Audio Transparency, File Format and Bitrate Survey

[Razor54672]

Hi,

The poll aims to collect data on which file format and bitrate combination is preferred by most individuals (or sounds acoustically transparent to them when compared to lossless).

 

[yurqqa]

I have quite a big collection. I‘ve started to update replacing MP3s to FLACs several years ago, but in the middle of the process just forgot about it because streaming.

i don‘t care anymore.

 

[DVDdoug]

My iPod in the car is filled with V0 MP3s. I've never bothered with an ABX test. Every time I've thought I heard a compression artifact, it's turned-out the CD has the same "defect".

 

[Sombreuil]

FLAC when it's not the most legal source (I know...) and MP3 320kb/s CBR when I rip a CD or a download via Bandcamp.
The next step is getting used to ripping my MP3s in VBR.

 

[Χ Ξ Σ]

AIFF.
Because I can add album cover, etc.

 

[Razor54672]

My iPod in the car is filled with V0 MP3s. I've never bothered with an ABX test. Every time I've thought I heard a compression artifact, it's turned-out the CD has the same "defect".

Personally, I have tried some ABX testing and I do not think I can tell a difference between 160 kbps Opus and FLAC which was quite surprising for me as before I can almost surely claim that there was an audible difference. I will try with 96 kbps Opus next and won't be surprised if I hear no or very little difference with them.

 

[Razor54672]

AIFF.
Because I can add album cover, etc.

You can do that with FLAC too and save space losslessly compared to AIFF/WAV

 

[Pretorious]

ALAC for archival purposes and desktop listening. For portable/casual/everyday listening I sync to my iPad using AAC at 256kbps.

 

[Jumbotron]

Personally, I pick MP3 VBR -V0, which is not listed. It is as good as CBR 320 kbps and smaller in file size.

 

[daftcombo]

FLAC 16/44.1 or 16/48.

 

[pseudoid]

My war stretches back to the 70s against the "Hooligan Bastards and their Shenanigans".

Even back then, the RIAA insisted on injecting (mostly) unsuccessful poison-pills into our enjoyment of music. Most here were probably in their diapers, while the recording industry (CBS, et al, of the era) was busy attempting to circumvent LP/Record copying to cassettes: First, by putting a 3kHz notch in the vinyl pressings. Then, the Hooligan Bastards imposed a 'surcharge' on blank cassettes as they insisted that the 'musical artists were starving' because of music-cloning. There was also the pay-to-play (“payola”) scandal that reached a hearing in the US Senate. Then, there were the 'LP price fixing' FTC investigations, which the record industry only got their (collective) hands slapped for.

Finally, by 2010, I decided to start my own counter-insurgency against these Hooligan Bastards and their Shenanigans. My music library by 2010, was a few thousand mint LP records, hundreds of cassettes made from these LPs and about a thousand CDs.
At that time, I had started to canvas the internet in trying to find the 'best' CD ripper and found that dBPowerAmp was about the best utility for my needs. I think it took me near 4 months of continual effort to properly rip all my CDs into 320kHz CBR MP3s. I had selected the MP3 format only bcuz going to full FLAC format was averaging about 10X more disk space (re: MP3/320k). Recall that back in 2010, a 1TB HDD cost a small fortune.

My vigilante tactics against the Shenanigans of the Hooligan Bastards was my only means to bring back the joy of music into my life after decades of enduring their toxicity. I have not stopped my fight but prefer a library made of FLACs in this day and age.
Dog will Hunt...

 

[antcollinet]

ALAC for archival purposes and desktop listening. For portable/casual/everyday listening I sync to my iPad using AAC at 256kbps.

Yep - this. Except ALAC is not just archivel - also home listening from Mac.

 

[LTig]

I started with MP3 256 kBit/s rips when no other Codecs where available but switched to FLAC in the mean time - not because I could here a difference (I can't) but because a test of MP3 vs. CD done by the German computer magazine ct' in 2000 revealed that the only person who could hear a difference (Edit: even at 320 kBit/s) was a student with a hearing problem. The conclusion was that the masking did not work for him as expected for a healthy hearing. So to be sure that I'm not getting in a similar situation I stick with lossless compression.

 

[cochlea]

FLAC

 

[Hayabusa]

Hi,

The poll aims to collect data on which file format and bitrate combination is preferred by most individuals (or sounds acoustically transparent to them when compared to lossless).

opus 320 is not in the list... (spotify)

 

[Hayabusa]

. I had selected the MP3 format only bcuz going to full FLAC format was averaging about 10X more disk space (re: MP3/320k).
Dog will Hunt...

flac averages around 700kbit/sec so a little more than twice mp3 at 320...

 

[solderdude]

Hi,

The poll aims to collect data on which file format and bitrate combination is preferred by most individuals (or sounds acoustically transparent to them when compared to lossless).

FLAC and WAV are lossless by definition so no idea why they are in the poll and for instance MP3 VB is not.

Listing formats like WMA, AAC, MQA, Opus and Ogg Vorbis would have made more sense to compare to WAV, FLAC or other lossless formats.

 

[danadam]

opus 320 is not in the list... (spotify)

It's Vorbis, not Opus.

 

[MCH]

Recall that back in 2010, a 1TB HDD cost a small fortune.

Actually, i was quite surprised when i recently found out that 1TB HDD costs today still the same than in 2010.
But fortunately as my salary is a bit better than in 2010, i use flac (why not?)

 

[LTig]

Actually, i was quite surprised when i recently found out that 1TB HDD costs today still the same than in 2010.
But fortunately as my salary is a bit better than in 2010, i use flac (why not?)

Are you sure that the 1TB disk was a rotating hard disk and not a SSD?