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Topic: Optimal quality lossy encoder for android based phone (Read 7193 times) previous topic - next topic
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Optimal quality lossy encoder for android based phone

Hello i just received an android based phone(4.2.2) and would like to know which lossy encoder would provide the optimal quality( i got a library of 180 songs and  a 4gb micro sd card as storage) moreover is there any additional dsp or effects that will increase the volume without distortion and also the recommendable bit depth and sampling freqency i should use?

Optimal quality lossy encoder for android based phone

Reply #1 –
If you are planning on using a format with native support in Android, aac will be the best bet.
QAAC is one of the best aac encoders. Here is it's download location/ home site: https://sites.google.com/site/qaacpage/home
It is said to reach transparency at about 150kbps. The setting "TVBR", true VBR will give you the best quality with lowest bitrate on this encoder.

If you buy a player that supports Opus, like GoneMAD Media Player (Which is a player I use and highly recommend), opus is said to reach transparency at about 140kbps. VBR will give you the best quality with Opus.

No matter which one you choose, i recommend using TAC (TAudioConverter) for the encoding. Its simple to use, and includes all encoders you need.
http://www.hydrogenaud.io/forums/index.php...&pid=817214
Play with different settings, find out what is the lowest setting which is acceptable for your ears. There is no definite answer when it comes to transparency vs bitrate and such.

Optimal quality lossy encoder for android based phone

Reply #2 –
Any files that are already lossy encoded and compatible with your phone should be left as-is. Transcoding from lossy to lossy should always be a last resort.

Optimal quality lossy encoder for android based phone

Reply #3 –
The format that you want to encode to depends on the currently quality of your source files (whether or not they are already lossy encoded) and the software you plan on using to playback the files.  The stock Google Play Music app is compatible with mp3, Vorbis, FLAC, and AAC (LC-AAC, AAC ELD, HE-AACv1, and HE-AACv2).  There are other apps, like Poweramp, that work with those files along with ALAC, WMA, WMA Pro, APE, WV, TTA, MPC, and AIFF.

The player that you decide to use will dictate your future lossy encoding.

Optimal quality lossy encoder for android based phone

Reply #4 –
I can confirm o-l-a-v's recommendation for QAAC (Apple AAC) and bitrates of 150 kbps or similar.
I once did a personal listening test, and even my worst case samples came out fine with such a bitrate (but not with a bitrate around 130 kbps).
Bitrates can't be smoothly configured with Apple AAC, they go in certain steps. So the same encoding is achieved for various --tvbr or --cvbr parameters within a certain range.
First I used cvbr for my test, and it was --cvbr 167 with which the results were totally satisfying to me. --cvbr 167 takes a bitrate of 167 kbps for my standard test set of various pop music.
I tried tvbr later, and yes, my impression was, that with tvbr quality is a tiny bit better at a comparable bitrate.
I was totally satisfied when using --tvbr 82. --tvbr 82 takes 158 kbps for my test set of various pop music.
lame3995o -Q1.7 --lowpass 17

Optimal quality lossy encoder for android based phone

Reply #5 –
I use OGG Vorbis on my Android devices. AAC is proprietary and a wasteland of modes and options of varying compatibility which can lead to a form of playing roulette with your music based on if player X supports mode Y with option Z or not. Vorbis is open source and patent/royalty free. In general if it supports Vorbis (and these days everything short of some limited capability hardware players and devices from companies with lock-in/anti-freedom agendas supports Vorbis) it will play your Vorbis files. It has audio quality near or on par with AAC when you set the options for AAC well and use one of the better AAC encoders.

Also, take the transparency bitrates mentioned so far with a grain of salt and do some ABX testing to find the bitrate which is transparent to YOU. I and my family get by with Vorbis at ~96kbps and it's very rare I find a problem with it. My family has never known it was anything other than perfect. To them It just means I can put 2-3 times the amount of music on their devices and it all sounds the same to them.

