VBR mp3 questions....
Dec 31, 2016 at 1:28 PM Thread Starter Post #1 of 7

fourrobert13

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Over the years I've bought a lot of music either in physical form or digital downloads. I've never really noticed any quality differences among mp3s I've bought from various sources until recently when I started buying better quality source and IEMs. I literally could care less about the bit rates so I just bought whatever I wanted from whoever had it the cheapest.

Anyway, what I'm getting at is I'm noticing the quality of some of my VBR mp3s is not to good and I'm hearing this poor quality when using my FiiO X5II. I bought some albums from a legit source (emusic.com) last year. When I checked the bit rate with WMP and foobar2000, the highest bit rate is 189. I'm hearing either distortion or the compression through my EX1. I'm confused by this because I never noticed this with previous setups. To test this, I bought 320 bit rate mp3 of the same album and that distortion or compression noise was not there. Now with a couple others I tested the noise was still there, but I'm attributing it to the poor production because some of these albums are from the early 1980's and it's heavy and thrash metal.

I don't think I'm imagining this because I never noticed it until a few months ago after I got my current setup. Anyone have any insight or should i just chalk it up to the mp3 compression?

I mostly buy flac or physical CDs and then rip to flac and then convert to 320 CBR for the past couple years, but still buy mp3s, but now I'm concerned to buy VBR due to what im hearing.

Your thoughts?

Thanks
 
Dec 31, 2016 at 8:50 PM Post #2 of 7
According to eMusic's site:
 
http://www.emusic.com/info/help/technical-issues/#q8

Q: What is a bitrate? At what bitrate are eMusic’s MP3s encoded at?

A: Bitrate is the number of bits per second used in the encoding process. A higher bitrate (a.k.a encoding rate) usually means a larger size file and higher quality sound. eMusic utilizes LAME encoder, version 3.98.2 at VBR (Variable Bit Rate), alt preset extreme. VBR preset extreme uses an average bit rate of 256kbps, which offers quality comparable to 320 CBR (Constant Bit Rate). Older tracks are encoded at VBR standard (averaging around 192kbps) and you may find a few legacy files encoded at 128kps, these tracks are clearly marked.

VBR audio compression encodes complex sections of a track at higher rates while simpler portions are encoded at lower rates. Constant bit rate encoding uses a fixed rate. VBR offers the best possible sound quality with the smallest possible file size.

 
It is more than likely that you are hearing artifacts due to the lower quality encoding that are averaging 192kbps.  That level of quality is typically very good and indistinguishable from Red Book for a lot of music in many environments to most people, but it is not perfect and you are probably hearing the limitations of such an aggressive compression technique.
 
Dec 31, 2016 at 9:35 PM Post #3 of 7
Your thoughts?

 
It's not just the bitrate -- the software used and method used matters, too, as these can effect the particular optimization choices.
 
I would never pay for an MP3, but if I did, I'd want to make sure it was made using LAME V0.
 
Dec 31, 2016 at 11:44 PM Post #4 of 7
an idea if you have the same mp3 in 320kbps would be make a copy converted to the same lower VBR and check if the same noise is manifesting.
 
you could also check on other sources. unlikely cause, but I had mp3 troubles on my fiio X3 first version and some of the oldest firmwares (they solved that later on with so many other stuff). not to say FIIO will mess up mp3 playback, only that it's been done before so you could test for that with other sources and be sure it's the file or the encoding and not the source.
 
but as said above, if if I was to pay for mp3 files, I would want them to be high rate VBR or CBR. if I can't get that much, then I'll get the CD and convert myself. 
 
Jan 1, 2017 at 8:07 AM Post #5 of 7
It's not just the bitrate -- the software used and method used matters, too, as these can effect the particular optimization choices.

I would never pay for an MP3, but if I did, I'd want to make sure it was made using LAME V0.

Back in the day I just wanted music. Now I'm more selective in what I buy and convert it myself rather than buy an mp3.
 
Jan 1, 2017 at 8:11 AM Post #6 of 7
an idea if you have the same mp3 in 320kbps would be make a copy converted to the same lower VBR and check if the same noise is manifesting.

you could also check on other sources. unlikely cause, but I had mp3 troubles on my fiio X3 first version and some of the oldest firmwares (they solved that later on with so many other stuff). not to say FIIO will mess up mp3 playback, only that it's been done before so you could test for that with other sources and be sure it's the file or the encoding and not the source.

but as said above, if if I was to pay for mp3 files, I would want them to be high rate VBR or CBR. if I can't get that much, then I'll get the CD and convert myself. 

I've done this with a few of them. The only ones that really didn't improve were two early Venom albums, but the production is terrible on these already IMO and they sound the same whether VBR, CBR, or flac. The other few I tried the sound improved and was much cleaner around the edges where I was hearing the distortion or compression.
 
Jan 1, 2017 at 2:27 PM Post #7 of 7
well that's kind of the best outcome for you, the proper file sounds better. I hate it when I wonder about that(I mess around too much with my mp3 versions and don't always keep track of what I did to them), so something doesn't sound right, I go get my flac archive just to realize the recording itself is audibly clipped and poorly recorded.
frown.gif
 
 

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