Best audio Encoder/Bit Rate settings for...

[Trigger89]

I have a Sony Ericsson XPERIA X8 and I play music on it all the time, while I'm travelling, working, exercising etc. Tonight I was looking to rip some CD's to my iTunes so I can later transfer them to my XPERIA. What I wanna know is what is the best encoder and Bit Rate settings to use. I do prefer high quality songs and some albums on my phone are encoded at 320kbps. However the problem is I only have a 16GB memory card in my Xperia so all the albums/songs encoded at 320kbps are gonna take up more space. Can anyone recommend the best settings for high quality/low space songs. Thanks

[Nick The Slick]

Check this out. Most people that are serious about ripping to MP3 while maintaining a good quality/size ratio use EAC + the Lame encoder. I've done it before myself and the results are very acceptable (not FLAC quality of course, but that's irrelevant in this situation). Hope this helps.

[Trigger89]

Thanks for the link but I'm still not sure what to do now as I came across this article not long ago:
http://ipod.about.com/od/introductio...mp3_choice.htm

It states that AAC format has smaller file sizes and has a higher quality sound than MP3. What do you think I should do.

[Nick The Slick]

To be perfectly honest with you I don't know. I've never done a direct comparison between AAC and MP3 as AAC isn't supported as widely as MP3 so I never thought to use it. Also I'm a bit of an Apple hater (not because they have bad products, because they don't, but for reasons I don't care to get into) so I've never ripped anything via iTunes, and most other programs I rip with default to MP3 (I strictly use FLAC now though so further reason why I haven't compared the two). A quick search brought up this website which better explains the reasons for differences in size/quality between the two. If the info in it is correct then personally I would go for the AAC.

Like I said, I only avoided it because of compatibility issues, but if your player supports it then I say go for it. I'm not familiar with ripping via iTunes or with AAC at all, but if it gives you an option of variable bitrate vs constant bitrate, select variable. This will ensure that the bitrate changes according to the information it's ripping (i.e. lots of info, higher bitrate, less info lower bitrate). This will allow the rip to retain as much quality as it can in the compressed format, while also ensuring it's not wasting space (i.e. smaller file size than constant bitrate).

[Trigger89]

Thanks for the helpful info . I've decided to rip my CD's using the AAC Encoder using the iTunes Plus setting. The quality will be 128 kbps (mono)/256 (stereo), 44.100 kHz, VBR.

[BozQ]

LAME mp3 encoder, VBR V2 quality is perceptually lossless to me.
If the playback device has problems playing VBR or ABR mp3, I would stick to 192kbps CBR.

AAC at 128kbps is about the quality of mp3 at 192kbps.
Then again, if I'm going to listen on my portable device with a pair of $20 earphones, mp3 at 128kbps while on the move is not going to matter too much to me anyway.

Back in the days when 256MB mp3 players were expensive, I was listening to my music at 112kbps mp3.

[serenity]

With iTunes I just use 320vbr aac. Very very very hard to hear the difference between CD at this point.

[Almadacr]

I use free MP3 Wma Coverter and rip my cd's to FLAC also to be use in ipod's or MP3 players i convert them at 320Kbps .

[pentatonic]

Originally Posted by DohertyMan

I have a Sony Ericsson XPERIA X8 and I play music on it all the time, while I'm travelling, working, exercising etc. Tonight I was looking to rip some CD's to my iTunes so I can later transfer them to my XPERIA. What I wanna know is what is the best encoder and Bit Rate settings to use. I do prefer high quality songs and some albums on my phone are encoded at 320kbps. However the problem is I only have a 16GB memory card in my Xperia so all the albums/songs encoded at 320kbps are gonna take up more space. Can anyone recommend the best settings for high quality/low space songs. Thanks

What are you using for headphones? If just standard buds 192 should suffice, and if your player accepts aac, it's somewhat more efficient than mp3, but might not be compatible with other players you might have or purchase down the road.

If using good phones, 320 will make a difference, but will also take up more space. But 16 GB is still big enough that you could just switch stuff around every once in a while.

I use 320 mp3 for my little Sony and am pleased, but FLAC for my pc setup. The debate will never end, but I do hear a difference (It just might be I have the gear to do so)

Edit: I use MediaMonkey Gold to convert, quite happy with it, for me, better than some others out there.

[Trigger89]

Originally Posted by pentatonic

What are you using for headphones? If just standard buds 192 should suffice, and if your player accepts aac, it's somewhat more efficient than mp3, but might not be compatible with other players you might have or purchase down the road.

If using good phones, 320 will make a difference, but will also take up more space. But 16 GB is still big enough that you could just switch stuff around every once in a while.

I'm using JVC HA-F140-WE In-Ear Gumy Headphones. Their very good offering good enough quality. Only paid a £5 for them as well.

[pentatonic]

Originally Posted by DohertyMan

I'm using JVC HA-F140-WE In-Ear Gumy Headphones. Their very good offering good enough quality. Only paid a £5 for them as well.

Ok then since you're not using 'higher-end' phones, what I suggest is to rip a few albums you know well in different formats and let your ears decide what is the best compromise for you. 128 might just be good enough for you and you can put a lot more then. Try a few out and you're the best judge

[vista-vision]

I'm uploading some music to the free utube music channel (usual utube account)

https://music.youtube.com/

you can upload max 300mb per track x100.000 tracks (free account)

i think that utube music converts any upload to the usual 130kb/s aac playback (for the free account ) but it sounds reasonable enough as background music) and its fun to have your personal music in the cloud and why not do it i see it as extra backup or an easy online catalog for your music

I did some audio tests last month and the uploads in opus420-460 and alacm4a audio at 24b/41000 sounds the most agreeable to me so i upload tracks twice in both formats (opus sounds more pleasant and smoother and alacm4a has a little more bite/detail to it on playback)

i just happen to use these programs to convert wav audio files or similar:

you can also upload in flac but that doesnt sound better to me after the utube encoder and you have that 300mb max limit per track and on 420 rate you can upload c.a. 1,5 hours per track (opus file)

when i convert to alacm4a i used mediamonkey (the free standard version https://www.mediamonkey.com/windows )
to convert to opus format i use aimp player.ru version5.0 it has also a build in converter ( https://www.aimp.ru/ ) select to the opus 420-460 level etc.

your uploaded utubemusic is only available through your own utube music acount not to others, i asume thats why the music rights etc. are not a real issue like on the normal utube

your personal music tracks on the utube music internet channel sits in: library-songs-utube music-select uploads

[vista-vision]

I have tested a bunch of free cd rippers for myself (judging the wav result by ear) , its always interesting that they all produce a slightly different sound flavor.

Especially if you do your classical cd's there is a noticeable difference between all programs when listening to the wav file (with trumpets and such instruments ) some produce more body and depth on it then others Anyway to my ears there are differences.

I did in the past a few cd's with EAC exact audio copy which is a ok result but i like this FRE:AC program too (gives me also the track names)

You might give it a try and see if you dont like the result better on fre:ac (or maybe converting to the other smaller formats on it)

free windows/linux program (it's also available from that general linux software library on a ubuntu pc etc)

https://www.freac.org/

the previous freac version 1.1.6 is better
https://github.com/enzo1982/freac/releases/tag/v1.1.6



( that freac email adres: cddb@freac.org for the auto cd titles also works on the EAC exact audio copy program

in EAC menu top left click eac-choose metadata info- and put on your emailadres location: cddb@freac.org and on second line freedbserver : http://gnudb.gnudb.org:80/~cddb/cddb.cgi )