How to make Audiophile .mp3's (yes, it is possible!)

Tyson · « **on:** 1 Sep 2004, 07:54 pm »

I know the stigma against mp3's is poor sound quality (I felt that way myself), but I've using a combo of EAC to rip, and LAME to encode, I end up with about a 7:1 compression ratio (ie, pretty small files), and shockingly good sound quality. Not perfect, but darn good. If regular 256 kbps mp3's are 70% of CD quality, the EAC/LAME encoding is closer to 90%, and the files are smaller to boot. And LAME and EAC are free ware.

So, what's the downside? Well, it takes a LOT longer to rip and encode a cd compared to just using Windows Media player or Real Audio or most other common ripping/compression programs.

Below is a link to a page a guy put together that covers exactly how to do this:

http://www.bestmp3guide.com/

Hopefully someone else will try it out. Just rip a CD from Windows Media at 256 or 192, or whatever, and then rip via EAC and Lame at 256 and do a side by side comparison w/the original CD track.

sunshinedawg · « **Reply #1 on:** 1 Sep 2004, 08:25 pm »

Have you messed around with lossless compression or are you after the really small files that lame gives you? There used to be a site called r3mix.net that had the best info/analysis on all the encoders and what were the optimal lame configurations for best sound to file size ratio. I believe the site no longer exists, but I might be able to find the settings they were last recommending for lame if you are interested.

Tyson · « **Reply #2 on:** 1 Sep 2004, 09:08 pm »

Yes, I'm definitely interested, I recently got a Rio Karma, and I'm loving the portability. Since I've got more CD's than I can actually load to the Karma, small file size is a definite plus. That's the only reason I'm not going lossless.

sunshinedawg · « **Reply #3 on:** 1 Sep 2004, 09:17 pm »

Here are the lame settings. I use lamebatch for a frontend to lame. These settings would be entered on the settings tab in the box marked other parameters. I'm not sure what frontend your using but think there should be a place to enter them. If not I think lamebatch is freeware and still available.

--nspsytune --vbr-mtrh -V1 -mj -h -b96 --lowpass 19.5 --athtype 3 --ns-sfb21 2 -Z --scale 0.98 -X0

ted_b · « **Reply #4 on:** 1 Sep 2004, 10:58 pm »

No need to enter lame settings, etc. Chris's site has a config file that will do it all for you, in EAC. The results are vbr MP3's that are small and quite good sounding. All you need to know is which config file, based on the adapter number that follows your cd drive in EAC. The configs include correct tagging info, etc. Chris's config file is loaded via EAC -> profile -> load profile. (Make sure you load the Nero aspi layer as well.) All the info is here:

http://www.cd-rw.org/articles/archive/mydeneaclame.cfm

Ted_B

Zero · « **Reply #5 on:** 1 Sep 2004, 11:54 pm »

Thank you for providing the link to the site. I have already begun converting my existing CD's over to MP3 format.

Are they as good as the CD's? Of course not. I did not expect them to. However, if you desire to have mp3's that are very tolerable that closely approach what you enjoy with cd's, you owe it to yourself to give it a try.

jgubman · « **Reply #6 on:** 7 Sep 2004, 11:32 pm »

I've been following the directions on these sites and converting mp3s today. They certainly seem to be better copies than the 192kbps AAC files I've been ripping/encoding via iTunes on a mac. Much better, in fact.

The importing is painfully slow though, and I have one question. Step 5 in the directions says to insert the CD BEFORE you start EAC. Is this step neccessary every time or just the first time you rip files? If you need to shutdown and restart EAC for each CD ripped, why is this neccessary?

ted_b · « **Reply #7 on:** 8 Sep 2004, 02:01 am »

