Music sound quality (Sample level etc)

[Pm@c]

What sample level and quality level do you guys listen to? I have my DT770's shipped out on the way, and just wondering if i should get rid of all my music and re upload them from the CDs, without any conversion to mp3 (keep them as high quality as possible). What do you guys use to burn the music onto your computer (so that you can put it on your ipod) and still have it high quality enough that the sound quality wont bottleneck your headphone's performance?

 

[threEchelon]

mp3 is fine. Just use 320kbps CBR or v0 VBR.

 

[frescagod]

Quote:

Originally Posted by threEchelon /img/forum/go_quote.gif mp3 is fine. Just use 320kbps CBR or v0 VBR.

^x2. I would probably use v0 (EAC ---> LAME), since it'll save you some space and not sacrifice transparency. i dare any of you to try and differentiate between v0 and 320 CBR.

 

[Mrvile]

Hell, I even think 192 is fine!

/equips lvl13 flamesuit

 

[3X0]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mrvile /img/forum/go_quote.gif Hell, I even think 192 is fine! /equips lvl13 flamesuit

I'll 1-down you there and shamelessly admit that a select few files in my collection are 160.

192 is my most preferred CBR sweet spot, though I find myself using VBR the most nowadays.

 

[jinp6301]

i like vbr mp3 between 192 and 320kbs

 

[Claus-DK]

I go for 256 VBR EAC/LAME

 

[gz76]

Lately I've been using 256kbps VBR AAC's and Apple Lossless (depending on type of music) for when I'm on the move, although when I'm at home it's always direct from the source.

 

[LFC_SL]

Grab say 3 tracks and rip them to lossless (e.g. flac, WMA lossless etc), and then MP3 at different bitrates; 320, 256, 192, etc. Then listen and choose. Get out of the way now, so no regrets later

Or buy an external HD and have best of both worlds: lossless and compressed

I have it at MP3 320

 

[Febs]

The most recent listening tests conducted at Hydrogen Audio suggest that transparency (i.e., the inability to distinguish an MP3 from the original) starts at about the -V5 setting in LAME 3.97, which results in VBR files averaging about 135 kpbs. I've done extensive ABX testing that confirms that -V5 is in fact transparent for me.

The higher bitrate settings recommended by others are almost certainly overkill unless you fall into a very small minority of the population that is particularly sensitive to the artifacts created by the MP3 encoding process. LAME's -V2 setting averages about 192kbps, and will be transparent to almost all listeners. LAME's -V0, which was recommended above, averages around 245kbps. However, there is very little quality gain between -V0 and -V2, so from the perspective of the compromise between space and quality, you really gain very little by moving from -V2 to -V0, compared to the amount of addition disk space it requires.

Again, the best way to decide what bitrate to use is to do a listening test for yourself, preferably using an ABX program like the one in Foobar 2000. If you don't want to take the time or effort to do a listening test, you can use LAME's -V2 setting with a high degree of confidence that there will be no audible difference between the resulting MP3s and the original.