[Ph34rful]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Imyourzero The primary reason I continue to use the MP3 format is compatibility. Nothing else even comes close, not even the better-sounding and fairly popular WMA. If the Alpine CD/MP3 player in my car would play the lossless formats, then yeah I'd probably switch over. But for now, I'll take MP3 if it means the highest compatibility with a slight tradeoff in quality. That way I can listen to the same songs in my car and on my PC without having to worry about storing and managing different formats. It works for me. YMMV.

Hey whatever works. My car is a poop listening environment anyway so APS is good enough for me.

 

[KenW]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ph34rful lol I just know you can't tell a difference when you're out and about especially with the jukebox... BTW. I don't know where you are in GA but we are trying to get a meet together. Check out this thread. http://www4.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=81528

You young 'uns wouldn't want a guy well past "old fart" status crashing your gathering would you? Heck, I was into this hobby "back in the day" but with school, career and family, I took a brief break....about 20 years! Just now getting back into things. Not sure I'd be able to contribute much to the event as things have certainly changed since my college days. Besides, I've only got one more week left before my travel season begins. At that point, I'll be on the road every weekend for the next few months. With my player still at SACDmods and Purk having jumped me in line, I'm not sure when my unit will be back. Not much I could contribute but thanks for the heads up and invitation!

FWIW, you're right....I can't tell the difference on the jukebox.

 

[Distroyed]

VBR is NOT superior to CBR in all instances. In moments (ie, albums) of low-volume music, VBR will encode most of the track at its lowest bitrate thinking its saving space without sacrificing audible quality; such is not the case. Beware ambient, space, and minimal lovers; VBR is not for us.

 

[breez]

AFAIK the VBR model doesn't choose bitrate by the sound level of the sample.

 

[Zurg]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Distroyed VBR is NOT superior to CBR in all instances. In moments (ie, albums) of low-volume music, VBR will encode most of the track at its lowest bitrate thinking its saving space without sacrificing audible quality; such is not the case. Beware ambient, space, and minimal lovers; VBR is not for us.

This is an inaccurate characterisation of VBR performance. In areas with low dynamic range (e.g. soft passages), there is less information in the original signal to encode. Any VBR compression encoder, including lossless, would take advantage of this to save space. In the case of lossless it would have no effect whatsoever on signal fidelity. The fact that lossy VBR encoders use lower bitrates to encode these passages does not necessarily mean that there is any audible impact, they are simply doing exactly what they are designed to do, save space when it is not needed. Also on some encoders you can set a lower limit bitrate for VBR, if you don't trust the VBR algorithm.

If an encoder fails to correctly determine the necessary bitrate to encode isolated transient sounds in soft passages, it is an error in that particular VBR implementation, not VBR in general.

What you may be hearing with this kind of music are errors produced by the encoder. There are many crappy encoders out there that introduce artifacts that are simply errors in encoding. These errors may be more noticible with this kind of music.

Do you have actual experience hearing quality problems with VBR versus CBR? Was a high quality encoder used? I would be interested in you experiences since I have done quite a number of controlled encodings and critical listening with a wide range of music, and I have not detected the differences you suggest.

-Z

 

[Distroyed]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zurg Do you have actual experience hearing quality problems with VBR versus CBR? Was a high quality encoder used? I would be interested in you experiences since I have done quite a number of controlled encodings and critical listening with a wide range of music, and I have not detected the differences you suggest. -Z

Not yet; it's something I plan on getting around to once I have my collection in order, so at the moment, admittedly, is mere speculation. I'll let you know.

 

[ADS]

APE, just because I need something to fill up my hard drive with.