JohnnyD 1,223 Posted January 27, 2020 Share Posted January 27, 2020 Hello. I need some help. I am in the process of re-importing my Apple Music library which is all John Williams. I am not an expert when it comes to sound quality, so I need to know the best bit rate for the best sound quality. I believe these custom settings are satisfactory, but I would like to know if I need to make any adjustments in order to ensure the best sound quality. My current custom settings for importing are as follows: Stereo Bit Rate is 320 kbps. Use Variable Bit Rate Encoding (VBR) set at the highest quality. Sample Rate is on Auto (two highest settings are 44.100 kHz and 48.000 kHz). Channel setting is on Auto (two options are mono and stereo). Stereo mode is set to normal (the other option is Joint Stereo). Smart Encoding Adjustments is on, and the option to filter frequencies below 10 Hz is on. Any adjustments needed? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Koray Savas 2,251 Posted January 27, 2020 Share Posted January 27, 2020 Technically, if you want the best, you should encode in Apple Lossless. But 320 AAC is completely fine if you’re not an audiophile. 1977 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnnyD 1,223 Posted January 27, 2020 Author Share Posted January 27, 2020 So simply switch to Apple Lossless Encoder? That will give me the best quality? Just out of curiosity, why is that? What is the technical difference between MP3 Encoder using the custom import settings I mentioned and Apple Lossless Encoder? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay 37,378 Posted January 27, 2020 Share Posted January 27, 2020 Apple Lossless is, well, lossless. The files will take up more space in your computer and portable devices, but will be true copies of your CDs, no loss of audio data at all. The other option is lossy encoding, which means the files will be much smaller, and take up much less space, but are technically missing audio information in order to achieve such small file sizes. Most humans cannot tell the difference between a lossless file and a lossy file made with the settings you described in your main post, so it's up to you if it's more important to fit more files on your devices, or more important to know you are literally not missing any information that's on your CDs. MrJosh 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnnyD 1,223 Posted January 27, 2020 Author Share Posted January 27, 2020 Thanks, Jason. When you put it that way, normally it would not matter to me, but when it comes to the Maestro, I'd rather have every bit of sound information included in each music file. Besides, space is no concern for my computer or iPhone. Thanks again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrJosh 892 Posted January 27, 2020 Share Posted January 27, 2020 1 hour ago, Jay said: Most humans cannot tell the difference between a lossless file and a lossy file made with the settings you described in your main post, so it's up to you if it's more important to fit more files on your devices, or more important to know you are literally not missing any information that's on your CDs. That seems to be very true that most cannot distinguish a difference. I can say that for me, there is a certain 'solid-ness' and/or 'crispness' with lossless files that I can detect over compressed audio, even at 320bitrate MP3 (have had people do some tests on me). However, this is with some higher-end headphones & good amp. Listening in my car, on lower-end earbuds, or my stereo which is not very good at this time, I don't think I could pass the same test with accuracy. That being said, for me it's also a mental thing where I want to know that my music isn't missing any information and so when importing music, I'd want to know that I'm hearing what I'd hear if I popped a CD into a player. Now HD-Audio is a different story and I so far cannot tell any difference between say 24bit 96KHz vs CD quality. My equipment is perhaps not good enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrotherSound 2,246 Posted January 28, 2020 Share Posted January 28, 2020 2 hours ago, MrJosh said: Now HD-Audio is a different story and I so far cannot tell any difference between say 24bit 96KHz vs CD quality. My equipment is perhaps not good enough. No one’s been able to demonstrate any perceptible difference with so-called high-red audio and CD quality in double blind tests. And no wonder: unless you’re a dog, you’re not going to detect frequencies above 20khz or so, and very few recordings even take advantage of the dynamic range afforded by 16 bits. rough cut 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rough cut 1,714 Posted January 28, 2020 Share Posted January 28, 2020 On 1/28/2020 at 3:14 AM, BrotherSound said: No one’s been able to demonstrate any perceptible difference with so-called high-red audio and CD quality in double blind tests. And no wonder: unless you’re a dog, you’re not going to detect frequencies above 20khz or so, and very few recordings even take advantage of the dynamic range afforded by 16 bits. Yup. A 320 kbps mp3 compared to a lossless 16bit 44kHz rip will just not sound as good - even with moderately priced headphones you’ll be able to tell the difference. While on the other hand, compared to a 24 bit 96 kHz purchase of the same content, you’ll hear absolutely zero improvement - no matter how expensive your equipment. Don’t fall into either trap, mate. Just get rip everything in Apple lossless. BrotherSound 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay 37,378 Posted January 28, 2020 Share Posted January 28, 2020 11 hours ago, rough cut said: Yup. An 320 kbps mp3 compared to a lossless 16bit 44kHz rip will just not sound as good - even with moderately priced headphones you’ll be able to tell the difference. But he was never contemplating making 320kbps MP3s, he was planning on making VBR AACs. Huge difference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnnyD 1,223 Posted January 28, 2020 Author Share Posted January 28, 2020 That was one option I was considering, as the setting was on MP3 Encoder with those custom settings. I'm settling with Apple Lossless Encoder. BrotherSound 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrotherSound 2,246 Posted January 28, 2020 Share Posted January 28, 2020 1 hour ago, JohnnyD said: That was one option I was considering, as the setting was on MP3 Encoder with those custom settings. I'm settling with Apple Lossless Encoder. Yeah, I think you’ll be glad you did, especially as cheap as storage is these days. You can always convert to lossy formats if you want (iTunes has a setting to automatically do this when syncing files to device). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rough cut 1,714 Posted January 28, 2020 Share Posted January 28, 2020 4 hours ago, Jay said: But he was never contemplating making 320kbps MP3s, he was planning on making VBR AACs. Huge difference. I don’t know if it’s huuuuuuuge, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1977 1,743 Posted January 28, 2020 Share Posted January 28, 2020 I archive my CDs in ALAC and re-encode those to AAC (usually at 192kbps) for listening on my phone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lairdo 726 Posted January 29, 2020 Share Posted January 29, 2020 I definitely support Apple Lossless as the format. It is worth the disk space and future proofs your collection if you need to change formats in the future. If you use Apple Music (the subscription service) or iTunes Match to create a cloud library from your collection, copies you download on other devices will likely be a matched AAC lossy file for any albums that are available in Apple Music. So, if you digitize a The Rise of Skywalker CD, it will likely match. But if you rip a La-La Land set, it will likely not match and the file online will be your lossless one. (Since speciality albums are almost never for sale digitally.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnnyD 1,223 Posted January 29, 2020 Author Share Posted January 29, 2020 I don't use the subscription service or iTunes Match. I just import directly from the source. Digital purchases are obviously different. Thanks for the advice and encouragement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1977 1,743 Posted January 29, 2020 Share Posted January 29, 2020 4 hours ago, lairdo said: But if you rip a La-La Land set, it will likely not match and the file online will be your lossless one. (Since speciality albums are almost never for sale digitally.) Are you sure Apple doesn't convert these to AAC when uploading to the cloud? Do you have a source confirmng this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jurassic Shark 12,094 Posted February 23, 2022 Share Posted February 23, 2022 Looks like Stefan is around on new adventures. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-60486726 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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