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Topic: FAAC Recommended Settings (Read 7986 times) previous topic - next topic
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FAAC Recommended Settings

Hi,

I'm fairly new at this. I'm trying to preserve my audio at a decent listening rate for relaxation over an audio system or good headphones. Typically, I use Ogg Vorbis at approximately 160 vbr kbps and use it on my Android device. However, I have a few devices in my home that will only play mp3s or aac files. Since mp3s are much larger in size, even when encoded by LAME, aac seems like a logical choice.

Furthermore, I'm a Linux user. I much prefer using FAAC to encode these files if possible as it is native. I have version 1.28 installed on Ubuntu 9.10 right now.

So, I was wondering if anyone knew of the optimal settings for FAAC to achieve similar audio quality and file size to a 160 kbps ogg created with oggenc.

I've tried it with flags for -q at 100, 120 and 130. -q 120 seems to get the closest to 160 kbps vbr but the file is still about 15% larger than an ogg for the same file.

Any suggestions or recommendations? Thanks.

FAAC Recommended Settings

Reply #1 –
FAAC's quality leaves a lot to be desired.  You may well find that LAME outperforms except for very low bitrates where AAC's technical superiority outweighs FAAC's lack of tuning.

I believe Nero has a linux AAC encoder available, and there should be ways to get the 3gp AAC encoder on Linux.  Both of these are far superior to FAAC.

FAAC Recommended Settings

Reply #2 –
Quote from: Animortis on
I have a few devices in my home that will only play mp3s or aac files. Since mp3s are much larger in size, even when encoded by LAME, aac seems like a logical choice.

I wouldn't be in such a hurry to dismiss LAME encoded MP3s personally. Encoding in VBR at -V3 with LAME3.98.2 is highly likely to produce perceptually transparent results for you and averages around 175Kbps. Out of AAC and MP3, the latter has the most widespread level of usefulness in terms of playback compatibility on the whole.

As is so often pointed out here though, only you have your ears, so personal ABX testing is the only way to know for sure.

FAAC Recommended Settings

Reply #4 –
Quote from: Animortis on
Since mp3s are much larger in size, even when encoded by LAME, aac seems like a logical choice.

False.

Unless you are referencing FAAC's apparent max bitrate of 160kbps. But that's a limit of FAAC, not a problem with Lame, and certainly doesn't mean that Lame is worse than FAAC at bitrates of 160 and below.
God kills a kitten every time you encode with CBR 320

FAAC Recommended Settings

Reply #5 –
Quote
Since mp3s are much larger in size

Lossy files are as large as you choose to make them; I'm sure you're aware that you could simply use a lower bitrate or quality setting to produce smaller files. Aside from that, as has been said, MP3 is more widely supported, and FAAC is not very competitive as an encoder.

FAAC Recommended Settings

Reply #6 –
Is the wiki entry accurate?

"FAAC is a free and open-source LC AAC encoder. Its quality has improved drastically over the last few months and is now a viable alternative to the commercial encoders (although, at least at 128kbps, not as good as the free iTunes encoder)."

Link

FAAC Recommended Settings

Reply #7 –
No, as other users have already stated, but in any case the article was last edited in 2006 [1].

FAAC Recommended Settings

Reply #9 –
Very good. Thanks guys.

I'll take a closer look at LAME at the -V# setting. The results were impressive, and I may have been relying on CBR instead of VBR for LAME encoding without realizing it.

I'll also conduct some experiments between LAME and Nero AAC Encoder. I am increasingly curious how they compare.

Appreciate the heads up and the clarifications on FAAC.

FAAC Recommended Settings

Reply #10 –
congrats on taking the advice to heart. a lot of people assume mp3 is an outdated format and are surprised at how well it tests against the best "modern" codecs.
God kills a kitten every time you encode with CBR 320