[goldenslug]

Hi I was just wondering what is the lowest bitrate for mp3s in which you find it indistinguishable from CDs or FLAC. Please post your setups.

I find that with poorer recordings I have trouble distinguishing the CD from 128K lame and with better ones its 192K. I wonder if the reason I can't distinguish the difference is because my ears aren't as golden as others or my soundcard sucks.

 

[wanderman]

used the hydgrogen audio recommned standard for each codec and you can almost never go wrong. for mp3 is a lame 3.97b2 v2 setting vbrnew iirc (too lazy to copy and paste my command line). www.hydrogenaudio.org

edit: org lol

 

[iSleipnir]

Honestly I only use mp3's for portable use and between 192-256 in a portable environment I can't tel the difference. There's just too much outside noise and distractions for me to notice or care. In my home though, it's another story.

 

[Piffles]

I second what wanderman has said: MP3 Lame VBR-New Standard is very good quality. I can't distinguish that from CD even on my home setup.

--preset fast standard is the easiest switch to use (lots of info and disussion at hydrogenaudio as wanderman said except that the link is http://www.hydrogenaudio.org not .com)

 

[Rambaud]

LAME with one of the VBR pre-sets.

 

[Xakepa]

LAME 3.97b2: -preset-extreme -q0

I prefer vbr-old, encoding time is not an issue.

 

[Revliskciuq]

If you want a lossy format, I recommend Musepack (MPC) --standard setting. It's just exceptional, and many players now support it with the Rockbox firmware.

Anyway, to answer your actual question, as was previously mentioned, use the Hydrogen Audio recommended settings.

 

[Gaughtfried]

Out of my XFI and my pretty noisy computer, I really can't tell the difference between a 192kbs MP3, WAV or FLAC file.

 

[mrarroyo]

Until I get the iWine mod I use 192 kbs VBR set at highest.

 

[liRetro]

I can't stand 128kbps for even crappy CD's. I can tolerate 192kbps for smooth toned electronic music and if I'm listening on the earphones, but for any quality listening I use only 320kbps->160kbps with a target of 256kbps VBR on high quality. On very complex music with lots of harsher details I suspect there is a difference but it might be in my mind. I tried using FLAC recently and I think it will be my new archiving standard.

 

[Shoewreck]

I like how 128kbps mp3 sounds. It's so mellow... I hear the difference, but I don't care - if the music touches my heart it does anyway. Any bitrate above 192K is enough to care even less. Anyway, I usually rip to lossless or 320kbps (if I have to go portable), for peace of mind.

 

[The_Duke_Of_Eli]

Yea, lossless is the way to go. I like FLAC, but any lossless is just that, lossless. It only comes down to what format your sources can play and sizes.

 

[lordgibbness]

http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index....coder_Settings

I use "-V 2", but they are starting to recommend "-V 2 --vbr-new" now as it uses a newer supposedly higher quality algorithm:-

[The ""--vbr-new"" switch enables the new VBR mode. Lame will encode much faster than the old/default VBR mode. In terms of quality, --vbr-new appears to be better than the old model, but reports of artifacts when using the new model do exist. Despite these possible issues, --vbr-new is currently recommended over the default VBR mode due to both the speed and quality increases afforded by the new algorithm.]

"-V 1" and "-V 0" may also be good choices, but I wouldn't recommend "-b 320" as you will get a much larger file for practically no benefit over "-V 0". http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index....me-chart-2.png

 

[surfboardz26]

192 is about the point break for when it becomes hard to tell the diff between that and a cd quality song.

 

[skyline889]

I record all my music to 320kbps MP3, 352kbps if I'm using Atrac. I don't like anything under 256kbps, and since I have extra space anyway I rip my portable music to the 320/352kbps listed above. For home use though why not just rip to Lossless or WAV? I record to WAV for all my music at home, hd space is really cheap right now.