Optimal quality lossy encoder for android based phone

Reply #6 –
I use two formats on my Android, and VLC to play them both. Opus, which provides lowest bitrates for highest quality, and Musepack, which provides good bitrates and long battery life. If I anticipate I'll share some tunes with friends, then I may use LAME MP3, but it is rare that I actually do that.

AAC is, as I've said before, shit-tier. It provides neither Musepack's battery life nor Opus' low-bitrate quality nor MP3's universal compatibility.

Optimal quality lossy encoder for android based phone

Reply #7 –
Quote from: killerfrost on
i got a library of 180 songs and  a 4gb micro sd card as storage
Did everyone else miss this bit?

Unless it's a typo and it should say 180 albums, bitrate-vs-quality efficiency is hardly an issue here. killerfrost is not going to run out of space whatever is used.

Cheers,
David.

Optimal quality lossy encoder for android based phone

Reply #8 –
Hello,thank you for your responses.im using ogg vorbis at 500kbps converted on foobar.i transcoded from wav format of 192khz to 48khz both of 32bit depth n added replaygain to it.im using aimp on my phone with max pre-amp and max volume + equaliser on full bass preset.the result is a very loud clean music.

If i did any wrong encoding please tell me.
i do believe there are generation loss from my music library.i will redownload them after confirming the encoding settings and if there is any way to improve it.

Optimal quality lossy encoder for android based phone

Reply #9 –
Quote
Hello,thank you for your responses.im using ogg vorbis at 500kbps..
Is that a typo????    500kbps is very high for lossy! 


FLAC/ALAC (lossless) tends to be around 700kbps (at 44.1kHz/16-bit).  If you are using-up that much storage space* anyway, you might consider going lossless.    (You will have to downsample to 44.1 or 48kHz at 16-bits to get those bitrates/file sizes, so that would probably be a 2-step process...  Downsample, then convert to FLAC or ALAC.)

Quote
i do believe there are generation loss from my music library.
There is data loss every time you encode with lossy compression.  That may, or may not, result in audible quality loss. 


You will get "generation loss" if you convert from one lossy format to another (such as from MP3 to OGG), or if you open an OGG file in an audio editor (which requires decompression), re-edit it, and then re-save it as OGG (or other lossy format).    If you want to use a lossy format, it's best to compress once.

The odds are, it you are hearing compression artifacts at around 240kbps, you will still get audible artifacts at a higher bitrate.  And if the 240kbps file sounds identical to the uncompressed original, you can't say the 500kbps version is "better". 

Obviously, there is also data loss when you down-sample from 32-bit/192kHz  to something lower.  However, 16/44.1  is better than human hearing, so you are not likely to hear any difference.  (The exception would be 32-bit floating-pint which can potentially go over 0dB.  If a floating-point file goes over 0dB and you convert it to integer, it will be clipped/distorted.) 

And the DAC in your phone is probably 16-bits (24-bits at most) and will be automatically downsampled, so there is no advantage to 32-bits.   



* kbps is kilobits per second, so as long as you know there are 8 bits in a byte, you can calculate file size from the bitrate and playing time.

Optimal quality lossy encoder for android based phone

Reply #10 –
Quote
moreover is there any additional dsp or effects that will increase the volume without distortion.
There are a couple of things you can do with an audio editor.  Normalizing the file for 0dB peaks will "maximize" the volume.  That's as loud as you can go linearly (as loud as you can go without clipping/distorting the peaks or changing the character of the sound).

But since the peak level doesn't correlate well with perceived "loudness", if you normalize all of your files some files will still sound louder than others.      Most CDs & MP3 tracks are already normalized, so re-normalizing will have no effect on most digital files, but I have no idea if your "high resolution" files are normalized.

Note that ReplayGain will tend to reduce the volume of many (most?) of your files (and effectively un-do normalization).  Since many of your quieter-sounding files are already normalized/maximized, the only way to match the volumes across your entire library is to reduce the volume of the loudest files.

