Re: What's the best AAC encoder today?
Reply #14 – 2020-11-01 08:52:59
It's true that higher bit rates don't necessarily mean better quality, but I've used various measurements to find that FAAC does produce better quality to itself at higher q values. In subtracting from the original source I've found it typically approaches 40-47db of lossless accuracy at higher settings — something comparable to WavPack -b7. I'm not sure that's a relevant way to measure quality of AAC or any other perceptual encoders.The results 1.30 produces are very good at those settings At 400 kbps it can't be bad FAAC does however depend a lot on flexible VBR, so the graphs in forced CBR mode don't reflect full potential . If the CBR core isn't great, I don't expect miracles from VBR. There were some late quality improvements with FAAC but even at its "full potential" it seems far beyond most advanced competitors.Maybe it is closer to 57% less efficient on transparency compared to Apple, but that would make 502kbps the point it compares to Apple at 320kbps. If it's really 57% less efficient I would say there is no point of using it.The issue with compatibility is just how large the blocks can get. The Apple decoder (hardware?) appears to only allow up to 352kbps per channel; beyond that threshold, playback on my iPhone skips to the next track. General encoders don't go beyond 256kbps per channel, so Nero is comfortably within that limit. FAAC can go all the way up to 400kbps per channel at any time, even in CBR mode. It's an issue I've addressed on the faac github. It's really bad for Apple, unless FAAC does something wrong with ISO specs.The lowpass can be removed with "-c 48000". Yes. I wonder if -q5000 is really tuned. What's the point of encoding up to 700 kbps if lowpass is set to an inferior value than any other perceptual encoder? Even LAME at 300 kbps tries to handle 19…22KHz band.
Wavpack Hybrid: one encoder, one encoding for all scenarios WavPack -c4.5hx6 (44100Hz & 48000Hz) ≈ 390 kbps + correction file WavPack -c4hx6 (96000Hz) ≈ 768 kbps + correction file WavPack -h (SACD & DSD) ≈ 2400 kbps at 2.8224 MHz