Audio file formats

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Now speaking of audio file formats in which you listen to music on computer (if you listen to at all), which format d'you prefer? Is 128kbps MP3 enough or do you prefer your music lossless, or what?

I'm basically keeping everything above 192kbps, preferably 320kbps and most often lossless FLAC. Not that I'm an audiophile, but it's more like a principle: if I buy an album and rip it on computer, I want to restore it in its most original form, not losing anything, even if I sometimes fail to hear the difference even between 192kbps MP3 and FLAC. Disk space is cheap nowadays so I don't mind the size of FLAC files at all.

Edited by Vehemency - 31 Jul 2010 at 4:02am

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Vehemency Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Visit Members Homepage Add to Buddy List MMA Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator Joined: 25 Mar 2010 Location: Finland Status: Offline Points: 972	Post Options Post Reply Quote Vehemency Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Topic: Audio file formats Posted: 31 Jul 2010 at 4:02am
	Now speaking of audio file formats in which you listen to music on computer (if you listen to at all), which format d'you prefer? Is 128kbps MP3 enough or do you prefer your music lossless, or what? I'm basically keeping everything above 192kbps, preferably 320kbps and most often lossless FLAC. Not that I'm an audiophile, but it's more like a principle: if I buy an album and rip it on computer, I want to restore it in its most original form, not losing anything, even if I sometimes fail to hear the difference even between 192kbps MP3 and FLAC. Disk space is cheap nowadays so I don't mind the size of FLAC files at all. Edited by Vehemency - 31 Jul 2010 at 4:02am

Pekka Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Visit Members Homepage Add to Buddy List MMA Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator Joined: 26 Mar 2010 Location: Helsinki Status: Offline Points: 1362	Post Options Post Reply Quote Pekka Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 31 Jul 2010 at 5:13am
	When I bought my Ipod I ripped all my collection in 320kbps, but before long I couldn't decide what to remove from the 74gb thing to make room for new purchases, so I re-encoded them all into 192kbps to put off the hard decisions for a while. I haven't noticed any real difference between the two file qualities, but I prefer listening to cds when I'm at home. Not necessarily because of the sound quality, but the feeling of standing in front of my cd shelf trying to figure out what to put on next, taking the disc out and putting it in
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Charcaroth Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Forum Newbie Joined: 30 Jul 2010 Status: Offline Points: 31	Post Options Post Reply Quote Charcaroth Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 02 Aug 2010 at 4:07am
	I consider myself somewhat of an audiophile, but I tend to favor MP3s because they're nice and universal. I tend to like everything at 320 kbps, though. Sometimes I'll settle for a little lower, depending on the type of music. Some music simply requires better audio quality than others, but I still tend to dislike FLAC files because they're pretty big, won't play on a lot of things, and I haven't yet noticed any drop in quality from lossless FLAC files, and 320 kbps MP3 files.
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progkidjoel Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Forum Senior Member Joined: 26 Mar 2010 Location: Australia Status: Offline Points: 150	Post Options Post Reply Quote progkidjoel Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 03 Aug 2010 at 4:22am
	Mostly my collection is in 320; what I've been doing recently, though, is ripping my CD's in FLAC and then converting them into MP3's/MP4's with a super duper high bitrate; that lets me have the high quality and makes them usable on my iPod and other devices. For example, I converted a free, legal Kayo Dot bootleg which was only available as FLAC into 1411KBPS MP3. That way I get the best of both worlds. This is a recent thing though, so about 95% of my collection is still in 320KBPS MP3.


harmonium.ro Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Forum Senior Member Joined: 28 Mar 2010 Location: Paris Status: Offline Points: 141	Post Options Post Reply Quote harmonium.ro Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 04 Aug 2010 at 6:44pm
	1411 kbps MP3, Joel? I don't think that's possible. That's the bitrate for uncompressed audio files!

progkidjoel Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Forum Senior Member Joined: 26 Mar 2010 Location: Australia Status: Offline Points: 150	Post Options Post Reply Quote progkidjoel Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 10 Aug 2010 at 6:22am
	Oh, they're actually .WAV's.


kogaionon Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Forum Groupie Joined: 18 Aug 2010 Location: Romania Status: Offline Points: 99	Post Options Post Reply Quote kogaionon Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 19 Aug 2010 at 11:03am
	i prefer buying original cds, but when some albums are too rare and can't get my hands on them, i get them in flac, so my entire collection can be played properly on my sound system (owner of a pair of microlab solo 7, but i hope i'll upgrade soon to some more serious stuff) recently i've started downloading my flacs in 24/96 vinyl formats - that usually helps with the accuracy of instruments and gives a more natural feel of the music

alberto mu�oz Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Forum Senior Member Joined: 12 Apr 2010 Location: M�xico Status: Offline Points: 108	Post Options Post Reply Quote alberto mu�oz Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 07 Sep 2010 at 12:16pm
	i like any audio format, MP3 about 192 kbps by minimum, wav and flac if they avaible. BTW Winamp can play flac files without a problem. Also i recommend the foobar2000 player it's a very good one.

CCVP Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Forum Senior Member Joined: 25 Mar 2010 Location: Brasil Status: Offline Points: 388	Post Options Post Reply Quote CCVP Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 07 Sep 2010 at 2:10pm
	I, personally, like listening to the CDs themselves, but since i use the ipod 95% of the time, I rip everything i have in 320k VBR. I get the goth of the two worlds: I get music in a reasonable size and and the dynamics keep being awesome. Best format I have ever seen so far. Honestly, I think FLAC is useless if you use earphones, which is most of the cases of verybody here.