trip_likeido
Grimm .. you're f*cking awesome when it comes this stuff !!!!
I did a forum search on MP3 formats and compression, which didn't give me much results .... I use CDEX to rip my mp3's ... what option will give me the most optimum quality .. I have hear VBR gives you the best sound quality ..... if so,
Which VBR method should be used .. (New ? default ? ...)
What should I set the Max/Min Bitrate at ?
Which VRR quality should be set (1, 2 3, ... 10 ?)
Thanks !!!
I did a forum search on MP3 formats and compression, which didn't give me much results .... I use CDEX to rip my mp3's ... what option will give me the most optimum quality .. I have hear VBR gives you the best sound quality ..... if so,
Which VBR method should be used .. (New ? default ? ...)
What should I set the Max/Min Bitrate at ?
Which VRR quality should be set (1, 2 3, ... 10 ?)
Thanks !!!
geposted Wed 11 Dec 02 @ 2:42 am
dimitris_tsanak
Ohh its a little bit long story i will try to short it out.
Vb in around 60% gives you the result of 160kbs in quality
vb in around 90-100% gives you the quality of 320kbps with less space because he use only the bitrate that needs the part of the song.That means if in one part of the song has bitrate 90kbps he writes you only that and not more than that it needs.In this way it minimize the mb of the song.But offcourse there is a cach in that story.When you play a song that it is on vb the program that you use for playing back the song uses more of your cpu (to play it ) and Ram-memory (for buffering play) So if you have a weak pc i suggest you to play only 192+ songs only to have better results.If you need some more informations about it ask me :)
p.s. you cannot have better sound quality in mp3 form from 320kbps.So if you search for the best just make your mp3s 320kbps.
Vb in around 60% gives you the result of 160kbs in quality
vb in around 90-100% gives you the quality of 320kbps with less space because he use only the bitrate that needs the part of the song.That means if in one part of the song has bitrate 90kbps he writes you only that and not more than that it needs.In this way it minimize the mb of the song.But offcourse there is a cach in that story.When you play a song that it is on vb the program that you use for playing back the song uses more of your cpu (to play it ) and Ram-memory (for buffering play) So if you have a weak pc i suggest you to play only 192+ songs only to have better results.If you need some more informations about it ask me :)
p.s. you cannot have better sound quality in mp3 form from 320kbps.So if you search for the best just make your mp3s 320kbps.
geposted Wed 11 Dec 02 @ 7:17 pm
Grimm
The best method to make VBR files is to do them one by one (if you have the time). I use Lame with the RazorLame frontend. You can specify just how high you will allow a frame to be, and how low. So you can set a file to use no more then 160Kbps, and no less then 96Kbps. But theres more to it if your looking for quality.
When I make a VBR file, I can actually see through a bar graph in RazorLame just how many frames are being compressed at XXX-Kbps. If I set a file for 96Kbps to 160Kbps, and I notice that most of the frames are coming out around 144, and 160Kbps, then the audio has too much information for that bitrate to reproduce properly. So I would need to raise the maximum to 192, or 224 Kbps. But I usually tend to encode VBR files using 96Kbps min, and 192Kbps max. Thats usually enough for any file. You'll get near 192Kbps quality, at usually less then 160Kbps file size.
Just grab a copy of Lame, and RazorLame and play with the VBR options. When you actually encode the file, press the Histogram button and watch the bar graphs. You'll see exactly what I mean by how many frame get encoded at XXX-Kbps.
Grimm
When I make a VBR file, I can actually see through a bar graph in RazorLame just how many frames are being compressed at XXX-Kbps. If I set a file for 96Kbps to 160Kbps, and I notice that most of the frames are coming out around 144, and 160Kbps, then the audio has too much information for that bitrate to reproduce properly. So I would need to raise the maximum to 192, or 224 Kbps. But I usually tend to encode VBR files using 96Kbps min, and 192Kbps max. Thats usually enough for any file. You'll get near 192Kbps quality, at usually less then 160Kbps file size.
Just grab a copy of Lame, and RazorLame and play with the VBR options. When you actually encode the file, press the Histogram button and watch the bar graphs. You'll see exactly what I mean by how many frame get encoded at XXX-Kbps.
