutt with 1TB storage... maybe we'll be onto better things.

plus certainly no use for cds really then

[loomer]

Yay, thank you for that

I knew you mentioned that LAME thing before. In fact, I downloaded that EAC thing a while ago, but found it slightly footery.

Though if this gives you true CD/WAV quality mp3s I will have another go!

[WiDGe->]

I can find you or even write you a guide?
Yeah, its not as simple as foobar.... actually, that could be easier for your purposes.
give me some time and I'll knock something up.
useful knowledge is always good. even if its not for you.

[loomer]

Oh I managed to use it before, it's just slightly less accessible than what I was used to. Before I always used the prehistoric musicmatch jukebox to rip stuff, only recently started using iTunes!

[WiDGe->]

ah fair enough. Its the setup of EAC thats the big pain. Beyond that its just CD -> find tags -> press button = mp3s!

[Lunar Foetus]

plus certainly no use for cds really then

This statement will NEVER EVER be true. EVER.

[WiDGe->]

I reckon so, but so not now, not at all. Once the British internet stops being shite. The big thing about CDs is that they are a wonderful lossless source which is its trump card against mp3s. Against FLAC, they can't compete, plus with ridiculous backup mediums like Bluray (or these mental 50TB protein discs - yeah I know, sounds odd) storage space becomes less of an issue.

Also people are starting to wise up to wireless media streaming more and more. I reckon it'll get to a state where you have one big box that does everything, films, music, TV, games... the works.

[loomer]

So a terrabyte is 1000GB? Those will be interesting times.

And is it true that bluray itself will be phased out with SD cards? I'm sure I read that somwhere. Seems odd. And I even have an SD card port in my HDD DVD recorder. Weird.

I'm sooo dying to get a bluray player and HD TV, that was gonna be my next topic here. Seems like you're one of the few to have bluray! I know the players are now pretty cheap. The price of the bluray discs is still a bit of a turn off, mind.

[POP!]

192 and 320 sounds the same to me also :o

[Lunar Foetus]

I reckon so, but so not now, not at all. Once the British internet stops being shite. The big thing about CDs is that they are a wonderful lossless source which is its trump card against mp3s. Against FLAC, they can't compete, plus with ridiculous backup mediums like Bluray (or these mental 50TB protein discs - yeah I know, sounds odd) storage space becomes less of an issue.

Also people are starting to wise up to wireless media streaming more and more. I reckon it'll get to a state where you have one big box that does everything, films, music, TV, games... the works.

HRRRRRRRRRRNK

Not EVERYONE is a robot like you, I don't use cds just because they might have a better sound. I much prefer them to mp3s for MANY reasons which mp3s simply CAN'T fulfil.

[WiDGe->]

The price of the bluray discs is still a bit of a turn off, mind.

What you need is region free discs from somewhere like Movietyme or keeping an eye out for deals.

Yeah £25 for a film? Fuck off is all I say. Hire them from Lovefilm!

I'll say this, I can tell the difference between SkyHD and BluRay, its just that little bit more crisper... plus for picture and sound it shats over DVD too. REALLY big warm sound as they finally have the space to unleash full uncompressed master WAVs on you.

BluRay players are £200 now I believe, you are starting to see them pop up in those all in one surround units too. Like DVD, its gradually becoming a bit more accessible.

I can't see BluRay being supplanted quite yet (the industry wouldn't allow it I'd say), nor DVD. Certainly not by an SD card. I mean a 64GB card is way pricey. Actually could be an interesting future if all media comes on wee little sticks though!