At what bitrate must I encode my music

[enwar3]

Seems to me bitrate would make a bigger deal than the quality of speakers these days. Or would it? I can normally tell the difference between 192 and 320 on SOME songs on headphones, but most people say speakers aren't as nuanced as headphones.

 

[Slick5150]

Just use the LAME VBR method. About as close to CD quality as MP3 gets.

 

[montypythizzle]

I can almost every time tell the differences in bitrates using my DT770s. 128 is almost unbearable..
TBH I would use the highest available to you. FLAC if you have the space.

 

[PurdueRy]

I can tell the difference up until 320 Kbps MP3 vs. Anything higher. I simply rip to flac for transcoding convenience and backup capability.

 

[pennylane]

My ears aren't that great. I can't tell past 192. I listen to mp3's at --alt preset standard on the iPod. I rip to FLAC for home use.

The difference between a poor quality mp3 and a high quality mp3 is different from the difference between good speakers and bad speakers. I mean, they're different qualities.

I'd just rip to FLAC. If you have a lossless copy, you don't have to worry about "what ifs", and practically speaking, you don't have to rip your music again. You can just encode it to a lossy codec from the lossless one.

 

[enwar3]

But FLAC takes up so much space =D

I have 60 gigs on my laptop.

 

[Shawn]

192 is good enough for me but I usually use -alt preset standard

 

[newnameman]

FLAC FTW

 

[alcoholbob]

Combination of how much you care and have resolving your speakers are. If I'm ripping it's always Flac. It would be nice if online retailers sold lossless audio but 320kbps is acceptable for me (it's all psychological) if I'm desperate and don't want to pay $50-100 for an import cd.

As far as headphones vs speakers, headphones are nice and isolated, speakers have to deal with ambient noise which you either have to deal with or fix it (like building a super silent pc and then shoving it into the closet).

I do agree that headphones are usually better sounding than speakers, you have to goto $400+ price range before they start to even out.

 

[DaveSimmons]

FLAC for home use, 192 kbps LAME or 160 kbps AAC (iPod) for portable use.

"Space is cheap, lossless is forever" or something pretentious like that

 

[GoodToGo]

VBR FTW!

 

[mshan]

My impression is that all of the differing codecs and even bit rates sound ever so slightly different (presumably because they are not lossless and are transcoding from one format to another, so I would say just take some tracks you enjoy, encode at several different test bit rates, put them all on your intended audio gear, listen to the songs over time and see if any particular tracks stand out as particularly good or particularly bad.

Obviously, either keep the original cds or at least a lossless format company if your equipment or listening preferences change over time.

 

[Oyeve]

Originally posted by: GoodToGo
VBR FTW!

I concur!

 

[themisfit610]

Buy a drive and an external enclosure. Rip all your CDs to FLAC, and then encode those FLACs to MP3s. Put the MP3s on your laptop / player. Keep the FLACs "just in case" some of the albums don't sound up to par.

Alternatively LC-AAC is very good at higher bitrates.

~MiSfit

 

[Excelsior]

Yesp. Rip to FLAC, then encode to VBR MP3 as necessary. Works wonderfully for me.

 

[Baked]

EAC + LAME @ 192 VBR. Ripping to FLAC is retarded, you have the CD already, why don't you just play the damn CD instead of copying the CD to your HD, which is what you're doing w/ FLAC.

 

[PurdueRy]

Originally posted by: Baked
EAC + LAME @ 192 VBR. Ripping to FLAC is retarded, you have the CD already, why don't you just play the damn CD instead of copying the CD to your HD, which is what you're doing w/ FLAC.

Because pulling out a CD to listen to one song is retarded?

 

[themisfit610]

Um.. seriously!

Why rip at all in that case?

Plus - CD's get scratched etc...

FLAC FTW

 

[pennylane]

Originally posted by: PurdueRy

Originally posted by: Baked
EAC + LAME @ 192 VBR. Ripping to FLAC is retarded, you have the CD already, why don't you just play the damn CD instead of copying the CD to your HD, which is what you're doing w/ FLAC.

Because pulling out a CD to listen to one song is retarded?

And searching through hundreds of CD's to find the one you're looking for is a pain.