[Kryogen]

Okay, I know you will tell me there's never one, BUT, knowing that on a killer system 94% of the guys couldn'T tell the difference between 256 kbps mp3 and the cd, that's pretty damn close.

128 is okay, but with good headphones, you really hear that it sucks. I think that 192 really rocks, and I really notice little difference with 256. 320 makes no difference that I can hear.

So what should my mp3'S be? 192 or 256? Anyone did testing? And 320 is just too large files for no improvement, unless you play em right on an amp with a digital in or whatever, but with a SB Live!, you cant tell the difference.

 

[Mr.PD]

Actually I have noticed that it really depends on the music. Some 60's rock n roll sounds like the original CD at a 160 bitrate. If you try that same 160 bitrate with something from Buckcherry it will sound flat and lifeless. That is why I have switched to VBR. I also read somewhere that a constant bitrate doesn't always sound the best because some parts of the music need more space than others.
Here is an example, I recorded all my AC/DC using Exact Audio Copier then encoding to MP3 with LAME set at r3mix ( I think that was the setting) VBR. The song High Voltage came out with an average of 164 kbs while the song Stiff Upper Lip is 217 kbs. I have seen the bitrate go over 300 in some sections of a song, while other sections will be less than 100. I am sold on VBR. I use Musicmatch a lot and have been using that encoder latley set to VBR 86%. This setting seems quite close to the original, and my files aren't too huge. I will admit that Musicmatch before version 6.5 did not do a good job at encoding VBR. I recomend that you update to the latest version.

 

[Polygon]

It also depends on the encoder you are using. I encode all of my Mp3s at 128kbits and they sound perfectly fine to me. I have also noticed that as well Mr.PD. Different music can sound different at different bit rates, also I have had some digitally remastered CDs sound like crap no matter how high I encoded them or what encoder I used.

 

[DeanA]

Quote:

Originally posted by Polygon I have had some digitally remastered CDs sound like crap no matter how high I encoded them or what encoder I used.

I have some that sound like crap on the CD player as well.