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Best bit-rate for mp3 or best to get OGG or FLAC?

  • 03-05-2009 12:06am
    #1
    quarryman
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,496 ✭✭✭


    What bit rate in mp3 is indistinguishable from CD quality? Obviously 320kbps+. But is 256 enough. I'm considering getting some very good speakers and haven't the cash to go buy all the music I have in mp3 on CD again (CDs are lost or scratched).

    Or is lossless, FLAC and OGG the best way to go for a proper audio experience?


Comments

  • #2
    akaSol
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 717 ✭✭✭akaSol


    quarryman wrote: »
    What bit rate in mp3 is indistinguishable from CD quality? Obviously 320kbps+. But is 256 enough. I'm considering getting some very good speakers and haven't the cash to go buy all the music I have in mp3 on CD again (CDs are lost or scratched).

    Or is lossless, FLAC and OGG the best way to go for a proper audio experience?
    SACD/HDCD is my preferred way to play back music.
    Unfortunately simply recoding MP3 to FLAC or OGG wont put back what's missing in the files.
    Flac would be my preferred way to digitize a disc however.

    >Sol
    PS if like read this disheartening bit of news.


  • #3
    Slaphead07
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,323 ✭✭✭Slaphead07


    quarryman wrote: »
    What bit rate in mp3 is indistinguishable from CD quality? Obviously 320kbps+. But is 256 enough. I'm considering getting some very good speakers and haven't the cash to go buy all the music I have in mp3 on CD again (CDs are lost or scratched).

    Or is lossless, FLAC and OGG the best way to go for a proper audio experience?

    Flac or WAV would be proper lossless but not every MP3 player can handle them. http://www.exactaudiocopy.de/ is easily the best program for ripping but there is a bit of a learning curve!

    The MP3s you have cannot be improved, to get lossless you need the CD as a source.

    Personally I'd regard 320kbs as an absolute minimum and really only suitable for the car or an MP3 player.


  • #4
    Slaphead07
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,323 ✭✭✭Slaphead07


    akaSol wrote: »
    >Sol
    PS if like read this disheartening bit of news.

    It might be disheartening but the article is also very ill-informed. Typical Indo puff-piece. Vinyl sales are on the rise while the CD single has been reduced to a tool for radio promotion.


  • #5
    cnocbui
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 20,231 ✭✭✭✭cnocbui


    You can't improve the MP3 files you already have, as has already been mentioned.

    If you do have access to CDs and want to rip them, then 192 kbps is indistinguishable from CD in most cases, in tests I have done, and 256 kbps and up is most certainly indistinguishable. If you are encoding from scratch, I would suggest using AAC instead of MP3.

    This site is an excellent place to for info on all matters related to music encoding: http://www.hydrogenaudio.org


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