[Skylab]

That test proves my point -- MP3 even at 320k has only 32db S/N ratio! That's horrible. Means it's dropping S/N ratio from CD by as much as 60db!That makes a MUCH bigger difference than a few db of noise in the bass.

 

[MagusG]

I archive rips in FLAC format to DVD-R. I keep copies on my computer in ogg vorbis q5-7(depending on the quality of the source format) for general use. I've recently amassed a lot more music and don't have enough space to keep the FLAC files on my harddrive.
-Mag

 

[Helter Skelter]

These days I rip to FLAC (using EAC) almost exclusively. I convert from that to Ogg at q7 for use on my laptop and Karma.

 

[james__bean]

Hard drives are cheap, just keep everything in FLAC

I have about 1500 FLAC songs now after I decided back in late April to start ripping everything to FLAC. I still have tons to rip, but its coming along nicely. I'm at something like 100GB of music and about 45 GB of space left on my current drive. I also have another 250 GB Maxtor waiting in the wings when I fill this one.

 

[saturnine]

Mine is 50% FLAC, 50% 320kbps MP3. A lot of my favorite music isnt worthy of FLAC, like NMH, early Smashing Pumpkins, Iron and Wine, etc.

 

[cheechoz]

I used to worry that my MP3's could never sound like the original, so I started encoding in 320kbs, then I found Übernet.org. Now all my CD's are ripped in Lame vbr, and all the music I get is the same. I can't be any happier.

 

[MagusG]

Quote:

Hard drives are cheap

Yeah, and I'm to broke to afford even cheap at the moment. Ideally I'd keep it all in FLAC locally, but since I'm running out of space due to the wonderful invention known as azureus and btmusic.org I have been forced to compromise. In due time, my FLAC only library shall return.

Quote:

A lot of my favorite music isnt worthy of FLAC, like NMH

Heh, I have In the Aeroplane Over the Sea in FLAC format. How pointless? It's not my rip though.

-Mag

 

[Filburt]

Regarding this - http://forum.cakewalk.com/tm.asp?m=4...ey=ogg&#455053

It looks like he took white noise and ran it through a comb filter. The peaks don't represent "frequency response." The peaks represent peak amplitude at each frequency, and the troughs show those frequencies which were cut which, I guess, will tell you the floor (which he set at -120db in this case).

Admittedly, it's been a few years since I dealt with perceptual codecs, so I'm a bit rusty on some stuff. However, as far as I can tell, these charts really aren't particularly useful in telling you what the subjective quality achieved will be with each codec. The noise introduced is by the codec itself during the process of removing information. However, the noise is shaped and masked to make it _inaudible_. This isn't a measurement of SNR; it's just showing differences in what each codec's psy model determines is audible. It's totally unsurprising that MPC, for instance, threw out so much since, ultimately, that information is inaudible since it is masked. Yes, before someone asks, I *am* a big fan of MPC. In subjective ABX listening tests for me (and many others), anyhow, it remains the best at high bitrates (~200+) amongst lossy codecs in terms of subjective quality.

Regarding his AAC "results", if I were to guess, I'd say all that happened with the high bitrate AAC samples he had was that those profiles probably tell the codec to drop the threshold in quiet to the floor (so -120db in this case) and drop the masking threshold as well (thereby keeping information that may have otherwise been detected as masked). That doesn't necessarily translate to higher subjective quality. In fact, it may actually sound worse since there are bits being wasted on what is very likely totally inaudible instead of going towards what is.

In other words, don't base your codec selection on that page.

 

[TheChemist]

I rip in --alt-preset extreme with EAC/LAME 3.90.1 (surprise!). My main source of music, eMusic, provides .mp3 in 192kbps VBR. But I've had different standards throughout my digital music years. I'd guess about 25/3200 tracks are below 192kbps, and about 500/3200 are 320kbps/FLAC. Most fall in the 192kbps are APS range. ALL .mp3, I wouldn't have it any other way. =)

 

[msflsim]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Filburt Regarding his AAC "results", if I were to guess, I'd say all that happened with the high bitrate AAC samples he had was that those profiles probably tell the codec to drop the threshold in quiet to the floor (so -120db in this case) and drop the masking threshold as well (thereby keeping information that may have otherwise been detected as masked). That doesn't necessarily translate to higher subjective quality. In fact, it may actually sound worse since there are bits being wasted on what is very likely totally inaudible instead of going towards what is. In other words, don't base your codec selection on that page.

How does FLAC compare to MPC?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Helter Skelter These days I rip to FLAC (using EAC) almost exclusively. I convert from that to Ogg at q7 for use on my laptop and Karma.

How do i rip files in FLAC?

I dont know if i got this right (if im wrong please correct me)
If u have a vbr file, can u decompress it using for example winamp's diskwriter plugin and then recode it in a better format? Or is everything lost and u have to get the original CD and rip at the desired quality?

 

[Alu]

I only rip to flac (as seen here ) using EAC and my plextor (shows off)...well it's not ultraplex anyways.

EDIT: In order to rip to flac , you should use EAC , and a guide...I personally started out with this one. There are many other good ones out too though, you might want to check out google, as many guides are better than one.

 

[Enverxis]

i just use FLAC Medium Compression on dBpowerAmp.

checks out with whatever that website is.

 

[Skylab]

Quote:

Originally Posted by james__bean Hard drives are cheap, just keep everything in FLAC I have about 1500 FLAC songs now after I decided back in late April to start ripping everything to FLAC. I still have tons to rip, but its coming along nicely. I'm at something like 100GB of music and about 45 GB of space left on my current drive. I also have another 250 GB Maxtor waiting in the wings when I fill this one.

Yeah, I bought a 300GB USB HD just for music so I could keep stuff in FLAC or Apple Lossless. Was only $249.

 

[msflsim]

This whole 'music' and 'quality' thing is getting deeper and deeper (for my wallet) the more i learn and read..
It turns out that not only i need to fix and re-rip my library but also my soundcard setup is totally wrong on my PC...
No wonder everything sounds crap from my pc, totally different story on my portable rig..

So now i am looking to buy a new soundcard and from what i have been reading a lot of ppl are using a DAC as well..Can someone please clarify that term so that i can decide if i really need it or not..?

I know that i need a better soundcard to start with..

crap..always more, better..humans are really hard to please beings!!

 

[CSMR]

You also need to learn and read about copyright issues it seems.