Question about kbps

[Get It Off Ya Chest]

gonna look like a real technophobe, but here goes - when songs are wanted in CDQ, it's generally 320kbps it comes in, so why is that i've uploaded songs direct from a CD i've bought and the kbps can be all different levels, even as low as 64?

also, how come WAV files can be up at 1411kbps, if CDQ is 320kbps?

[Will_B]

MP3 is a 'lossy' compression which means the smaller the kbps the worse the file will sound.

320kbps is a good compromise to lossy encoding as you ensure the file sounds pretty much unnoticeably changed from real uncompressed CD audio.

Wav is lossless so it'll sound as great as a CD but something like 4x the file size of a 320kbps mp3, and not all portable players can decode Wav's anyway.

As a rule a file needs to be at lease 256kbps to sound close to real 'CDQ' but more complex audio (say Classical music or Jazz) needs a higher rate than 256 or it distorts, so 320kbps is a good way to ensure some of your tracks wont playback badly.

I actually have 2 settings for my shit. I encode at 320bps mp3 for important stuff, and 160kbps VBR AAC for things I want on my laptop but wont be bumping etc.

[Get It Off Ya Chest]

thanks for that. how do you encode songs, like you said in your last line?

[Will_B]

Itunes as I have a Mac and it's so simple.

You can easily change from mp3 to other formats in the preferences and it remembers your settings for each file type.

[Get It Off Ya Chest]

thanks man, owe you big time

[Matty]

i've started using VBR V0 for most MP3 encodes now. i've read in some places that it can even give better results than 320 CBR depending on the music and encoder. but at the least it's pretty much identical quality and lot more efficient (smaller file sizes).

[Will_B]

On my headphones 320 CBR mp3 sounds cleaner when compared to VBR files. VBR mp3 files sound a bit like when a file is compressed twice - a sort of reverb in the playback like a very slight (almost unnoticeable) echo.

[Matty]

On my headphones 320 CBR mp3 sounds cleaner when compared to VBR files. VBR mp3 files sound a bit like when a file is compressed twice - a sort of reverb in the playback like a very slight (almost unnoticeable) echo.

that's weird...have you tried V0 quality encodes with the very latest version of LAME? the version of LAME is quite important as VBR has only been fully perfected in some of the more recent ones.

[Will_B]

Sure got an open source encoder that does the latest build. Will give it another go. There's no escaping you that you need to devote bit-depth to your music if you want it to tickle your ears nicely though:)

[Will_B]

MP3 is a 'lossy' compression which means the smaller the kbps the worse the file will sound.

320kbps is a good compromise to lossy encoding as you ensure the file sounds pretty much unnoticeably changed from real uncompressed CD audio.

Wav is lossless so it'll sound as great as a CD but something like 4x the file size of a 320kbps mp3, and not all portable players can decode Wav's anyway.

As a rule a file needs to be at lease 256kbps to sound close to real 'CDQ' but more complex audio (say Classical music or Jazz) needs a higher rate than 256 or it distorts, so 320kbps is a good way to ensure some of your tracks wont playback badly.

I actually have 2 settings for my shit. I encode at 320bps mp3 for important stuff, and 160kbps VBR AAC for things I want on my laptop but wont be bumping etc.

That post was just so sexy