Ableton Forum

locojohn wrote:

evernaut wrote:AAC all the way...I hear a big difference. And, yeah, itunes does a nice job.

A big difference? C'mon, it's either psychological imagination, or improper encoder/codec, or the settings, really!

-andrejs

I compared an mp3 with an AAC file both at 192 recently, through the same system, both encoded with Itunes and the difference was enormous.

This is, of course, a subjective appraisal...but have you tried it?

evernaut wrote:

locojohn wrote:

evernaut wrote:AAC all the way...I hear a big difference. And, yeah, itunes does a nice job.

A big difference? C'mon, it's either psychological imagination, or improper encoder/codec, or the settings, really!

-andrejs

I compared an mp3 with an AAC file both at 192 recently, through the same system, both encoded with Itunes and the difference was enormous.

This is, of course, a subjective appraisal...but have you tried it?

+1

evernaut wrote:

locojohn wrote:

evernaut wrote:AAC all the way...I hear a big difference. And, yeah, itunes does a nice job.

A big difference? C'mon, it's either psychological imagination, or improper encoder/codec, or the settings, really!

-andrejs

I compared an mp3 with an AAC file both at 192 recently, through the same system, both encoded with Itunes and the difference was enormous.

This is, of course, a subjective appraisal...but have you tried it?

Yes, I have! When I was interested in this subject I have checked plenty of orchestral/choir reference material in both 48khz/24-bit WAV and VBR quality MP3 files encoded with lame, then I carefully A/B'd the output of WAV's and MP3's both on my monitor system and through my three pair of studio phones (Grace m902B, Ultrasone PROline 750's, AKG K-400's, Audiotechnica M50). And then came the delight

$ lame --alt-preset standard --vbr-new -q 0 source.wav dest.mp3

I bet you won't notice a difference, and if you do, then it's your brain telling you - the difference just has to be there!

On a paranoidal side of things, you can also try:

$ lame --alt-preset insane -q 0 source.wav. dest.mp3

I have, since then, formed my opinion about quality differences and nothing made me reconsider through these couple of years.

Try it. Of course you need to have lame installed and you should be able to call it from command line. (Mac/Windows/Linux etc.)

Andrejs

Dunno how easy it is to come by on a Mac but cdparanoia combined with Lame is what I use on my Linux box. With a custom script you can stick in a CD and rip/encode in one fell swoop.

Extending from the ripping/encoding side of things - anyone got a recommendation for a good tagger? I'm still using Tag&Rename on Windows as I haven't found anything decent for OS X. I see the guy who does Max also does a program called Tag, but it doesn't seem to pull tag data from FreeDB or Amazon the way Tag&Rename does.

locojohn wrote:
Yes, I have! When I was interested in this subject I have checked plenty of orchestral/choir reference material in both 48khz/24-bit WAV and VBR quality MP3 files encoded with lame, then I carefully A/B'd the output of WAV's and MP3's both on my monitor system and through my three pair of studio phones

Sorry, but if you admit to being unable to appreciate the difference between a VBR MP3 and a 24 bit wave file at 48kHz then there's nothing more to be said.

To the AAC vs. MP3 (vs. WAV?) question, I am currently creating a blind test. It'll be online within the hour.

the main problem with mp3s you hear best on very powerfull club PAs, the bass does sound hollow. it's never really rich and dry / punchy.

at home i don't mind, but playing on fat PAs i get annoyed, and yes i do play and have a hell lot mp3s, but try more and more to avoid them because it sucks when i DJ.

evernaut wrote:Sorry, but if you admit to being unable to appreciate the difference between a VBR MP3 and a 24 bit wave file at 48kHz then there's nothing more to be said.

MP3 created with what in your case? Why? This discussion is interesting, but only to some extent. Indeed, I have nothing more to say on this subject than what I have already stated.

Andrejs

use Max and encode in FLAC, rerip into mp3/acc for you ipood