[alitomr]

When you are listening to your library and you pass from 320kbps or lossless to 192kbps or lower you will be like "What!!? this song sounds like crap!". At least that is what happens to me. I go check the bitrate and it is a bad one...

I must say I do have some 128kbps songs that i think sound great.

 

[knights]

most of pop,hip-hop,rnb are just fine with 128kbps..

 

[Awah]

Quote:

Originally Posted by alitomr /img/forum/go_quote.gif When you are listening to your library and you pass from 320kbps or lossless to 192kbps or lower you will be like "What!!? this song sounds like crap!". At least that is what happens to me. I go check the bitrate and it is a bad one... I must say I do have some 128kbps songs that i think sound great.

I do exactly that! I'll be listening along and I'll be...this doesn't sound very oood at all...and I'll check, it'll be a lower bit rate (lower than 200) and other times I'll be like, "This song is awesome!" and the bit rate with be low once again.

I encode everything at LAME 3.97 320 CBR. Music from my friends that gets on my computer I end up deleting a lot due to quality

@ OP
As everyone else has said, trust your ears!

 

[Ldotc]

im not very experienced but i prefer 192 at the very very minimum. I find that poor soundstage tends to be the thing that really annoys me with lower bitrate encodings.

 

[Awah]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ldotc /img/forum/go_quote.gif im not very experienced but i prefer 192 at the very very minimum. I find that poor soundstage tends to be the thing that really annoys me with lower bitrate encodings.

Hopefully that isnt the case with me

I'll be getting my AD2000 soon and I don't want to not be able to stand listening to my lower quality tracks...

 

[chinesekiwi]

Quote:

Originally Posted by knights /img/forum/go_quote.gif most of pop,hip-hop,rnb are just fine with 128kbps..

Are you kidding me!?

Hip-hop with it's electronic music base, sounds terrible at 128k, more so than rock IMO.
A lot of pop music is in fact highly complex in it's production thus you need high bitrates to represent all of that.

 

[chinesekiwi]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Awah /img/forum/go_quote.gif I encode everything at LAME 3.97 320 CBR.

Why not VBR? VBR makes more sense really...

 

[pedxing]

If you don't know what it originally sounded like, you are unlikely to deem the encoded rip to be noticeably worse. I usually find the source and DAC to be in the way if we assume the rip and encoding was done properly. Also, the quality of the recording is becoming a problem. With all this hot mastering done today, most of the new CDs I have encountered have less detail and less dynamic range than some of my lowly old collection of 128 kpbs mp3's.

 

[berniebennybernard]

I could never hear the difference between 128kbps from 320kbps, but this was when I had crappy iBuds, and the such. Speaking of it, I should try soon

I always re-encode my songs to 240kbps VBR LAME with dBpoweramp. Does anyone know of any programs that can possibly go up to 320kbps?

TIA.

 

[Tone Def]

Quote:

Originally Posted by chinesekiwi /img/forum/go_quote.gif Why not VBR? VBR makes more sense really...

X2

If I'm not mistaken, lame has the best VBR implementation out there and it supposedly got better with 3.98.

Cheers

 

[Febs]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Awah /img/forum/go_quote.gif I do exactly that! I'll be listening along and I'll be...this doesn't sound very oood at all...and I'll check, it'll be a lower bit rate (lower than 200) and other times I'll be like, "This song is awesome!" and the bit rate with be low once again.

I used to think the same way. It turns out that I just had some poorly-encoded files, and that I had mistakenly attributed the problem to the bitrate rather than the encoder.

Use a good encoder and do a proper ABX test. You'll see.

 

[Elluzion]

Quote:

Originally Posted by chinesekiwi /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'm sure you can tell between 128 and 320! Try this: mp3 or not - Don't you hear it? However of course, equipment is important to help tell the difference.

yeah i can tell the difference on regular speakers. i probably can't tell because i never compare 2 of the same files encoded at 128 and 320. thats all

 

[Tone Def]

Quote:

Originally Posted by berniebennybernard /img/forum/go_quote.gif I could never hear the difference between 128kbps from 320kbps, but this was when I had crappy iBuds, and the such. Speaking of it, I should try soon I always re-encode my songs to 240kbps VBR LAME with dBpoweramp. Does anyone know of any programs that can possibly go up to 320kbps? TIA.

You are re-encoding from a lossless source right?

 

[chinesekiwi]

Quote:

Originally Posted by chinesekiwi /img/forum/go_quote.gif Are you kidding me!? Hip-hop with it's electronic music base, sounds terrible at 128k, more so than rock IMO. A lot of pop music is in fact highly complex in it's production thus you need high bitrates to represent all of that.

To add to this, try encoding Public Enemy's "Welcome To The Terrordome" in VBR mp3.

It's 260+ kbps 95% of the time.

 

[Robster1958]

Quote:

Originally Posted by chinesekiwi /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'm sure you can tell between 128 and 320! Try this: mp3 or not - Don't you hear it? However of course, equipment is important to help tell the difference.

Even for me...who can't hear the mosquito ringtone....or anything higher than 12khz for that matter...had no difficulty picking out the 320 vs. the 128.

the detain and dynamic range were apparent even in my laptop speakers.

that's why it's sad that we can't force apple to make everything available as iTunes Plus, at least.

128 i believe is called "near CD-quality". Amazon downloads are mostly 256vbr and no drm either. plus often much cheaper for whole albums.

if i had the time and patience, i would take all my cd's and re-rip in lossless for archival purposes. then i would compress them all down to 256vbr or some relatively efficient format (under 10 MB per song). Then i would create playlists for portable listening as i felt like: if i was in a serious listening mode for new material or maybe favorite stuff, i might use the lossless files. generally maybe use compressed. But having the lossless to begin with is key.

and unfortunately when i ripped 200 or so cd's like 5 years ago, i didn't have the backup storage for lossless. so like i said, i should re-rip the collection lossless format, then sell the cd's on ebay, and hope no magnetic weapon is launched that will erase the pc and the backup at once.