Poll
Question:
Possible test lists
Option 1: Apple true VBR, Apple constrained VBR, Nero, winner of internal pre-test (Divx vs Coding Technologies)
votes: 36
Option 2: Apple true VBR, Nero, Divx, Coding Technologies.
votes: 30
It's related to Public Listening Test (discussion) (http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=77272&st=75)
This is poll madness! I can't keep up.
I voted for "Apple true VBR, Apple constrained VBR, Nero, winner of internal pre-test (Divx vs Coding Technologies)" simply because I want to see how the public perceives Apple's TVBR and CVBR AAC encoder settings. It might be a lot but I think it is worth throwing in there. Then Windows users can either sleep soundly knowing that iTunes CVBR AAC performs on par with QuickTime TVBR AAC or they can pursue other means to get QuickTime TVBR AAC on Windows (which would hopefully push others to make a gapless TVBR encoding option using QuickTime).
This is poll madness! I can't keep up.
You're right. This should be the last poll for the upcoming test.
Chris
How will the samples be encoded w/ Nero, Divx, & Coding Technologies ?
Because if you start using lots of special parameters, options, piping, etc in one encoder, then you can't really argue against a non-standard use of the Apple encoder.
Well, I'm in favor of minimal command lines, i.e. no quality switches, just out-of-the-box performance as in iTunes, for example.
In the nero case, that would mean command line: "neroAacEnc.exe -q {} -if input.wav -of output.m4a"
Chris
Can you get same average bitrates on a non-problem music collection using iTunes true VBR and iTunes constrained VBR?
See if you can get the old AT&T encoder for rates 128kb/s stereo and above.
JJ, actually, I'd be kind of interested to hear that. Is a 128-kb demo version publicly available, or can you make it publicly available?
Chris
Can you get same average bitrates on a non-problem music collection using iTunes true VBR and iTunes constrained VBR?
For my standard test collection of non-problematic various old and new pop music
--tvbr 60 (or 65) takes 128 kbps on average
--cvbr 128 takes 134 kbps on average (down to --cvbr 120 it's still 134 kbps, --cvbr 119 takes 116 kbps, so --cvbr 128 is an appropriate setting for the target bitrate).
194 files (18 CDs) rock music.
TVBR, HIGHEST (945,764,060 bytes) bitrate(foobar): 133 kbps
CVBR, NORMAL (957,294,913 bytes) bitrate(foobar): 135 kbps
CVBR produces +1.2% larger files. It's more than acceptable taking into account that we will compare compromising VBR settings for Nero and Apple encoders as Nero produces larger files on rock/metal music while Apple does on classic. The difference is considerable ~10%. So 1.2% is much less than 10%.
For classical music
Encoded this complete box (http://www.dg-111.com), 55 CD, 730 tracks, 58h30 of music including few mono discs (~30 tracks). I choose it for the test because FLAC bitrate (577 kbps) is very close to the average bitrate of my entire classical collection. So I assume this box is very representative for my usage.
QT 7.6.5 AAC TVBR 60 --highest: 127 kbps (minimum: 70 kbps ; maximum: 148 kbps) l encoding time¹: 1h56 (x30)
Nero AAC 1.5.1 VBR 0.42: 129 kbps (minimum: 87 kbps ; maximum: 143 kbps) l encoding time¹: 1h30 (x39)
____
¹ on Intel Core2Duo E6300, two cores encoding with foobar2000
For rock, metal, alternative, pop music. 31 CDs.
QT 7.6.5 AAC TVBR 65 --highest: 129 kbps
itunes CVBR : 131 kbps
Nero AAC 1.5.1 VBR 0.41 : 131 kbps
Nero's q 0.41 has comparable bitrate on rock music and q0.42 on classic.
q0.415 will be good compromise.
Albums:
1 Gustavo Cerati, Fuerza Natural
2 Soda Stereo, Hits
3 AC/DC, Hits CD1
4 U2, No line on the horizon
5 Fear Factory, Demanufacture
6 Steve Vai, The 7th song
7 Tarkan, Karma
8 Pink Floyd, A Momentary Lapse Of Reason
9 Sepultura, Roots
10 Korn, Greatest Hits vol.1
11 Queen, A Night At The Opera
12 Queen, Innuendo
13 Bob Dylan, Modern Times
14 Slayer, Seasons in the abyss
15 Slipknot, All hope is gone
16 Ozzy, Prince of Darkness CD3
17 Ashkhabad, City of Love
18 Moby, Play
19 Depeche, Song of faith …..
20 Barkley, Crazy - St. Elsewhere
21 Beck -Güero
22 Coldplay - Viva La Vida
23 Foo Fighters, Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace
24 The Prodigy, Music For The Jilted Generation
25 Type o Negative, Dead Again
26 Coldplay, A Rush of Blood to the Head
27 Depeche Mode, Ultra
28 Rolling Stones. Bridge to Babylon
29 Verve, Urban Hymns
30 Rolling Stones, Let it Bleed
31 Roger Taylor, Fun in Space