Audiophile MP3, possible, but not making best use of space

jasontkennedy · « **on:** 2 Oct 2004, 07:36 pm »

MP3's are certainly permeating the market/industry/probably your home. And they aren't necessarily bad. I'm glad to see a post recognizing that there are differing qualities of MP3 some bringing them to near CD quality (when they first hit the claim for "near CD quality" at 128Kbps 2 was ridiculous). There are encoders that use LAME, which is an open source development model that allowed to improve MP3 quality over the years. Now getting closer to CD quality.

I would, however raise awarness to a few other alternatives to MP3 that more closely saticfy the audiophile's desire for the combination of audio perfection and convieniance.

As good as MP3 is as a compression algorithm it still has a few irresoulvable, inherent probles. It is a protocol that is proprietary and patented. So while there is room for refinement; the refinement still occurs within the boundries of the protocol. For example, DVD's are an exquisite example of the NTSC(near) protocol, however it is still NTSC, not HD. It order to expand laterally you have to be willing to rewrite the protocol. While MP3 is much better now than it was in 1998, it is still using the same core and it has to based on it's patented protocol. If it began to transcend that protocol, it would cease to be MP3 and would have to be something else. So, you ask what are the alternatives.

Ogg Vorbis - Ogg is like MP3 in that is a compression format that uses an algorithm to reconfigure music as seemlessly as possible to take less space. However it has some benefits. It is not proprietary or patented. It is completely open source which means if you want to go and try to refine the source code that you are boundless in how you change it, and you have nobody to answer to. If your change is effective in enhancing the accuracy of the process it will be included in the next available revision. In other words, a lot more people are working on this and it's potential is not incumbered by concrete-pre-established protocol. If you want to flex somewhere as a coder it can flex. As a result .ogg files that take up the same amount of space as an MP3 file at a similar bitrate will sound audibly better. And this isn't really a matter of opinion, it is a matter of fact. Measurably by ear or by math. The difference is considerable. Not to mention Ogg's highest potential encoding rate is around 500 Kbps or about a 2:1 compression of wave files.

Ogg VS. Mp3 = Mp3 gets creamed. For more info on Ogg Vorbis goto
www.vorbis.com

FLAC = Free Lossless Audio Codec - FLAC implements all the benefits that OGG has. IE is is open source and unrestrained by any concrete protocol. FLAC goes to the next level in quality. Offering a real possablity to replace your CDs. In other words, you could encode everything in this format and put all of your CD's in storeage. I have listened myself and have found it impossable to hear a difference between CD and FLAC. The only real dif is from the player that you use, because the source material sounds the same. FLAC's encoding rate picks up where OGG leaves off. It compresses WAV files anywhere from 2:1 up to 1.5:1. These take up some space, but of course are quicker to access and more seemless than CD's. FLAC is a great choice for whole house audio. Buy a $300 PC with LINUX or WIN XP and a good sound card and set a random playlist or whatever. All the sudden all of your CDs aren't sitting lost in some massive changer somewhere. They are back in your CD wallet and ready to GO.

FLAC vs. MP3 = Ferrari vs Tyco remote controled car

I hope this is helpful to you all. By the way just in case you are wondering what I use. I Have a Rio Karma 20 GB mp3 player that plays Ogg, FLAC, WAV, mp3, and WMA. Most of my CDs are encoded in Ogg and a few (audiophile stuff) in FLAC. The Karma comes with a docking station with ethernet, USB 2.0, and REAL ANALOG AUDIO OUTS. So I am using Audioquest Diamondbacks 1m to hook the docking station to my Audio Research preamp. Setting the Karma in it's cradle and starting a CD and the Karma on the same track at the same time and switching.... I have a hard time telling what's what. I am using a 1998 Sony ES (it's nice believe me) CD player as a transport and an Audio Alchemy DAC just so you know about myu CD rig.

Well tha's my 2cents

ted_b · « **Reply #1 on:** 2 Oct 2004, 08:44 pm »

I couldn't agree more. FLAC is my codec of choice, but the only drawback is a paucity of portable player support (Jason has about the only one it is supported on). FLAC is perfect, however, for pc-based stuff because it archives well (40% storage savings,, decodes easily) and runs unaltered on pc-based players like foobar (my fave). Net/net, if Apple would open up the iPod to things like FLAC it would be the total solution. Apple lossless is available, but a bit too proprietary for me.

personally I run 224 AAC (yeah, proprietary as hell) on my iPod (very good sound) and FLAC on my pc-based foobar. I rip them from EAC as albums (one big file) and then, in parallel, encode them to flac and import them to iTunes in AAC.

P.S. And archiving in lossless allows for futureproofing; i.e if something comes along that has better support or compression technology, you haven't lost anything (pun intended).

Ted-B

Tyson · « **Reply #2 on:** 3 Oct 2004, 05:47 am »

jasontkennedy,
OK, you definitely have my attention. How do I set up vorbis to be my compression program in EAC?

jasontkennedy · « **Reply #3 on:** 5 Oct 2004, 04:54 pm »

Well Tyson, that is a good question. I use "Audiograbber", which is similar to EAC. However, I did a google search - eac ogg - and got this page
http://www.ogghelp.com/ogg/articles.cfm?AID=2
as the first result. Its a step by step tutorial on how to use ogg in EAC, with pitcures. I hope that helps tyson

Tyson · « **Reply #4 on:** 5 Oct 2004, 10:16 pm »

Hmm, that was easy. Just ripped some stuff at quality level 7, it does indeed sound better than the LAME MP3 encoding. Thanks!

Tyson · « **Reply #5 on:** 6 Oct 2004, 06:37 pm »

Also, ripping with OGG, even on a high q setting of 8, gives very small files, better sound, and is much faster than LAME. Where EAC and LAME typically took about 30 minutes to rip and compress a CD, EAC and Vorbis (OGG) take about 15 minutes. Nice.

jasontkennedy · « **Reply #6 on:** 7 Oct 2004, 08:44 pm »

I'm glad to see you are enjoying OGG encoding. Just further proof that open source is better. Free exchange of knowledge...... Hmmm nobody is hording or hiding anything, it's FREE exchange, an OPEN SOURCE. Imagine the implications that would have in fields like energy production. Too bad greedy corporate bastards are against this sort of thing.