This Maximum PC article gets a lot of attention on the net, though they're doing 160 vs 192 and 320 vs uncompressed. There's been a few magazine attempts at uncovering codec and sample rate differences. There are other double blind approaches, see this article for details. This kind of test is a little better than an "assign the bitrate to a sample" type test because the listener can't guess their way through it with any accuracy and skew the results.
So A might be 192 kbps and B might be 320 kbps and the listener has to decide whether X is from the 192 or 320 kbps encoded track. The ABX type test seems to be popular for bitrate comparisons: you listen to sample A and then B and then X and decide which of A or B sample X is from. In this case you could have some one listen to samples of music and have them guess the bitrate of the samples. Empirical tests such as waveform analysis will most definitely show differences in the output, but that doesn't mean the differences are audible. when the input files are on a CD or read-only drive).If you're after audible differences the only test you can use is a double blind test. The output folder is still left configurable even with that option selected, because it might not be possible to use the input file folder (e.g. If checked, it will ignore the output folder configured below it and put the converted files in the same folder as the original files (or possibly in a sub-folder according to the output filename pattern setting). The "Use input file folder" option should work. Or click the drop down arrow next to the output folder field to open a list of the 5 most recently used folders. Just click Select ( Wählen) to open the folder selection dialog. indistiguishable from the original) to you and use that bitrate.Īs for the output folder, you can change it directly at the bottom of the main window. Then decide at what point it sounds transparent (i.e. Encode some MP3s at different bitrates ranging from maybe 160 to 320 kbps and listen to them. I'd recommend you make your own listening experiments, though. That way you can always make new MP3s at different bitrates or switch to a different lossy codec if needed, without having to pull out the CDs again.īy the way, if you are more comfortable with English, you can set the language on the Sprache page of the configuration dialog.īasically yes, 192 kbps should be enough in most cases. However, I'd recommend converting your CDs to lossless FLAC or ALAC files in addition to MP3. so I don't usually go higher than that with MP3. Regarding your second question, for me personally, 192 kbps is enough to not be able to discern a difference to the original audio. ABR should be able to provide slightly better quality than CBR at the same file size as it can vary the actually used bitrate as needed when encoding simpler or more complex sections of audio. The difference is that ABR will use a variable bitrate algorithm and try to closely match the set target bitrate while CBR will simply apply the configured bitrate to all frames.
Then, to set a fixed bitrate, select CBR mode and a bitrate slider will appear on the right.Īlternatively, you can choose ABR mode and set a target bitrate. In the LAME configuration dialog, select Custom settings ( Eigene Einstellungen) from the drop down box. To open the LAME configuration dialog, select Options->General settings ( Optionen->Allgemeine Einstellungen) from the menu, make sure LAME is selected as the encoder and click Configure encoder ( Kodierer konfigurieren).
Thank you for your questions and for choosing fre:ac!