Re: Preferred settings for AAC?
Reply #6 – 2018-09-24 02:11:40
When it comes to Apple AAC... choose 96kbps or 128kbps and forget about it. with Apple AAC I would avoid going lower than 96kbps as a general rule and avoid any higher than 128kbps mostly because efficiency starts to take a solid hit much beyond 128kbps with a minimal gain to sound quality. or put it this way... on some speakers (or average headphones) I would be confident most people would not notice a issue with 96kbps AAC or even if they do it's not going to be to the point it's significant. I tend to view lossy encoders more on the higher efficiency side of things which is why I tend to favor 96kbps (or 128kbps MAX) where as someone who wants some level of efficiency but does not want to gamble with sound quality may opt for 160kbps. but I figure beyond 160kbps (maybe 192kbps on the very high end) efficiency is mostly shot. I know some may say storage space is cheap, and while that's true, it's more of the thought of it if you ask me. p.s. if your device can play Opus files... I think you would find 64kbps is a solid choice overall, especially if your trying to save even more storage space, even though you can spot artifacts here and there but are usually minimal as on my Klipsch Pro-Media PC speakers, which are above average speakers in general, at a moderate volume I can spot an occasional artifact @ 64kbps with Opus but it's largely solid with the overall sound quality especially given the low bit rate. basically Opus tends to shine most at 128kbps and less, but more in the 96kbps and less range is where it starts to pull ahead of the competition which is pretty much just AAC. like when it comes to lossy encoders... Opus or AAC is about all that's worth using if you ask me at this point in time as MP3 simply needs noticeably more bit rate for a similar level of sound quality to the point with MP3 it seems one needs at least 128kbps where as with Opus/AAC you generally don't need more than 128kbps.