The Chat Thread

[greg]

Cool Greg!   You should celebrate with some Xenakis!

Haha! 
I have been listening to Takemitsu's Corona & Crossing, so I think that will suffice in place of Xenakis. 

[karlhenning]

Well done!

[Benji]

The board is pretty quiet the last two days.

What's everyone/anyone up to? 

[DavidW]

Work, had a busy Monday.  Probably same with the others too.

I finished ripping my music collection to mp3 booya!   I actually wasted the entire weekend on that home stretch, thus proving that I have no life.

[Benji]

Work, had a busy Monday.  Probably same with the others too.

I finished ripping my music collection to mp3 booya!   I actually wasted the entire weekend on that home stretch, thus proving that I have no life.

Dare I ask.... what bitrate?

I'm in the process of ripping my own collection, and i've come to the conclusion that the mp3s are mainly for the convenience of putting on my portable player, with the crappy earphones, so it's not effective, in terms of cost to my time, to rip any higher than 256kps because I'm not convinced I can really hear any shortcomings of that bitrate given the limitations of the player/format/earphones.

[karlhenning]

Seriously ratcheted busy-ness. Which is good, of course (job security and all that).  No juice for composition, but maybe the break is simply a good thing.

[DavidW]

Dare I ask.... what bitrate?

I'm in the process of ripping my own collection, and i've come to the conclusion that the mp3s are mainly for the convenience of putting on my portable player, with the crappy earphones, so it's not effective, in terms of cost to my time, to rip any higher than 256kps because I'm not convinced I can really hear any shortcomings of that bitrate given the limitations of the player/format/earphones.

I used lame -V 0 for the Bach, Haydn and Beethoven editions, but I switched to 128 for everything else because I double blind tested and I can't hear the difference, but I can put alot more music on my ipod.  If I want better sound quality that would mean I'm using my Senn 650s on my hifi which would mean that I'm playing the cd anyway!

[Benji]

I used lame -V 0 for the Bach, Haydn and Beethoven editions, but I switched to 128 for everything else because I double blind tested and I can't hear the difference, but I can put alot more music on my ipod.  If I want better sound quality that would mean I'm using my Senn 650s on my hifi which would mean that I'm playing the cd anyway!

Interesting. I'd never gone as low as 128 as i'd just assumed I would hear the difference.

192kbs has been the lowest i've used. That is the standard that Napster use and I can't hear anything wrong with anything i've downloaded from them.

You get more battery life out of the players at lower kps apparently. It works harder decoding higher bitrates?!

[DavidW]

Well you can test yourself.  Just rip a track to wav, and then compress to your desired bitrate and then extract that mp3 back to wav so that you have two wav files.  Download and install win-abx and feed it those two files and see if you can identify if x is a or b for different trials.  For 95% confidence that you are not guessing you need at least 8/10 correct.

Back ten years ago 128 was not as good as it is today.  That is considered a high bitrate now, and alot of streaming is at 64 which is the new 128.

[Benji]

Well you can test yourself.  Just rip a track to wav, and then compress to your desired bitrate and then extract that mp3 back to wav so that you have two wav files.  Download and install win-abx and feed it those two files and see if you can identify if x is a or b for different trials.  For 95% confidence that you are not guessing you need at least 8/10 correct.

Back ten years ago 128 was not as good as it is today.  That is considered a high bitrate now, and alot of streaming is at 64 which is the new 128.

Spot the scientist

You know what, i'll just take your word for it.

[DavidW]

Oh no you shouldn't!  Some people are more sensitive to mp3 artifacts than others.  Maybe you have a golden ear, or I have lead ears.  You won't know unless you abx!

Now you've opened the door, Ernie is sure to post five billion long posts on the subject!

[Benji]

Oh no you shouldn't!  Some people are more sensitive to mp3 artifacts than others.  Maybe you have a golden ear, or I have lead ears.  You won't know unless you abx!

Now you've opened the door, Ernie is sure to post five billion long posts on the subject!

Quick, change the subject!

Erm...what's your favourite marsupial? 

[karlhenning]

The Croupier's Marsupial

[DavidW]

Squirrel glider!  You just wish you were that bad ass!



Honey I'm running late for work, think I'll just glide in <jumps out window>

[Scarpia]

Well you can test yourself.  Just rip a track to wav, and then compress to your desired bitrate and then extract that mp3 back to wav so that you have two wav files.  Download and install win-abx and feed it those two files and see if you can identify if x is a or b for different trials.  For 95% confidence that you are not guessing you need at least 8/10 correct.

Back ten years ago 128 was not as good as it is today.  That is considered a high bitrate now, and alot of streaming is at 64 which is the new 128.

My decision may be skewed because I don't generally use mobile devices, but I only rip things lossless.  Even if at a given bit rate I can convince myself that I am unlikely to notice the difference, I will always be left wondering, for any given track, whether it might have been better in the original.  The addition storage requirements for flac is worth it, just for the satisfaction of abolishing this uncertainty.  Also, all this ripping takes so much time, I don't want to have to do it again, if I find out that my compressed tracks are not satisfactory.

[DavidW]

If I was using pc only I probably would rip into flac as well.  More than enough room on the hd.  I was tempted to rip everything as flac and then batch encode mp3s so I had both... but that doubles the time and at home I just play cds anyway.

[Scarpia]

If I was using pc only I probably would rip into flac as well.  More than enough room on the hd.  I was tempted to rip everything as flac and then batch encode mp3s so I had both... but that doubles the time and at home I just play cds anyway.

The shelves of CDs are getting oppressive, and my goal is to use my pc as a juke-box to feed a DAC connected to the stereo.  The CDs will be boxed up for backup, I'm thinking of keeping the booklets handy for reference while listening to the FLACs.

[Benji]

The shelves of CDs are getting oppressive, and my goal is to use my pc as a juke-box to feed a DAC connected to the stereo.  The CDs will be boxed up for backup, I'm thinking of keeping the booklets handy for reference while listening to the FLACs.

I feel oppressed by every single one of my possessions.

I feel like they're a weight around my neck, stopping me from being able to move somewhere more exciting at a moment's notice. 

[karlhenning]

I feel oppressed by every single one of my possessions.

If you meet the Buddha in a pub, stand him a pint.

[Benji]

If you meet the Buddha in a pub, stand him a pint.