Converted to FLAC

[Tapio Dmitriyevich]

Isn't that v -0? If so, it's effectively 320 on the peaks. Sonically, I would expect v -0 to be the same as 320, but with smaller files.

    To avoid the 320 barrier and to get more quality at equivalent filesizes I use AAC with the Nero encoder in dBPowerAmp. AAC uses a 400 kbps maximum instead of 320. It's also a more modern encoding system that will beat mp3 in sound tests at the same bit rate. Nero has a better VBR than Apple, which is why I don't use iTunes.

-v0 of lame is simply the best VBR preset and the average bitrate of the files depends on the audio material. Any modern codec is better, e.g. they aren't bound to the fixed block sizes (320,256,224,192 ... 32 kbps).

You go the completely wrong way if you create files with Nero AAC at > 300 kbps average. Because a) very likely you won't hear any artifacts with nero AAC at much lower bitrates (maybe >150) and b) lossless encoding of classical music starts at 400 kbps und a lot is between 400-700 kbps. You should really go lossless then.
For just casual listening and with modern codecs you're on the very safe side with results around 200 kbps, this is how I do it for my living room stereo. Vorbis at q8.

[drogulus]

-v0 of lame is simply the best VBR preset and the average bitrate of the files depends on the audio material. Any modern codec is better, e.g. they aren't bound to the fixed block sizes (320,256,224,192 ... 32 kbps).
You go the completely wrong way if you create files with Nero AAC at > 300 kbps average. Because a) very likely you won't hear any artifacts with nero AAC at much lower bitrates (maybe >150) and b) lossless encoding of classical music starts at 400 kbps und a lot is between 400-700 kbps. You should really go lossless then.
For just casual listening and with modern codecs you're on the very safe side with results around 200 kbps, this is how I do it for my living room stereo. Vorbis at q8.

     It's funny, your first paragraph gives a very good reason why AAC is better (though its a theoretical point, in practice Nero and other AAC codecs routinely defeat LAME and Vorbis at comparable bit rates). Some of the problems that mp3 has with problem samples may be related to the fixed block size, but I don't know.

     In your second paragraph you say I won't hear any artifacts at that high rate. Naturally I don't want to. Since my files average between 250-310 kbps with the Nero q = .75 setting, they are half the size of lossless and sound the same. That's not pointless at all. I use a high rate because I'm paranoid, btw.

     I just did a conversion to check:

     WMA Lossless: 36.66 MB

     Nero AAC at q = .75 (313kbps): 17.25 MB

[DavidRoss]

The chronic statement of opinion as if it were fact is laughably ironic in the case of one so proud of his imagined rationality and so quick to disparage others he imagines as his intellectual inferiors. 

[drogulus]

For just casual listening and with modern codecs you're on the very safe side with results around 200 kbps, this is how I do it for my living room stereo. Vorbis at q8.

      I did a Q = .55 of the same file so:

      WMA Lossless (681 kbps):         36.66 MB

      Nero AAC at q = .75 (313 kbps): 17.25 MB

      Nero AAC at q = .55 (205 kbps): 11.34 MB

      I could probably get away with this, but as I say I'm paranoid. If I really needed to save space on a player that badly I'd get a player with a higher capacity so I could use bigger files. Incidentally, the file I'm using to make these comparisons clocks in at 76.04 MB as a 16/44 WAV (1,411 kbps).

[Tapio Dmitriyevich]

If you can afford the space it is alright. No need to be paranoid if your goal is not archiving, but only listening (and probably having the original source somewhere else). Just 2 thoughts: You'll not hear any difference between the 0.55/0.75 Nero AAC files. I'd say even with 0.55 you're on the safe side.

[drogulus]

If you can afford the space it is alright. No need to be paranoid if your goal is not archiving, but only listening (and probably having the original source somewhere else). Just 2 thoughts: You'll not hear any difference between the 0.55/0.75 Nero AAC files. I'd say even with 0.55 you're on the safe side.

     Reckon not the need for paranoia. 

     Your point about the lossless archive is a good one. Still it hurts no one to use big files. I can only listen to so much music each night. My Nano has 7.42 GB of real capacity, so I can get plenty of music on it.