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Topic: Configuring AAC encoder (using BonkENC) (Read 8085 times) previous topic - next topic
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Configuring AAC encoder (using BonkENC)

Configuring AAC encoder

Using BonkEnc v.1.0.16

Encoder
FAAC MP4/AAC Encoder v1.28

A few things. Just purchased an iPhone 4.
I have 300GB of FLAC music files i've been ripping.
I've not used iTunes software before nor have it installed yet on my WinXP SP3 PC.
I was planning on converting my FLAC music files to AAC to use with an iPhone.
I thought AAC being a newer technology would have a better compression/quality tradeoff than using a MP3. I'd like pretty good tradeoff of compression and quality. I was thinking something like 192kbps MP3 quality.
What settings do I use for AAC to use with iPhone4 and iTunes (on a PC)?
Quality:

Configuration:
Bitrate per channel or set quality by % ?

Stereo Mode:
Allow Joint Stereo or not?
Maximum bandwidth frequency to use (Hz)

Format:
AAC

AAC object Type:
MAIN
LC
LTP

Info tags:
Allow ID3v2 tags in AAC files?
It says Note: some players may have problems playing AAC files with ID3 tags attached. Does iTunes PC software and iPod player within iPhone4 have any issues with the ID3 tags? If so I should just go with MP3 files instead right?

Configuring AAC encoder (using BonkENC)

Reply #1 –
Quote from: soundtechie4 on
Encoder
FAAC MP4/AAC Encoder v1.28

IMHO, ditch FAAC and go with NeroAACenc (Google is your friend)

Quote from: soundtechie4 on
I thought AAC being a newer technology would have a better compression/quality tradeoff than using a MP3. I'd like pretty good tradeoff of compression and quality. I was thinking something like 192kbps MP3 quality.

Actually that's not necessarily true. LAME mp3-encoder has been optimized very much and are generally considered to have the same transparency as AAC. Although, personally I find the artifacts of AAC more pleasant than MP3. Still I'm using mp3 encoded with the latest LAME encoder with preset -v 5 for my iPhone.

Quote from: soundtechie4 on
What settings do I use for AAC to use with iPhone4 and iTunes (on a PC)?
Quality:

Pick a handful of random tracks, encode them using different presets and perform some ABX-tests.

Quote from: soundtechie4 on
Stereo Mode:
Allow Joint Stereo or not?
Maximum bandwidth frequency to use (Hz)

I don't think there anything like Joint Stereo available in AAC. AFAIK such technology is enabled by default, and it should be - Even for mp3. Search the forums to find more info on the myth that JS should be a bad thing, and generally try to search more information on the techs if you want to mess with such stuff. You know, the people behind these encoders are not dumb, so why would they not make the default settings, the best optimized? Doesn't make sense to assume the end user to fiddle with tech stuff, just to make a few encodings.

Quote from: soundtechie4 on
It says Note: some players may have problems playing AAC files with ID3 tags attached. Does iTunes PC software and iPod player within iPhone4 have any issues with the ID3 tags? If so I should just go with MP3 files instead right?

AAC should not use ID3 tags, they use another way to store tags. Why don't you stop worrying so much, and install foobar2000 to take care of both encodings and taggings.
Can't wait for a HD-AAC encoder :P

Configuring AAC encoder (using BonkENC)

Reply #2 –
I believe there is channel coupling with AAC, but it's switched on a per-subband basis instead of globally. Or am I thinking of a different format?

Configuring AAC encoder (using BonkENC)

Reply #3 –
Quote from: soundtechie4 on
Using BonkEnc v.1.0.16

BonkEnc has been renamed fre:ac and is now available at freac.org in version 1.0.17. You should use that instead.

Quote from: soundtechie4 on
I thought AAC being a newer technology would have a better compression/quality tradeoff than using a MP3. I'd like pretty good tradeoff of compression and quality. I was thinking something like 192kbps MP3 quality.

It has, theoretically. But unfortunately, the FAAC encoder that comes with fre:ac provides relatively poor quality. Worse than the much better tuned LAME MP3 encoder.

However, the 20101205 preview release of fre:ac supports external codecs and can make use of the Nero, QuickTime and DivX AAC encoders which provide much better quality than FAAC. You should give that version a try if you want to encode MP4/AAC with fre:ac.

Quote from: soundtechie4 on
Configuration:
Bitrate per channel or set quality by % ?

Stereo Mode:
Allow Joint Stereo or not?
Maximum bandwidth frequency to use (Hz)

Use the quality setting. The bitrate setting does not work very well with FAAC, i.e. it seems to ignore it most of the time.

Leave the other options at their default values (16 kHz, Allow JS).

Quote from: soundtechie4 on
Format:
AAC

AAC object Type:
MAIN
LC
LTP

You should use the MP4 format. The AAC option means raw AAC without a container format that cannot be played back by most audio players. Not sure about the iPhone, but I suppose it won't play raw AAC.

Use the LC object type.

Quote from: soundtechie4 on
Info tags:
Allow ID3v2 tags in AAC files?
It says Note: some players may have problems playing AAC files with ID3 tags attached. Does iTunes PC software and iPod player within iPhone4 have any issues with the ID3 tags? If so I should just go with MP3 files instead right?

This option is only relevant when using raw AAC streams. fre:ac can embed an ID3v2 tag into such streams, but some hardware players may choke on it. The MP4 format uses its own tagging format supported by both iTunes and the iPhone.

So basically, it comes down to using the default settings. You don't need to change any options in fre:ac if you're ripping audio CDs or converting CD quality music files. So unless you have any special requirements like speech encoding, low bitrate encoding or similar things, just go with the default settings.