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[zajacz3]

I'm a brand new user, formerly using MusicMatch, where I used MP3 encoding at VBR 100%, their highest quality setting.  What's comparable to that for MC?  Can you suggest a setting I should use for playback on a home stereo system, relatively high quality (NAD amp, Infinity speakers, driven by an Audiophile sound card.  Thanks.

FZ

[JimH]

If you care about sound, try lossless encoding.  Monkey's Audio or APE, for example.

[zajacz3]

Thanks, Jim.  This is perhaps a silly question, but does "lossless" really mean no loss in sound quality in comparison to the CD source?  Are the resulting files much larger than a 320 MP3 VBR?

Frank Z

[pipsqueak]

"does "lossless" really mean no loss in sound quality in comparison to the CD source? "
Yes exactly that.

"Are the resulting files much larger than a 320 MP3 VBR?"
Yes, somewhere between 600 and 1000kbps

dont know what the 100% setting is but MC will do MP3 VBR at a bunch of settings:
"--alt-preset extreme" hits 320 on certain bits of the song
"--alt-preset insane" is even higher...

[JimH]

When you rip in lossless format, you can figure you will get about 3 CD's per GB, so a 250GB drive can store about 750 CD's.  At $180 for the drive, that's around 25 cents US to store each CD.  It's worth it for the quality of the sound.

It's easy to prove this to yourself.  Just rip a CD to APE.  Then compare the sound to your MP3 file.

[Alex B]

MC uses LAME encoder. It has some specially tweaked audiophile settings for maximum quality.

Encoder: MP3 Encoder VBR -> Quality: Custom -> Advanced Settings
write there:
--alt-preset standard

This setting should be "transparent" for most ears with most music (sounds like original) and probably it sounds even better than what you got with Fraunhofer encoder in MMJB.

As pipsqueak wrote you could try also these:
--alt-preset extreme  =best VBR
or
--alt-preset insane  =best 320 kbps CBR

They make bigger files. I'm not sure if they sound any better.

All --alt preset settings are better than the old LAME default settings (in MC: High,Normal/High, etc). More information about LAME encoder and settings:
http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?showforum=15

New compressed formats OGG Vorbis (.ogg) and Musepack (.mpc) (=MPEGplus in MC) give somewhat better quality at the same bitrate than MP3. Hydrogen audio has forums also for them.

[modelmaker]

I also came from Musicmatch and used the same settings you did.

I have stuck with mp3 and have been using the mp3 VBR alt-preset extreme with excellent results. And as Alex mentioned and I can confirm, the lame encoded tracks do sound better than the Frauenhofer, so much so that I've gone back and re-ripped a lot of the stuff I ripped using MMJB.

[Alex B]

I have been ripping to "alt preset" MP3 until recently. Some time ago I started ripping to Monkey’s Audio (.ape)

My music library consists of about 110 GB of compressed files and about 10 GB of lossless. If they were all lossless that would make at least about 400 GB. When I count the two backups I like to have I would need 1200 GB of storage space. Also backup times would be quadruple.

Now I have been experimenting with Ogg Vorbis and Musepack with quite good results. I have used quality settings at about 8 to 9. Those high settings are said to be overkill for transparency, but probably there is more margin for transcoding to MP3 for portables. I have not yet decided which one is better for me. That is a tough question, because both sound so good.

In my opinion MC needs newer encoder versions for Musepack and Ogg Vorbis and also for MP3. The latest stable LAME 3.96.1 is problem-free and very fast.

I think one of the first things zajacz3 notices with MC (besides the good audio quality) is that MP3 VBR encoding is slower than before. It doesn't have to be so. (Obviously JRiver staff has been busy with other things, but maybe they could take a look for this also.)

I have replaced the encoders, but I would not recommend that for computer novices. (By the way, Musepack encoding is not yet working in MC11 for some reason.)

[zajacz3]

Thanks everyone for your advice.  Sounds like the Custom setting is right for me, perhaps the --alt-preset extreme.

Re-ripping CD's, huh?  Too bad I sold most of mine!#%!

fz

[nunisimo]

hi.

i've been following this post.  could someone tell me how to set the alt-preset extremem option?  when i go to encode, i just see settings for high-low quality and speed.  also, do you recommend using normalization?

thanks.

[Alex B]

i've been following this post.

Not very well, because:

Encoder: MP3 Encoder VBR -> Quality: Custom -> Advanced Settings
write there:
--alt-preset standard

... or --alt-preset extreme or --alt-preset insane.

[Alex B]

Here is a link to a normalizing thread:

Two questions concerning ripping and encoding

[tomgrossi]

Just wanted to weighin on the side of lossless, but for a different reason: futureproofing.  Depending on your equipment and ears, you may or may not ever hear the difference between a 320Kbps MP3 and true lossless.  However, standards will likely evolve and every time you re-encode into a new lossy format the sound will get worse and worse (as an experiement you can try encoding and extracting a file several times with MP3 and some other lossy algorithms and see what happens).   However, with lossless, you can freely move from one format to another no matter what future portable players, etc... are compatible with.  You'll never need to re-rip (as long as you backup!)

[kiwi]

I'll hop in and say that I completely agree with tomgrossi, once you've ripped the CDs, you can put them in storage and never rip them again.  Backup times aren't really an issue, as you probably aren't going to be adding all that much music once your collection has been ripped (at that point, all you have to do is back up the additional music that you've ripped.)

I'll throw in another advantage to ripping losslessly, you have a backup for your entire music collection.  If you break or scratch a CD, you can now recreate it exactly as it was.  Additionally, I have found that one of the worst places for CDs (in terms of their life) is in a car, having all of my music ripped to APEs means that if I want to listen to a CD in the car, I just burn it and take it with me.  No originals make it to the car.

kiwi