Seems like ATRAC3@105kbps is the best

[Avrin]

Tested it (on Depeche Mode's "The Best of Vol.1"). Sounds like a good Type I (Normal) Compact Cassette (there was that standard in 1970's) recorded by a good cassette deck. An old friend of mine (an iRiver fan) was shaken by the sheer sound quality of the album played at this bitrate by my good old RH10. I really like the sound of ATRAC3@105. It has finally found its way on HiMD!!! No more 41 kbit/s padding!!!

And I'm a DVD-Audio fan.

And I am a vinyl collector.

[bobt]

As I always say sometimes, let your ears be your guide, and if it sounds good enough for what you need, then it is good enough for what you need.

I Think,

Bob

[Avrin]

bobt, you are exactly right. I mostly use ATRAC3plus@192 (and sometimes ATRAC3plus@256 for really complicated and fast music) for the music I listen at home through my Hi-Fi stereo system. Sounds excellent, has almost no artifacts (and I know what good quality is), and adequate disc capacity. But for the music to listen in a noisy street, or on the subway, ATRAC3@105 really shines. Yes, it was useless for MDs with its padding up to the size of ATRAC3@132, but since there is no padding on HiMD, it is excellent with its 20+ hours on a HiMD blank and 6+ hours on an MD one. A single MD dics full of ATRAC3@105 is more than enough for a day's travel, while 3 hours of ATRAC3plus@192 is frequently not.

And the way ATRAC3@105 sounds reminds me of the good old days of cassette players.

Edited November 26, 2006 by Avrin

[Rafiki031]

Why the ATRAC@105 is dissapear in the SS 4.0 to transfer in old MDs(NetMD)?...

[Avrin]

It is completely useless on NetMD, unless you already have files encoded at this bitrate. If you have a CD, you'd better rip the tracks to ATRAC3@132, and put those on NetMD - you'll use the same disc space, but will get better quality.

But if you want to use ATRAC3@105 with HiMD, it is a different story. Rip the CD at this bitrate (use the registry hack described here http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showtopic=15928 to enable ripping to ATRAC3@105 again - it works with SS42 also), and transfer the tracks to the disc - you'll get adequate quality using less space.

Edited November 26, 2006 by Avrin