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Topic: [TOS#8] Pretty Pictures (Read 3015 times) previous topic - next topic
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[TOS#8] Pretty Pictures

[span style='font-size:8pt;line-height:100%'][Split from iTunes 4.5 MP3][/span]

Quote
Try fatboy.wav. that used to break iTunes MP3 horribly, even at 320kbps.


So noted. iTunes 4.5 still appears to have trouble with this sample.

This has left me wondering. The reason I chose to experiment with iTunes MP3 in the first place was because I had a hard time getting LAME 3.96 to sound transparent using the recommended settings of --preset standard or -V 1 etc. I couldn't put my finger on it, but something was "missing".

So, to try to explain how iTunes encoded MP3s sounded more "detailed" than what I'd been able to produce with LAME, I used Adobe Audition (trial) and did a Frequency Analysis on each of my encodes as follows:

iTunes 4.5 MP3 192kbps VBR


LAME 3.96 --preset standard


I was somewhat surprised that --preset standard clipped high frequencies like that.  I did a bit more reading up on LAME switches and found "-k".

LAME 3.96 --preset standard -k


By using the -k switch to disable frequency filtering, the highs were no longer clipped and LAME finally sounds transparent to me.  I realise that by adding the higher frequencies this may introduce artifacts at bitrates higher than had it not been added. As a result I've been using: -V 1 -k for my encodes ever since.

I hope this helps to solidify my earlier comments.
Thanks.

[TOS#8] Pretty Pictures

Reply #1 –
That shows nothing. ABX, then comment.
I really doubt -k did anything for you.

Most people can't hear that.
And it is intended to remove those frequencies.
 

[TOS#8] Pretty Pictures

Reply #2 –
Quoted from Garf:

[span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%']A GRAPH DOES NOT TELL YOU ACCURATELY HOW THE MUSIC SOUNDS.

YOU CANNOT JUDGE A PSYCHOACOUSTIC CODEC BASED ON FREQUENCY ANALYSIS.[/span]
"To understand me, you'll have to swallow a world." Or maybe your words.