Let me and everyone know what you deem as an “acceptable” KBPS for you audio files (essentially how good the music sounds). 128? 192? 320? Or even lossless (FLAC etc.)?
I’ll personally accept 128 on my Pop music and on any samples/accapellas I use, but I have to have my beats at least at 192 although preferably at 320.
My standard would be 320, but I do a lot of non-club parties that want to hear pop songs… Because of this I have to have wider variety of music and I tend to get a fair amount of music from friends that normally have it at 192. Most all of my House/Trance/Etc. music is 320.
I buy wav off Beatport, if its mp3 - 320kbs, with not much exception unless its some crazy rare track which is impossible to find, then I’ll work with whatever bit rate its got (if it’s 128 kbs, I junk it).
CBR only, VBR is questionable in quality and makes certain mp3 capable CD decks go ape shit.
My bad, I meant to write compatibility but was still thinking about mp3 quality in my head lol.
Anyhow, that last part of the post was focused entirely on actual playback on certain CD decks, Denon decks are notorious for not playing nice with VBR format, and from time to time, even my CDJ-1000mk3 would get somewhat pissy. They may have corrected this with a firmware update, who knows.
i usually stick to 320 unless it’s some kind of remix or something where you can only get a lesser quality file. I’ve been getting more strict about my files lately and trashing a lot of old stuff and re-importing CDs and whatnot. When you plan on a nice loud system you really start to notice when a track is bad quality.
I stick with lossless whenever possible!! Most lossy encoders, for example those used to create MP3, OGG, etc use a low pass filter in the encoding process. This cuts out frequencies in the upper part of the audible spectrum (about 16kHz-20kHz), leaving a lot of detail out. While humans can really hear between only 20Hz and 20kHz, a lot of the frequencies in this range are composed of higher frequency harmonics that are well above the threshold of the human ear. Using a low pass filter in the encoding process cuts off these higher frequencies (which is done because they’re harder to encode, and saves space!). This cuts out a lot of detail, especially if you’re listening to the music on a great system.
Here’s a visible example of what the upper end of the spectrum looks like with different types of compression:
In a club environment, it might not matter as much because the system is super loud and typically has a fair amount of harmonic distortion. I must say however, that most of the time I can pick out the lossy from the lossless, even in a club environment from listening to things like the cymbols in a song. Almost all of the time they sound super distorted when lossy.
Just my two cents, but then again I’m a bit of an elitest when it comes to my audio.
I find that if there are very complex parts in a song it will use a quite high bit rate and a lower bitrate for something such as silence. The average bit rate may not be as high as the bitrate of an MP3 of the same quality with constant bitrate.
You should use VBR encoding when consistent audio quality is the top priority
I also find that using CBR makes my tracks sound flat, vice VBR where there are more richer.
But that’s my opinion, it’s basically what you prefer to to rip at.
I had three copies of Michael Jackson - Billie Jean and somehow the 128Kbps sounded the best. I know if I had the same original WAV I could get a 256Kbps copy and it would probably sound best, but I just kept playing the 128Kbps version and it was solid. You guys are nuts. There is no way that you can tell between 256Kbps and 320Kbps or WAV with your ears. Stop dreaming that you are a robot. Not even Daft Punk !
I disagree to be honest with you. I mean, I can honestly not tell a difference with a lot of songs, but some of the songs I know in and out, backwards and forwards, you can tell a slight difference.
That being said, I’m probably being anal about it, but hell, I figure if sometime in the future I’m playing a tune and someone knows it backwards and forwards, I want them to know I’m playing at the highest quality.
And I know for sure at least one of my buddies is an audiophile nut about that kind of thing, and has nabbed me previously playing lower quality tunes.
I’d rather just stick with 320/wav and not have to worry about that.
