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Best Setting for Compressing Music

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DSJ

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In order to get 5,100 songs on to my NW A1200P, I've had to compress my music to ATRAC3plus 48kbps. I recently went back to CDs again for a couple of days but went back to the 1200 when having 80 minutes of music in my pocket would simply not do. Now I have over 20,000 minutes of music in my pocket, but the quality at 48kbps is not the best, and am noticing it more now that I used CDs for a couple of days. Ah, there are compromises at both ends!

What compression level do you use/recommend to get as close to CD quality as possible (without going for a straight 1411.2kbps WAV rip)? Are any particular encoders better than others?

My music resides on my hard disk at MP3 96kbps, but I am prepared to re-rip all of my music to get the best quality if I need to.

Any suggestions are most welcome.

DSJ

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I first tried LP2 (128 kbs) on my NW-HD1 (and NW-A3000) but found some slight but irritating artefacts, especially some treble distortion. I now use 256 kbs and I love the way that sounds, even in a quiet surroundings with a better headphone through an amp it sounds copyperfect to my ears.

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I also use 256kbs on Atrac+ its ounds great, when i first got my HD5 i tried both ends lossless and heavilly compressed and was not happy with either. So settled on good middle ground and have never looked back, i can't see the point of carrying 5000+ songs in my pocket. I have 200 great albums and i am a happy bunny.

Sophia

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I like ATRAC3 132 (also called LP2).

To my 40 year old ears it sounds the same as CD, even when playing through my home stereos. The higher bit rates are great, but if I cared that much about quality I would listen to the CD and not compress at all.

I also enjoy the longer battery life of my devices when using LP2.

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If you want to stick with ATRAC, then I think 192kbs is a good compromise. If not, you might want to consider using LAME and creating a VBR file - it's probably the best encoder in terms of sound quality to size ratio. The only reason I now continue to use ATRAC is because of its power efficiency - MP3s use almost double the battery power on a Sony player.

Let us know what you do :)

-Nav

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  • 1 month later...

Thanks for all your help guys. I am sorry I couldnt respond sooner. Been out of the country for a bit and not had access to the Internet. Can you imagine what my life was like - a few weeks without my cell, PSP, NW A1200, PCDP or the Internet......aarggghhh!

Thanks - I think I will stick to 96kbps MP3, as I think I overclocked my processor when converting all my music to ATRAC....SS seems to handle MP3 files quite quickly.

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Sound Quality is so subjective and dependant on so many variables that I think the best advice is to try the various bit rates and formats yourself with the set up you will use most often with a set group of songs. Then just see what bit rate and format you think sounds best. I don't think there is much point encoding at a higher bit rate if when you listen to it with your equipment and setting you cannot tell the difference between the high bit rate and low bit rate. But when doing the tests make sure you do use a wide cross section of music. When I have done tests myself I have found that some music styles suit VBR Lame MP3 (for example Coldplay: X & Y sounded considerably better in the high frequencies compared with ATRAC3plus) whereas other suit ATRACC3plus.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...

well i have all my track in mp3 format @ 128 kbps and if i convert my 128 kpbs to further below i will get not desired soundquality and sony has a grt stamina for mp3 as well and besoded this i can play gaplessly mp3 files on my sony nwe005 walkman. for 28 hrs+ in super power save mode with equlaizer so no need to go for atrac.

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