[BC] So, some consumers do care about audio quality...

[Fred Gleason]

On Wednesday 07 December 2005 22:40, Bernie Courtney wrote:
> i dunno what these people are talking-- maybe its just my ears but for low
> bitrate stuff I'll take AAC over mp3 any day. ?I've used the encoder in
> question ?(LAME) to rip stuff for my ipod, and my AAC stuff still sounds
> better.

It depends on bitrate.  For low-rate encoding (<128 kbps), AAC will usually 
outperform MPEG.  The article was discussing using higher rates (>=160 kbps), 
where MPEG, especially MPEG L2, will tend to do better.

It is also heavily dependent on the specific encoder implementation.  For 
MPEG, what's actually described in the ISO standard is the *decoder*.  An 
MPEG stream is essentially defined as 'anything that can be played by the 
standard decoder'.  This has led to many different approaches to encoder 
design, particularly in the all-important bit-allocation stage (where the 
'psychoaccoustic' decisions get made).  All encoders are *not* created equal, 
and those that have undergone rigorous processes of test and development 
(such as LAME) tend to outperform those that have not had the benefit of such 
development by a significant margin.

Bottom line:  trust your ears.  A series of double-blind A/B tests is the 
final court of arbitration, regardless of whatever the software 'experts' may 
say.

Cheers!


|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Frederick F. Gleason, Jr. | Director of Broadcast Software Development  |
|                           |             Salem Radio Labs                |
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