Re: my tests of MP3 performance

Doug McDonald wrote:


I am impressed with the progress. I think that VBR in the 192
to 224 kbps range would suffice nicely even out to 19
kHz even for picky yound people, and that you don't need
even 192 for true, unequivocal FM quality.
I would think so.

I use 192k CBR for my car stereo, (as it seems to get a little confused by VBR). On a my car stereo I can not recognise any difference between 192k CBR, and actual uncompressed CDs.

I never actually got around to trying 192k LAME on my hi-fi. I do have some 192k files that I downloaded off of the web, and those do sound slightly below CD quality on my hi-fi, but certainly adequate. I don't know what the quality of the encoding is on these files, but it does at least show that 192k CBR is capable of good results. I would expect VBR of a similar bit rate to perform even better, plus the latest LAME encoder might perform even better.


I've settled on VBR 3 for my iPod, which gives, as I said, 145-175
kbps for most music and essentially perfect quality for me.

Well I actually settled for VBR 6 for my mp3 player, which is even lower quality than VBR 3. However since mine only holds 256Meg that has rather biased my choice towards the low side, so that I can get a good quantity of music. (I get about 4 CDs worth into 256Meg using VBR 6). VBR 6 usually sound just fine when walking along with headphones.

I do however notice a few strange noises on some tracks when encoded with VBR 6. Whether or not these are compression artefacts, or faults on the original CDs I'm not sure. The most obvious example is that I get a subtle high pitched tone coming and going at the end of "Bridge Over Troubled Water"

I would expect VBR 3 to sound very good.

Oh I still however think there is little point in subtracting the original from the encoded audio, except perhaps to teach you what to listen for when judging the quality of the encoded files. Subtracting the original takes no account of the masking properties that are very important in codecs such as mp3.

Richard E.
.

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