Or with an audio editor, you can apply Dynamic Compression (totally unrelated to file compression such as MP3 or OGG).  Dynamic compression (and limiting) is often used to boost the overall/average volume without boosting or clipping/distorting the peaks.  Of course, compression/limiting changes the character of the music by reducing dynamic contrast.  (i.e. The quiet parts aren't as quiet, and constant-volume music can get rather boring.)  It's a personal choice, but if you want to preserve the character/quality of your "high resolution" files, you'll probably want to avoid dynamic compression.

A compressor/limiter has various settings and there are many compressors to choose from.  It's a bit of an art to get good compression with minimal side-effects...  So, it's something that takes some experience & practice to get the best results and of course it depends on the music that you are starting with.   

Most modern music is highly-compressed to make it "constantly loud".  ...Sometimes to the point where there is clipping and distortion.  (See The Loudness War.) 

Some other ways to get louder volume from you phone:  Get more sensitive headphones/earphones.  Some are louder than others.  Or, you can get a headphone amplifier, but that's something else to carry around.

Optimal quality lossy encoder for android based phone

Reply #11 –
Ok so if i consider to go loseless,how should i do?there are many encoders out there.i want the one that provides most compression and can i have a guide for loseless encoding i have always encoded to lossy but never into loseless.

Optimal quality lossy encoder for android based phone

Reply #12 –
Quote from: killerfrost on
Ok so if i consider to go loseless,how should i do?there are many encoders out there.


Flac is the only one supported by default on Android, and it is a pretty good choice as it decodes efficiently on battery powered devices.  You can look into other formats, but you will need 3rd party software to play them. 

Optimal quality lossy encoder for android based phone

Reply #13 –
so the question now is :How should i proceed to convert into flac?
or is there any other possible formats(ape,tak) through 3rd parties players?
i want to know since i got a wav library of 32 bit at 192khz overall taking >40gb space.
how should i set up foobar...?

Optimal quality lossy encoder for android based phone

Reply #14 –
For compability reasons on mobile players I wouldn't consider any other codec but FLAC.
Moreover, other codecs can't save you data space in a significant way. As for the specific advantages of FLAC, saratoga said it all.

I'm afraid however that converting your 32 bit / 192 bHz to FLAC will take more than 4 GB. Using a 32 GB SD card may be the solution.
Another solution is to consider using lossyWAV as a preprocessor to FLAC (not sure however whether 32 bit / 192 kHz is supported).
Using lossyWAV with the standard or extreme setting gives you extremely good quality IMO.
lame3995o -Q1.7 --lowpass 17

Optimal quality lossy encoder for android based phone

Reply #15 –
Converting 192/32 WAVs to 44.1/16 will reduce data space from 40 GB to 4.6 GB. Then FLAC compression will reduce it to ~ 3GB or less.

But I can't see a point in using lossless on a phone.

Optimal quality lossy encoder for android based phone

Reply #16 –
Less than 4gh,thats pretty nice however something keeps troubling me,wont the music suffer quality during playbacks on my phone when playing 16bit @44.1khZ?

Optimal quality lossy encoder for android based phone

Reply #17 –
Quote from: killerfrost on
Less than 4gh,thats pretty nice however something keeps troubling me,wont the music suffer quality during playbacks on my phone when playing 16bit @44.1khZ?

Short answer: no.  Long answer, search the board and get yourself a stiff drink.

Optimal quality lossy encoder for android based phone

Reply #19 –
Oki so the final audio is
Format:flac
Bit depth:16
Sampling frequency:44.1khz
I will convert them as such.
First i must downsample my 192khz to 48khz and then to 44.1khz?

Optimal quality lossy encoder for android based phone

Reply #20 –
No, just go with 192kHz>44.1kHz. You can use SoX resampler with foobar.