MrZebra77
New member
Since I keep all the CDs I borrow from the library or from my sisters as FLAC files, and that iTunes does not support FLAC, I downloaded dBPowerAmps's AAC Codec to do some tests...
First of all, we all know that iTunes AAC Encoder is only CBR which is why LAME MP3 can usually beat AAC at the same average bitrate.
When I converted an album with dBPA, I noticed that it's files were VBR, when you choose the AAC format, you can choose a quality number from 10 to 500 with 100 being the default. 10 gives an average bitrate of 50kbps and sounds horrible, 50 gives an average bitrate of 90kbps and sounds ok but I can perceive some artifacts. 100 gives a bitrate of ~120kbps and sounds fine to me. 500 gives an average bitrate of 240kbps.
Has anyone done any listening tests with that? How does it compare to iTunes's AAC or LAME VBR MP3?
Currently I encode all my new CDs at --preset-insane and the rest of my collection (Including borrowed disks) at --preset-extreme.
When I run low on space I will have to reencode everything at lower bitrates and am trying to decide between dBPA's AAC 100 quallity and LAME's VBR 5 quality which both give an average bitrate of around 128kbps.
Other than ABX Testing which I will eventually do, I'd like to know if anyone has compared the 3 emcoders.
First of all, we all know that iTunes AAC Encoder is only CBR which is why LAME MP3 can usually beat AAC at the same average bitrate.
When I converted an album with dBPA, I noticed that it's files were VBR, when you choose the AAC format, you can choose a quality number from 10 to 500 with 100 being the default. 10 gives an average bitrate of 50kbps and sounds horrible, 50 gives an average bitrate of 90kbps and sounds ok but I can perceive some artifacts. 100 gives a bitrate of ~120kbps and sounds fine to me. 500 gives an average bitrate of 240kbps.
Has anyone done any listening tests with that? How does it compare to iTunes's AAC or LAME VBR MP3?
Currently I encode all my new CDs at --preset-insane and the rest of my collection (Including borrowed disks) at --preset-extreme.
When I run low on space I will have to reencode everything at lower bitrates and am trying to decide between dBPA's AAC 100 quallity and LAME's VBR 5 quality which both give an average bitrate of around 128kbps.
Other than ABX Testing which I will eventually do, I'd like to know if anyone has compared the 3 emcoders.