best lossy format?
Reply #9 – 2006-04-17 23:26:00
I am looking for the best lossy audio format for ripping and storing my favourite songs. You don't say what you want to do with your stored songs. If you just want them on your pc you may go for best quality as disk space isn't a problem anymore (buy for instance a fat and cheap external hard disc). So the very best solution would be to go lossless (use for instance wavPack), but you say you want to use a lossy format. Next best solution is a lossy variant of a lossless format. I suggest wavPack lossy used at something like 400kbps (or more). This gives you a quality identical to lossless in a practical sense while saving half of the diskspace (or more). This solution is considered best for transcoding to other formats for mobile DAPs. wavPack lossy can also be played directly on a series of iRiver, iPod and iAudio players when you use Rockbox firmware. Disk space is an ever decreasing problem for mobile players, so wavPack lossy is a good solution for them too. Another very good solution is vorbis aoTuV - excellent quality at -q5 and higher, and supported by many mobile players (and by Rockbox firmware). Good old mp3 is another attractive candidate. If you allow for a bitrate way beyond 200 kbps and use a good encoder you get a very good quality as well. Use for instance current Lame 3.98a3 -V0 or old but good (at high bitrate) Lame 3.90.3 --abr 270 -h. Main advantage of mp3 is it's universal usability. No need to transcode to something else. Good battery life on mobile players. That's why I use mp3. mp2 (MPEG Level II) is an older and unusual format, but has some merits of its own. Most important is that it's the same codec family like mp3 (MPEG Level III), just one layer lower and simpler. So many mp3 players are able to play mp2 as well (for instance Rockbox firmware player). Because of its greater simplicity using high bitrate is essential (I suggest at leat 320 kbps), and you can go up to 384 kbps. Qualitywise it has an advantage at very high bitrate compared to mp3: the temporal resolution is a lot better, but whether or not this essential to you is another story (to me it's not - can't hear the differences). A good mp2 encoder is QDesign MPEG Audio Codec 1.01. A good solution IMO but a little off the main road. I'd be careful with other formats like AAC cause you may find yourself on a dead end street having to transcode and thus give away quality.