mp3: Different codecs/params -> Quality

MikeEnRegalia wrote: ^ even the most basic computer CD-ROM drive has error correction/detection. You just need software which utilizes it for audio extraction (see the first post for an example).

then why is there  such a difference in practice between EAC and any other cdripper mentioned here, like CdEx or Easy...? (of course, i make the comparison having them properly set).

MikeEnRegalia wrote: andu wrote: MikeEnRegalia wrote: In fact most rippers make exact copies ... Windows Media Player, CDex, and many others. You just have to adjust the settings. yeah, they all say that... What I meant was that these rippers are all able to extract bit-exact copies of the audio on the disk. Of course in the next step they convert it - and depending on the codec you choose, it's either lossless or lossy.

i know this, but without an error correction many cds (sometimes even new ones) can not provide exact copies. you only get exact copies, reading errors included.


Edited by andu - December 05 2006 at 07:59

MikeEnRegalia wrote: In fact most rippers make exact copies ... Windows Media Player, CDex, and many others. You just have to adjust the settings.

yeah, they all say that...

anyway, i only use mp3 because of the mp3players... i wish there were OGGplayers or MusepackPlayers, but popularity brings the real bussiness so...

I just standardise on 256KBps for MP3. There's plenty of room on my Walkman (20GB)

I won't listen to files that are less than 160kbps. You can really hear the difference all the way up to 192. After that, you have to have pretty high quality stereo equipment to hear differences.

I will try it after...how do the file sizes compare to say ripping to Windows Lossless? I got two files 450mb each when I ripped the 2 CD "Stars Die" (PT) the other day...

^ I'm glad you like it. Of course the files are also much bigger ... but the storage capacity of the mp3 players is always increasing, so it shouldn't be much of a problem.

Can't think of any right now ... the best tip is to use a sane ripper program, either EAC or CDex. At least if you want to rip to mp3 it's really good to have access to the mp3 encoding parameters - they have a really big influence on the sound of the mp3s.

The two most important things to check are:

1. Does the ripper software really make exact digital copies of the CD? Ripping CDs to mp3 is always done in two steps: First extract the audio information from the CD "as is", then convert it into mp3. Some old computers still use analog extraction, which severely damages the quality of the audio files. Others use digital extraction, but no error detection/correction, and you might end up with clicks/pops in the files without being informed by the software, or it tries to interpolate the missing information which also degrades the quality.

2. Use proper settings for the mp3 encoder. Most of you (including me) prefer audio quality over file size reduction, and if you use rippers which don't give you access to all the settings you might want to choose 192kbps, it's a good compromise. But variable bitrate really sounds much, much better for certain files. Variable bitrate means that the encoder analyzes the signal and determines the complexity, and then chooses the appropriate bitrate for the different parts of the track (it may in fact choose different bandwidths for each mp3 frame - that's a fraction of a second).

I use bitrates from 64kpbs to 320kpbs, and this is really the best of both worlds ... tracks which don't contain much info (e.g. only limited frequency range, a lot of silence) result in small files, tracks with very complex info (many instruments at once, much drums/percussion/cymbals/distorted guitars (square waveforms) result in quite big files but in turn sound much better than 192kbps fixed bitrate files.

andu wrote: i'm the MASTER...  i rip audio cds to .wav files with EAC (Exact Audio Copy), which, because of it's corrector, makes perfect copies of the audio information (beating the hell out of any other audio ripper).

In fact most rippers make exact copies ... Windows Media Player, CDex, and many others. You just have to adjust the settings.

i'm the MASTER... 

i rip audio cds to .wav files with EAC (Exact Audio Copy), which, because of it's corrector, makes perfect copies of the audio information (beating the hell out of any other audio ripper). then i encode the tracks to loseless formats (my favourite is .flac) and backup them on dvds which are kept safe, and for my portable mp3player i make an .mp3 version of the album; usually at variable bitrate or at 190kbps. these proceedings keep my original audio cd out of danger because of little usage but i am also covered with the loseless backup for "just in case".