There is a HUGE difference between 128 and 256kbps MP3s (1 Viewer)

[Larry Seno Jr.]

Usually I just grab whatever on Audiogalaxy, but lately i have been selecting 256s to compare to the 128s, and there is a HUGE HUGE difference in sound stage, it's amazing. If you haven't tried it yet, you should.

 

[Andrew Santos]

were you comparing joint stereo or regular stereo mp3s?

i personally hate joint stereo. no real good reason why, i just do

 

[Jereme D]

What is joint stereo?

 

[Mike boettner]

Larry,
Try 320s, they sound almost real!
Mike

 

[Craig_T]

The encoder used makes a huge difference. People act like all 128 and 256kbps mp3s are created with the same encoder. A 160kbps mp3 is not necessarily superior to a 128 one.

 

[Philip_G]

WHY WHY WHY do people rip mpeg's at anything lower than 128? I find a lot of 64 and lower

 

[Bruce Hedtke]

Try 320s, they sound almost real

If you can find them, yes, they do sound terrific. 128kps is the minimum data rate that I would ever use.

Bruce

 

[Rob Gillespie]

I never use fix-rate. Lame with the R3Mix settings (VBR 96-320kbps joint stereo). More space efficient than the higher fixed rates and sounds as 'the same' as the original CD as I can distinguish (and I'm talking about playing on my HT system not just the PC).

 

[Martin Fontaine]

I use audio catalyst.. Fixed 320k if space is not an issue, or Varible with the highest quality setting if space is as factor.

Sounds pretty close to the actual CD (For playback in Headphones while working)

When I download off a file-sharing thing, I take the highest possible but it doesn't really matter because if I like the song, it's only a matter of time before I buy the CD.

 

[Larry Seno Jr.]

320s are nearly impossible to find. And the differences are a LOT more signifigant with real music as opposed to techno which uses a lot of samples and those are rarely sampled at the highest rate as it is.

For my experiment I used:

Courses of Nature "Caught in the sun"

and

Andrew WK "Party Hard"

It was NIGHT and day with Courses of Nature.

 

[Ken Garrison]

I prefer MP3s encoded with LAME at VBR and joint stereo.

 

[Mikael Soderholm]

What Rob and others say . I really can't understand why people use anything but LAME for encoding (just like I can't understand why not everyone uses EAC for ripping).

 

[Larry Seno Jr.]

Holy CRAP. The difference in the gritty rock is HUGE. The differnce between a 320kbps and 128kbps of The Strokes "Take it or leave it" makes one sound live, and one sound studio (This isnt the case). Im going back to buying CDs (well not really)

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Wow! I just ripped "Sympathy" from my Gutterflower CD using CDex and then converted it to 128 kbs MP3 in LameGUI since you guys recommended the LAME compression scheme. Then I compared it to the one I'd downloaded before I got the CD. Night and day difference! LAME adds depth. Thanks for the info, everyone!