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Headphoneus Supremus
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After reading the off-topic discussion in this thread, I did a very simple experiment to test the hypothesis that the quality of an MP3 can be improved by transcoding to a higher bitrate.
Hypothesis: transcoding an MP3 file from a lower bitrate to a higher bitrate increases the quality of the file.
Methodology:
If the hypothesis that converting an MP3 from a lower bitrate to a higher bitrate makes a file sound better is true, then step 3 would result in a higher quality file than step 2.
Likewise, if the hypothesis is true, step 4 would yield a higher quality file than step 3, step 5 would yield a higher quality file than step 4, and so on. This could be expressed as:
8 > 7 > 6 > 5 > 4 > 3 > 2
It follows that if the hypothesis is true, then 8 > 2.
Results:
64 kbps clip
256 kbps clip
Original .wav clip
You can listen to the results and decide for yourself, but to my ear, the 256 kbps file is appreciably worse than the 64 kbps file, and both are appreciably worth than the original .wav. Thus, it is clear to me that transcoding to a higher bitrate does not increase quality.
Notes:
1. The clip I used was XTC's Mayor of Simpleton from Oranges and Lemons. There was no particular reason that I selected this song other than that I happened to have the CD with me.
2. You could achieve the same results by transcoding once from any lower bitrate to any higher bitrate. However, in that scenario, the difference between the two files is not nearly as noticeable, and--as seen in the original thread linked to above--the artifacts introduced by a single transcode can be subjectively interpreted as an improvement to the sound of an mp3. Doing the experiment with 6 separate transcoding steps, however, makes the file degradation obvious. If the hypothesis is correct, and transcoding from a low bitrate to a high bitrate increases sound quality, then it should be correct not only for one transcode, but for each individual transcode in the experiment.
Hypothesis: transcoding an MP3 file from a lower bitrate to a higher bitrate increases the quality of the file.
Methodology:
- Rip a 30 second clip of a song to .wav format.
- Encode from .wav to 64 kbps CBR MP3.
- Transcode from 64 kbps to 96 kbps CBR MP3
- Transcode from 96 kbps to 128 kbps CBR MP3
- Transcode from 128 kbps to 160 kbps CBR MP3
- Transcode from 160 kbps to 192 kbps CBR MP3
- Transcode from 192 kbps to 224 kbps CBR MP3
- Transcode from 224 kbps to 256 kbps CBR MP3
If the hypothesis that converting an MP3 from a lower bitrate to a higher bitrate makes a file sound better is true, then step 3 would result in a higher quality file than step 2.
Likewise, if the hypothesis is true, step 4 would yield a higher quality file than step 3, step 5 would yield a higher quality file than step 4, and so on. This could be expressed as:
8 > 7 > 6 > 5 > 4 > 3 > 2
It follows that if the hypothesis is true, then 8 > 2.
Results:
64 kbps clip
256 kbps clip
Original .wav clip
You can listen to the results and decide for yourself, but to my ear, the 256 kbps file is appreciably worse than the 64 kbps file, and both are appreciably worth than the original .wav. Thus, it is clear to me that transcoding to a higher bitrate does not increase quality.
Notes:
1. The clip I used was XTC's Mayor of Simpleton from Oranges and Lemons. There was no particular reason that I selected this song other than that I happened to have the CD with me.
2. You could achieve the same results by transcoding once from any lower bitrate to any higher bitrate. However, in that scenario, the difference between the two files is not nearly as noticeable, and--as seen in the original thread linked to above--the artifacts introduced by a single transcode can be subjectively interpreted as an improvement to the sound of an mp3. Doing the experiment with 6 separate transcoding steps, however, makes the file degradation obvious. If the hypothesis is correct, and transcoding from a low bitrate to a high bitrate increases sound quality, then it should be correct not only for one transcode, but for each individual transcode in the experiment.