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What's your favorite digital audio format and encoder?

Discussion in 'BBS Hangout' started by alethios, Jul 1, 2011.

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  1. alethios

    alethios Member

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    I still use MP3 though I like the lossless format of FLAC. I use the LAME MP3 encoder with the Exact Audio Copy frontend. Problem I have with it is getting CD info, so I use something like Real Player to get that.

    I had used Real Player for encoding because it was convenient, but I was not impressed with the quality of the rips.

    What's your favorite encoder (Itunes, WMP, RP, CDex, etc) and audio format (MP3, WAV, OGG, FLAC, etc)?
     
    #1 alethios, Jul 1, 2011
  2. Ubiquitin

    Ubiquitin Contributing Member
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    This is the nerdiest thread year to date. I don't care what format my music is in, or which encoder was used. I care if it plays without sounding like ****.
     
    #2 Ubiquitin, Jul 1, 2011
  3. alethios

    alethios Member

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    So, this question isn't for you then. Thanks for the reply, though.
     
    #3 alethios, Jul 1, 2011
  4. liljojo

    liljojo Member

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    There is VERY little difference quality-wise between these different audio formats, so that only well-trained ears could tell the difference.

    I like mp3 because it plays on pretty much everything and is compact. I use LAME mp3 encoder because it's what my DAW uses when recording music.

    On a somewhat related note, I've always wanted a quality record player, just to hear what real analog sound is like. But those things are frikken expensive, so I guess not.
     
    #4 liljojo, Jul 1, 2011
  5. Dr of Dunk

    Dr of Dunk Clutch Crew

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    When I gave up on CD players (other than my car), I used EAC + LAME + settings/parameters from hydrogenaudio.org -> mp3. Sounded fine to me.
     
    #5 Dr of Dunk, Jul 1, 2011
    1 person likes this.
  6. REEKO_HTOWN

    REEKO_HTOWN I'm Rich Biiiiaaatch!

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    I have mostly all apple prudocts : iPod iPad iMac so I go iTunes and Apple lossless audio (ALAC)
     
    #6 REEKO_HTOWN, Jul 1, 2011
  7. alethios

    alethios Member

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    Really? I still have mine from the 80s, so I don't know what they cost these days. My turntable is a Denon DP-62L with a BlueStart Sumiko moving coil cartridge. Still sounds pretty sweet. Last LP I played was the Japanese pressing of Alan Parsons Project's Tales of Mystery and Imagination by Edgar Allen Poe. Side 2 is some of the most fantastic orchestra music I've ever heard.
     
    #7 alethios, Jul 1, 2011
  8. Poloshirtbandit

    Poloshirtbandit Member

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    That's what I've used for a few years now.
     
    #8 Poloshirtbandit, Jul 1, 2011
  9. Xerobull

    Xerobull You son of a b!tch! I'm in!

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    not...sure...if....nerds?

    [​IMG]
     
    #9 Xerobull, Jul 1, 2011
  10. No Worries

    No Worries Contributing Member

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    At work, my Apple laptop forces me through iTunes, which rips to .m4a iirc.

    At home PC, I have used AudioGrabber and FreeRIP to rip to mp3 or sometimes ogg.
     
    #10 No Worries, Jul 1, 2011
  11. SwoLy-D

    SwoLy-D Contributing Member

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    I still rip CDs as MP3.

    WAV takes too much space as far as in Kilobytes for the same sound... and, to me, sounds almost the same in 192Kb/s... I can't tell the difference.
    You can change it to rip to other formats in the advanced tab of the preferences. Can't you change them? :eek:
     
    #11 SwoLy-D, Jul 1, 2011
  12. No Worries

    No Worries Contributing Member

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    Are you telling me to RTFM?

    :grin:
     
    #12 No Worries, Jul 1, 2011
  13. SwoLy-D

    SwoLy-D Contributing Member

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    No: IRIFY. ;) ^^
     
    #13 SwoLy-D, Jul 1, 2011
  14. TreeRollins

    TreeRollins Contributing Member

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    MP3 V0, Lame. I am not willing to deal with FLAC because of the large amounts of disc space they take
     
    #14 TreeRollins, Jul 1, 2011
  15. Prince

    Prince Member

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    itunes...
     
    #15 Prince, Jul 1, 2011
  16. Jturbofuel

    Jturbofuel Member

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    I use Itunes to rip my cd's just because its convenient to sync my ipod and iphone.
     
    #16 Jturbofuel, Jul 2, 2011
  17. Nolen

    Nolen Contributing Member

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    If you're concerned about getting a perfect rip, and if you're using EAC you obviously do, have a look at dbpoweramp. The paid version costs a lot, but it has unparalleled access to several metadata providers. If you want to have top-level secure ripping of EAC along with the best metadata info, dbpoweramp is it, period.

    I rip my entire collection to FLAC and I use dbpoweramp batch converter to convert FLAC files to any bitrate mp3 I want, if I need.
     
    #17 Nolen, Jul 2, 2011
  18. Nolen

    Nolen Contributing Member

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    As for bitrates, mp3 VBR 168 or 192 sound good to me.
     
    #18 Nolen, Jul 2, 2011
  19. Dubious

    Dubious Contributing Member

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    You can get a 1 TB hard drive for $100. I am seriously thinking about redoing my whole music collection in FLAC. I still have tons of classics in 128K left over from Napster. but I think I could find it all in lossless if I tried. Probably more in " best of" re-issues than getting every album by every band.
     
    #19 Dubious, Jul 2, 2011
  20. alethios

    alethios Member

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    winner, winner, chicken dinner. I forgot about dbpoweramp. I had used the free version a couple of years ago and liked how well it worked. Thanks for that reminder. Maybe I'll pony up the change for the pro version, since access to metadata is crucial for doing thousands of rips.

    I also rip vinyl, and for editing the audio stream, I use Audio Tools, which has an awesome collection of filters that you can arrange in any order.
     
    #20 alethios, Jul 2, 2011
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