bitrate??

[95Prober 10+ year member]

well guys. i gotta re-format many of my MP3 songs that i downloaded to the best or closest quality i guess compared to a cd. im gonna play the songs through my MP3 player and through the deck. now i searched and read where "192 kbps" is almost the closet to cd quality or something. most of the songs i have now before i start are at "128 kbps". i also have a few that are at "320 kbps".

now i was wondering if someone could help out on these questions:

1. IF songs at "192 kbps" are typically ideal, how do "320 kbps" compare to them or higher? does the quality get bette the higher you go or worse?? should i re-format the 320 kbps songs to 192 kbps too??

2. also, whats a quick and easy program to do this with for a beginner at changing formats? i never did it before but would like to start

thanks for ur help!!

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[AznRevlAzn 10+ year member]

anything higher than 192 and you can't tell the difference by human ear. Or was it another bit rate, i forgot.

 

[Raven 10+ year member]

Well, it's dependant on the human ear, mainly the listener's, and the sound system. A good soundsystem will actually let all the imperfections on an MP3 shine through, so you would need to encode higher.

Reencoding a 128kbps MP3 into a 192 kbps MP3 will actually make for a quality loss. If you download music off the internet, you're SOL because you have to re-rip direction from the CD to get higher quality.

 

[95Prober 10+ year member]

Well, it's dependant on the human ear, mainly the listener's, and the sound system. A good soundsystem will actually let all the imperfections on an MP3 shine through, so you would need to encode higher.
Reencoding a 128kbps MP3 into a 192 kbps MP3 will actually make for a quality loss. If you download music off the internet, you're SOL because you have to re-rip direction from the CD to get higher quality.

but how does it make it a "quality loss" if 192 kbps is SUPPOSED to be closer to real cd quality?? just wondering

and, yeah, i used limewire a way back, not much now. and in my library were a lot of songs from the site downloaded at 128 kbps. so since its off the internet, its IMPOSSIBLE, for a person with not much experience, to change the bitrate to 192 kbps if you wished to??

i searched and found a chart where the 192 kbps was ALMOST as close as a normal cd. i think Jmac posted it. not sure

 

[AznRevlAzn 10+ year member]

no, he meant that some people actually try converting it from 128 to 192 by means of using a audio editor or dj'ing software thinking it would make it sound better. What it does it just fill in holes but what it fills it in with is empty static. It's not noticable, but it's there.

 

[95Prober 10+ year member]

so is it worth bothering changing bitrates fron 128 to 192 in the end? will i hear any difference in my car stero sound, especially the bass?? of course the bass is where im trying to improve, but all of the system is important

 

[DaFreakinRican0 10+ year member]

No it is not going to do anything going from 128-192. I am a producer and a DJ so i know. It's like taking a tape and recording it to cd, or like a vhs to dvd. You cant improve a sound file that is already bad. But if your at 320 yes u can convert (and shrink) your file to a 192 bitrate.

 

[Raven 10+ year member]

Well said. ^

However, refrain from the phrase "so I know". It tends to get me in trouble, and could do the same for you. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/hide.gif.2d479cfd917eedfe201353b91522ceab.gif

 

[95Prober 10+ year member]

No it is not going to do anything going from 128-192. I am a producer and a DJ so i know. It's like taking a tape and recording it to cd, or like a vhs to dvd. You cant improve a sound file that is already bad. But if your at 320 yes u can convert (and shrink) your file to a 192 bitrate.

so those songs you download from the internet at 128 are just as good??

but if so, why do people, and myself, say and notice a BURNED cd sometimes has to be played at a higher volume to get it as loud as a regular cd ??? those SAME songs on an mp3 player OR burned are both still at 128 kbps. if there isnt much difference on an mp3 player why is there on cd's ?? does the BURNING PROCESS degrade the songs a little bit more??

 

[JimJ 5,000+ posts]

Anything less than 256k isn't worth the time, IMO...

 

[geezy21unc 10+ year member]

Anything less than 256k isn't worth the time, IMO...

how about you burn 2 kinds of CD's one with a bit rate of 128 thern one with 320 or whatever, play in your car , wh:up2somet: atever one u like, use it....

 

[JimJ 5,000+ posts]

//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/confused.gif.e820e0216602db4765798ac39d28caa9.gif

 

[JoseMCeee 10+ year member]

i never rip higher than 192. The only songs I have at 320 are the first ones i ever ripped and thats because the program was set at a default of 320 but I changed it to 192. Sometimes I even downgraded from 320 to 192 because the 320 files were massive. Its not worth the space. 128 is also fine and I would definatly not worry about it. The only bit rates where I see a huge difference is below 100. Other than that your fine. Dont worry about SQ fanatics flaming on you. Its your ear, if it sounds fine to u, leave it. But the main thing I recommend is to make it a habit or default to rip at 192, forget the higher bitrates. You'll thank me later when you want to transfer those songs on to a mp3 disc or an ipod etc

 

[TeenWolf 10+ year member]

so those songs you download from the internet at 128 are just as good??
but if so, why do people, and myself, say and notice a BURNED cd sometimes has to be played at a higher volume to get it as loud as a regular cd ??? those SAME songs on an mp3 player OR burned are both still at 128 kbps. if there isnt much difference on an mp3 player why is there on cd's ?? does the BURNING PROCESS degrade the songs a little bit more??

I don't think you really understand the concept of bit rate. A "professional" CD has a bit rate of over 1400 kbps. When you rip songs from this, your computer has a lot of data from the CD that it doesn't copy to a 320 mp3. Making a 128 mp3 would take even less info. Less info means lower quality - A 64 kbps mp3 would sound like shit.

You talked about taking a 128 kbps mp3 and converting it to 192. If you think about the logic above, then you can undertsand how there wouldn't be any benefit. When converting a mp3 file from 128 to 192, where would your computer get the additional data that is required? The only way to do it properly is to get the store bought CD and compress it down from 1400+ to 192.

128 kbps used to be widely accepted as the standard for near CD quality. Nowadays, this has increased to 192, but it's all a matter of opinion.

The volume level that a CD is recorded at doesn't have much to do with bit rate. You can change the recorded volume level when burning a CD without altering bit rate. Older tunes will be lower than newer tunes and you will notice this when both types are on the same CD. All burner software has an equalization feature which makes the volume level the same for all tracks. You have to activate this feature and set the percentage of equalization that you want.

Some burner software burns CD's at lower volumes than others. I have Windows Media Player and Nero. I find that Nero records at a higher level than Windows Media Player.

 

[95Prober 10+ year member]

thanks guys for the info! i understand much better now.

and TeenWolf, i have Nero too. can i use Nero to take store bought cd's , put them in my computer, and compress them down to 192 then drag and drop to an mp3 player??