[Radagascar]

I'm a novice when it comes to this audiophile business. I hear all these terms like lossless, and FLAC(or flak) and I'm pretty much clueless.

So what all do you need to consider to get the best sound out of your music, like the file type, bitrate, etc?

 

[neoufo51]

You seem to be a true novice, so I suggest doing some reading on the topic rather than asking questions at a forum where pretty much everyone has fairly extensive knowledge on how to get great sound quality. People tend to just get really angry if you haven't done some research on your own before asking around.

Start checking out these pages.
http://mp3.radified.com/ <---Shows the basics of ripping and encoding.

http://flac.sourceforge.net/faq.html <---Tells you what FLAC is

 

[krmathis]

I'll try to explain, in simple words.
* MP3 (and AAC, MusePack, Ogg Vorbis, etc.) are lossy codecs. Meaning that they will throw away audio data on encoding. You will end up with a en encoded file that might to you ears sound the same as the original, but it is not "perfect".
* FLAC (and Apple Lossless, WavPack, TAK, etc.) are lossless codecs. Meaning that they will not throw away any audio data on encoding. You will end up with an encoded file that contain the exact same audio data, and sound the same (if not broken), as the source file.

An average lossless compressed file will have a bitrate of ~6-800Kbps, compared to the PCM (CD audio) bitrate of 1411Kbps. About half the file size for the exact same audio data and sound quality.
While lossy files usually are encoded to 128, 160 or 192Kbps.

Some nice reading:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lossy_data_compression
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lossless_data_compression
http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index....ess_comparison

 

[Radagascar]

So basically the best quality audio files are FLAC, flac variants. But not all Mp3 players support FLAC?

 

[krmathis]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Radagascar /img/forum/go_quote.gif So basically the best quality audio files are FLAC, flac variants. But not all Mp3 players support FLAC?

Correct! But not all portable players supports lossless codecs like FLAC.
On a portable rig you 'might' not be able to head any audible difference between a lossy and lossless encoded file anyway though...

 

[Radagascar]

Right now I'm trying to use LAME to encode an mp3 that I have, just to get the hang of this.

I go to encode this mp3 file and it says "Input file and output file must be different" Please correct this for: Location of the song

Any ideas?

*edit* I'll be listening to an mp3 player exclusively, so is it pretty much a waste of time to encode my audio files and make them the best quality possible?

 

[krmathis]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Radagascar /img/forum/go_quote.gif Right now I'm trying to use LAME to encode an mp3 that I have, just to get the hang of this. I go to encode this mp3 file and it says "Input file and output file must be different" Please correct this for: Location of the song Any ideas?

Here s a simple line for encoding an MP3 file with LAME: Code:

[left]lame -V2 input.wav output.mp3[/left]

I am not sure if LAME accept anything but WAV files as input.

Quote:

*edit* I'll be listening to an mp3 player exclusively, so is it pretty much a waste of time to encode my audio files and make them the best quality possible?

Well, you have to find out if the higher quality files are worth the increased file size.
Nobody else have your set of ears and hence can't decide if there are any audible difference.

 

[Radagascar]

I'm using Razorlame. I'm familiar with C but I don't want to start messing with it again. I figured it out. I'm going to encode a few files and listen up.

GOOD GRACIOUS!!!

That song I turned into a lossless FLAC file went from 4.2 megs to 42 megs YIKES!!!!!!!

I'm doing an audio test as we speak...

Bah the improvements are minimal. Then again this computer is a hunk of garbage. Maybe through an MP3 player with decent headphones will be different.

 

[jamess71]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Radagascar /img/forum/go_quote.gif GOOD GRACIOUS!!! That song I turned into a lossless FLAC file went from 4.2 megs to 42 megs YIKES!!!!!!! I'm doing an audio test as we speak... Bah the improvements are minimal. Then again this computer is a hunk of garbage. Maybe through an MP3 player with decent headphones will be different.

Converting an mp3 to a flac file is not going to improve the quality at all. You need to start with a lossless source. An mp3 file has already been compressed to lossy format. You cant get back what was already lost.

 

[YamiTenshi]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Radagascar /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'm using Razorlame. I'm familiar with C but I don't want to start messing with it again. I figured it out. I'm going to encode a few files and listen up. GOOD GRACIOUS!!! That song I turned into a lossless FLAC file went from 4.2 megs to 42 megs YIKES!!!!!!! I'm doing an audio test as we speak... Bah the improvements are minimal. Then again this computer is a hunk of garbage. Maybe through an MP3 player with decent headphones will be different.

You can not turn a lossy file into a lossless file. What was loss in the lossy file can never be brought back. You have to rerip from the original CD to get a "real" lossless file.

From lossy-->lossless file there should be no improvement at all. What you are experiencing is called a placebo effect.

 

[yourtoys7]

Wow, I don't no where to start.......... search! I had to say it.

 

[krmathis]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Radagascar /img/forum/go_quote.gif GOOD GRACIOUS!!! That song I turned into a lossless FLAC file went from 4.2 megs to 42 megs YIKES!!!!!!! I'm doing an audio test as we speak... Bah the improvements are minimal. Then again this computer is a hunk of garbage. Maybe through an MP3 player with decent headphones will be different.

Well, guess my write-up above about the difference between lossless and lossy was not clear enough. or did not sink in!

Encoding a lossy file to lossless will gain you nothing but a multi fold increase in file size. There are no way to retrieve the audio data which was lost when the source file was encoded to lossy.
Simple said, you need to start with a lossless source (example an audio CD).

 

[krmathis]

Quote:

Originally Posted by yourtoys7 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Wow, I don't no where to start.......... search! I had to say it.

Good choice!
We all started at scratch one day, and see where some of us are now...

 

[afobisme]

lol, that's funny radagascar.. it doesn't work that way, hahaha.. so funny.

 

[jisc]

but really, do you have to extract your CD to lossless format if your only playing it at portable devices? they maybe able to play the lossless format, but are they able to play it efficiently? arent DAP only outputs it at 192KBPS?