But the author still doesn't know about professional researches FLAC vs. For that case was implemented so-called "uncompressed FLAC". There is an opinion, that lossless compression (like FLAC) can degrade sound when playback (was discussed here).
If a conversion software work correctly and without sound processing, the binary content will identical. But we can pack WAV1 to FLAC, unpack FLAC to WAV2 and compare the binary content of WAV1 and WAV2. And we cannot directly compare binary content WAV and FLAC, in instance.
What is the best audio format for sound quality? All these formats are identical by binary audio content and able to keep the full CD's sound quality.įLAC and ALAC store compressed data. If you aren't in a hurry the newest 3.99.5n version has some new options but it just came out.Lossless files may be recommended as the best format to rip CD: noreplaygain is added by default by dbpoweramp. Y also only works on halb versions and influences high frequency encoding cvbr 0 only works on more recent halb versions, roughly those from 2015 (you did do step 1, right? ) q 0 says "don't limit the amount of processing it takes to fully implement the algorithms".
The -V 0 switch turns on the highest variable bit rate encoding (but largest file size). In the "Your final Lame CL1" box you should read: "-V 0 -q 0 -cvbr 0 -Y -noreplaygain". Then click on the "Advancd" button, and in the "Additional CL1" box, type "-q 0 -cvbr 0 -Y" (note there ARE spaces between a switch and it's numerical value). Start dbPoweramp CD Ripper - my version is a couple years old so this is what I see: In the Encoder settings box at the bottom of the screen, select VBR, and set VBR Quality to extreme resulting in -V 0.
Go to c:\Program Files (x86)\Illustrate\dbPoweramp\encoder\mp3 (Lame), (or similar if your install is different), rename your existing Lame.exe (if any) to Original_Lame.exe or something else descriptive, and then copy over the Lame.exe from the package you just downloaded.Ĥ. Download a current version and unzip it so that that Lame.exe is available.ģ. Download links are in forum posts but more than one version is available - study first.Ģ. Grossly oversimplifying, there have been two development paths, the 3.99.5 series and the 3.100 series which just recently MAY have merged into 3.99.5n if I understand correctly.ġ. Headquarters for that effort is the HydrogenAudio forum, Lossy Audio Codecs, MP3, MP3-Tech. MP3 encoding is still gradually evolving - this is not a backwards compatibility problem, just a gradually improving encoder. Reduced storage size is the only reason not to go lossless. If you need SACD or better listening quality you will HAVE to go lossless and your storage space requirements will multiply. We listened to several encoding methods before doing this and you CAN hear the diffenence, but for much music played via the various internet streaming codecs the limiting factor is still the quality of the recording itself - go to UTube and play SarahJarosz "BuildMeUpfromBones" and see if that is good enough quality.
Using the high quality LAME settings I use, a typical CD takes around 100MB (ten CD's per GB). VBR will save some space compared to CBR.Ĭomment: Several years ago I chose to encode my library in MP3 format becase of the space savings - even in that format I need a 128GB key or card to hold the whole thing, which was one of my goals.
To answer your original question (finally!) about mp3s, I believe the general consensus is that VBR V0 (highest setting) is the same quality as CBR at 320kbps.
I don't claim to have the best ear, but I cannot tell the difference between 256kbps AAC and 320kbps mp3. Downloads from the iTunes store are 256kb AAC CBR. You'll get better quality at the same bit rate. With respect to lossy formats, if you're strictly within the Apple ecosystem, consider AAC instead of mp3. The quality will only be as good as the mp3/AAC. You can convert from mp3/AAC to ALAC/FLAC, but you'll never get back the lost info. If you start with mp3 or AAC (both lossy), you've lost some information right at the start. This will let you keep the high quality ALAC files on your Mac and still save space on your iPad/iPhone. If you're loading the files to an iPad/iPhone, iTunes has an option to convert the music to 128/192/256 kbps AAC as it is loaded to the device. This will give you the best quality, works with iTunes, and you can always convert to another format (lossless or lossy) in the future. You bought a good product.Ĭonsider ripping the files to Apple Lossless (ALAC).