No need to start and stop/close EAC at all. I usually insert a cd, start EAC and then leave EAC up during the whole process.....i.e pressing eject from the EAC gui, getting a blank palette, inserting a new cd, etc. HOWEVER, an important point in EAC ripping: do not attempt to do much else during the rip process (i.e opening other Windows apps). It takes precious processor power away and some purists believe it may in some way risk a less than perfect rip. The LAME Dos window (when ripping for MP3's) doesn't seem to be a problem, however.....
Anyway, I leave everything alone and let EAC rip away.
P.S. Clean the cd or use Disc/Game/DVD Doctor for a quicker, less error-prone rip. Also, I try to remember to rip brand new cd's before I even play them now....they rip quite quickly, and I now have a nice archive for whenever a scratched cd goes south.

evil-zen · « **Reply #8 on:** 18 Sep 2004, 10:42 am »

Command line switches like --nspsytune --vbr-mtrh -V1 -mj -h -b96 --lowpass 19.5 --athtype 3 --ns-sfb21 2 -Z --scale 0.98 -X0 or --r3mix (which is just a short-form of switches like the above) are superseded by commands like --alt-preset standard, --alt-preset extreme, --alt-preset insane. These new commands has special code level quality enhancements which are not represented by normal command line switches and offers better quality.

http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=203

WerTicus · « **Reply #9 on:** 30 Sep 2004, 04:38 pm »

not good enough mp3 ends at 16khz.

Tyson · « **Reply #10 on:** 30 Sep 2004, 05:02 pm »

Nope, if you use 256k, LAME lowpasses at 21khz, not 16khz. Here's the rundown for LAME:

128k/16kHz
160k/18.0kHz
192k/19.5kHz
224k/20kHz
256k/21kHz
320k/22kHz

WerTicus · « **Reply #11 on:** 1 Oct 2004, 09:53 am »

how interesting...

i dont see the point of having mp3's though... storage is so cheap just buy another hd and have wav's on it

and you can still tell the difference, even with these super mp3s

Tyson · « **Reply #12 on:** 1 Oct 2004, 03:51 pm »

I only do mp3's for portability. I can fit a signifigant portion of my classical library on to a single Rio Karma (about 200 albums), at about 90% of CD quality. That's a lot of good sound and a lot of portability, and a LOT of music....

For home use I agree, I just stick with CD's.

TheChairGuy · « **Reply #13 on:** 1 Oct 2004, 04:31 pm »

Lemme' ask you guys something, as moderator, here:

A year ago, maybe even 4 months ago, I would have moved this very good and informative topic automatically to Square Circle with the notion that is was PC-based audio. But, times and notions change.

Should this stay in Audio Central or be moved to Square Circle? I ask both for this subject, as well as many similar others that are sure to follow in the near future. Truly, the long talked about convergence of PC, audio and video is now occurring.

Thx, John aka TheChairGuy

Tyson · « **Reply #14 on:** 1 Oct 2004, 06:12 pm »

Tough call! I'd probably move it to the square circle since the ensuing discussion became somewhat mp3 and encoding specific.

TheChairGuy · « **Reply #15 on:** 1 Oct 2004, 07:12 pm »

Allrighty..with the powers vested in me from theborg I now pronounce this topic...MOVED

If the author of the topic says send it to 'Square Circle' it shall then be...

ted_b · « **Reply #16 on:** 1 Oct 2004, 08:08 pm »

Quote from: Tyson

I only do mp3's for portability. I can fit a signifigant portion of my classical library on to a single Rio Karma (about 200 albums), at about 90% of CD quality. That's a lot of good sound and a lot of portability, and a LOT of music....

For home use I agree, I just stick with CD's.

Heck, for that matter, for home use, stick with a lossless codec (like flac, for example), not wav. Wav is too big and with flac you lose nothing, except size. Most pc-based players, like foobar, play back flac natively. I know hd costs are going down, but 40% space savings is still of value.

ted_b

WerTicus · « **Reply #17 on:** 2 Oct 2004, 11:00 am »

yes flac is good then

eastein · « **Reply #18 on:** 2 Oct 2004, 02:46 pm »

Another benefit of Lossless compression is reducing the network load when streaming to one or more wireless devices like a squeezebox or airport express