Grimm
geposted Wed 11 Dec 02 @ 8:18 pm
Grimm
BTW, I just noticed you asked about VRR. If thats anything like the Q (Quality Level) option in Lame, then you'll want to set it to the lowest number (or maybe highest, I never used CDEX). This tends to make larger files because the encoder is throwing away less audio information and uses the higher bitrates. In Lame, a Q level of 0 would give the highest quality it can encode at the bitrate. A Q level of 9 would give quality equal to about 1-2 bitrates lower then what its actually using. Example, a frame encoded @ 160Kbps with a Q level of 9, would sound more like a frame encoded @ 128Kbps, a waste of space. Q Level also affects what frequencies get more "attention", so with the lowest Q setting you will probably get more audio artifacts in the high frequency ranges, such as the tin can sound you would get when using low bit rates.
I dunno what you mean by VBR method. Thats new to me. The only other options I know of is Normal Stereo (aka Simple Stereo, aka Forced Stereo), Joint Stereo, Forced Joint Stereo, and Mono. Joint Stereo (NOT Forced Joint Stereo) would be the best option. Normal Stereo would be left for when encoding CBR files 192Kbps and higher.
I'll see if I can check out the manual for CDEX and see what information it gives on the mp3 encoding options.
Grimm
I dunno what you mean by VBR method. Thats new to me. The only other options I know of is Normal Stereo (aka Simple Stereo, aka Forced Stereo), Joint Stereo, Forced Joint Stereo, and Mono. Joint Stereo (NOT Forced Joint Stereo) would be the best option. Normal Stereo would be left for when encoding CBR files 192Kbps and higher.
I'll see if I can check out the manual for CDEX and see what information it gives on the mp3 encoding options.
Grimm
geposted Wed 11 Dec 02 @ 8:29 pm
trip_likeido
I just thought I'd bring this up again just so other people can become educated. EAC is way too confusing to use, even for the above average user. There are about 4,593,518 options in which I have never heard of. I don't even know how to set a VBR.
CDEX is a lite, yet powerful program to use. It use the LAME codec. I just wish I knew what those VBR methods meant.
BTW: I see that you encode at Minimum VBR at 96 Kpbs ... shouldn't you set it higher than 96 ?
(Man I love talking about this stuff)
CDEX is a lite, yet powerful program to use. It use the LAME codec. I just wish I knew what those VBR methods meant.
BTW: I see that you encode at Minimum VBR at 96 Kpbs ... shouldn't you set it higher than 96 ?
(Man I love talking about this stuff)
geposted Tue 28 Jan 03 @ 4:05 am
Grimm
You could set it higher, but every now and then I encode a song with a very easy section (little to no sound) which doesn't need anything more then 96kbps to encode at. It wont be a huge size difference in files, but if I'm encoding a VBR file, I'm doing it mainly to keep the file size low without sacrificing quality, so every small frame helps.
Grimm
Grimm
geposted Wed 29 Jan 03 @ 2:30 am
jackcu
Grimm's thread regarding graphs and sound quality got me thinking. I've just downloaded Lame 3.93 and have encoded a few files from the command line.
The switch "--r3mix" gives fantastic results. It is a kind of batch standard which sets lots of parameters at the same time - it gives VBR up to 320Kbps and does what the others say - uses higher rates as the piece of music demands it. The command line interface aslo gives you a little histogram similar to the one Grimm mentions in Razorlame.
I'm going to play with this one for a while and make some comparisons by ear on my monitors and also using a spectrum analyser.
I may have to take back what I said about MP3's elsewhere LOL.
Cheers,
Jack.
The switch "--r3mix" gives fantastic results. It is a kind of batch standard which sets lots of parameters at the same time - it gives VBR up to 320Kbps and does what the others say - uses higher rates as the piece of music demands it. The command line interface aslo gives you a little histogram similar to the one Grimm mentions in Razorlame.
I'm going to play with this one for a while and make some comparisons by ear on my monitors and also using a spectrum analyser.
I may have to take back what I said about MP3's elsewhere LOL.
Cheers,
Jack.
geposted Wed 29 Jan 03 @ 4:15 pm