Re: FLAC vs. 320 VBR AAC - For OLD People
Reply #13 – 2020-11-26 12:46:16
Old person or not... I suggest 96kbps for AAC as a set-it-and-forget-it default as that's basically the sweet spot for sound quality/file size combo as beyond this there are diminishing returns on sound quality (generally minimal differences) and the file size start to shoot up for minimal gains overall. I figure 128kbps on AAC as a MAX as beyond that seems like largely a waste of storage space for lossy audio if you ask me since the whole point of using lossy audio is to get close enough to lossless audio quality but at the smallest file size and in this regard it's hard to argue against AAC @ 96kbps (maybe 128kbps MAX). if the OP is strictly concerned with only himself... it's possible he could lower sound quality a bit further given his age but I figure for the minimal storage space gains it's probably not worth it. if your going to go less than 96kbps on AAC I suggest, if possible, use Opus @ 64kbps as you won't lose much quality and will free up about 1/3rd more storage space. plus, with the amount of storage one can get on a MicroSD (and the like) nowadays if a person fills up one of those (like say 8-16GB or larger, which should be pretty common nowadays) chances are they got plenty of music on there that they don't really care about all that much as I figure if people tweaked things to where they only put the songs they really care about instead of full albums that right there can free up quite a bit of storage space for songs you actually care about and you won't need huge amount of storage space on say a MicroSD card etc. but on the flip side I realize this can potentially take up more of ones time tweaking this stuff though but it's probably worth it as then you raise the quality of music on your device unless of course you have a boatload of music to tweak etc. I see the following as a general minimum guideline (and would be my default suggestion for the common person regardless of age as it's a good set-it-and-forget-it setting for the common person) that should be easily 'good enough' for most people while maintaining solid storage space efficiency and all around sound quality... -AAC = 96kbps -MP3 = 130kbps (LAME v5) -Opus = 96kbps or 64kbps (64kbps is a pretty good alternative for someone who's a bit more concerned with storage space as it shaves off 1/3rd of the file size compared to 96kbps, which is worthwhile savings especially if your tight on storage space, and not all that much of a all around drop in sound quality compared to 96kbps) NOTE: with MP3 one might be able to go a little lower depending on how picky someone is with sound quality but I figure the 130kbps setting is a safe minimum for all ages and is still storage space efficient as I never understood using unnecessarily high bit rates for lossy audio as it defeats the purpose of using lossy audio in the first place which is basically to keep file size at a minimum while retaining a close enough level of all around sound quality to the lossless file as it's not like some small artifact here and there will be a problem when listening to music on-the-go. but in short... keep the FLAC for long term archival storage of your music but rip to 96kbps AAC for lossy music for general usage on-the-go.