VBR vs ABR vs CBR vs amazon.com

[javajeff]

Does anyone know what AMAZON.COM uses? I heard they used 256 VBR. I went into dbpoweramp, and that does not seem possible. My VBR goes up to 240, and it is called extreme. Right now I rip at 196 CBR, and I was wondering what the benefits are to other settings as well as what amazon.com is using. I bought some mp3's from them, and they sound pretty good.

[Teknojnky]

Re: VBR vs ABR vs CBR vs amazon.com

I bought some mp3's from them, and they sound pretty good.

While not solving your technical curiosity, isn't that all that is needed? (to sound good enough)

[javajeff]

Re: VBR vs ABR vs CBR vs amazon.com

Can you tell me what settings amazon are using and if I can duplicate it with dbpoweramp?

[Teknojnky]

Re: VBR vs ABR vs CBR vs amazon.com

I don't think any definative information has been release, but there have been some discussions @ HA

[javajeff]

Re: VBR vs ABR vs CBR vs amazon.com

Do you know how to create 256 VBR using dbpoweramp?

[xoas]

Re: VBR vs ABR vs CBR vs amazon.com

You can create 256 CBR or 256 ABR with dbpoweramp and some of the commentary at the link that Teknojnky mentioned suggest that CBR was used for those files. Is there a reason for wanting to go specifically VBR as opposed to CBR or ABR?

I suspect that Teknojnky is also right in suggesting that you are unlikely to hear a difference between 240 VBR and 256 CBR or ABR. You could try a test. This is a far smaller difference than 196 VBR and 240 VBR.

As far as I know, with dbpoweramp r 12 and later, unless you are willing to go to the extra measure to try to use the CLI encoder and to program the setting yourself, I don't see a setting for VBR beyond 240 in LAME. dMC r11.5 and earlier did allow you latitude to set the upper and lower limits for VBR and if you had r11.5 you could try to do it that way.

Of course it could be that Amazon uses a different mp3 encoder other than LAME, for all I know.

Best wishes,
Bill

[garym]

Re: VBR vs ABR vs CBR vs amazon.com

I've purchased mp3 files from amazon. Some are LAME -V1, some are LAME -V2, some are LAME -V0, some are LAME CBR or ABR, and some are some unknown CBR at 256. So it seems to vary quite a bit.

[javajeff]

Re: VBR vs ABR vs CBR vs amazon.com

I've purchased mp3 files from amazon. Some are LAME -V1, some are LAME -V2, some are LAME -V0, some are LAME CBR or ABR, and some are some unknown CBR at 256. So it seems to vary quite a bit.

How do you know when file is -V2, -V1, or -V0? I bought mp3's from amazon, and I can tell that the bit rate is not constant since it is jumping around. One song for example goes from 192 to 224 to 256 to 320, and constantly rotates between those values. How do I know if it is ABR or VBR? ABR in dbpoweramp does not have -V2, -V1, or -V0, so I would like to know why those values are constantly referenced and how you can tell. If amazon uses 256 ABR, can the value go up to 320?

[garym]

Re: VBR vs ABR vs CBR vs amazon.com

look at the mp3 file properties (id tag info) with dbpoweramp, mp3tag, foobar2000, etc. If the file was an mp3 created with lame, the lame headers in the tag show up in any of these programs. v0, v1, etc. are just the settings the file was encoded to mp3 by using LAME. Google LAME mp3 to find lots of info on the settings for LAME encoding. Yes, an ABR 256 file could have some parts at 320. ABR is AVERAGE bit rate.

And yes, you can create CBR, VBR, or ABR with dbpoweramp. I only use VBR. Just select the LAME mp3 codec when you do the conversion. But you'd only want to do this if you are ripping from CD then converting to mp3 (or converting from lossless (i.e., FLAC) to lossy). No need to convert a current mp3 to another type of mp3. Lossy to lossy would not be an optimum thing to do....

VBR files do "jump around" in terms of bit rate. That's the entire point of VBR. Do some googling on VBR mp3 files to get more info....

[javajeff]

Re: VBR vs ABR vs CBR vs amazon.com

I can see that these files are V0 Extreme with Lame using a mouse over to see the dbpoweramp info. What VBR setting do you use? Do you have an ipod? I am torn between good quality and smaller compression and higher quality. I listen to music on my computer and ipod equally, and two sets of mp3 files are not a good idea either. I am just curious what most people do since everyone is faced with the same issue. I have been ripping my entire collection to 192 CBR.

[Teknojnky]

Re: VBR vs ABR vs CBR vs amazon.com

There is no perfect setting, and the one you settle on must come down to the choice you make in size vs quality.

The files you buy from amazon (or other places) you probably won't have much of a choice. It is considered bad to (permanently) transcode lossy to lossy, but it might be OK if you have some type software that can transcode on the fly while syncing to your mp3 device so you save space on your player while retaining the original files.

I suggest you read the following article and many of the other help info in the HA wiki..

http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?title=Choosing_the_best_codec

I simply use V2 VBR for my device mp3, however I use FLAC (lossless) for all rips in the last year or 2.

[Nonreality]

Re: VBR vs ABR vs CBR vs amazon.com

I can see that these files are V0 Extreme with Lame using a mouse over to see the dbpoweramp info. What VBR setting do you use? Do you have an ipod? I am torn between good quality and smaller compression and higher quality. I listen to music on my computer and ipod equally, and two sets of mp3 files are not a good idea either. I am just curious what most people do since everyone is faced with the same issue. I have been ripping my entire collection to 192 CBR.

I rip to Flac in one directory for my Squeezebox and archival and Lame 220kbps VBR in the other. I have an 80 gB classic ipod and a 4gb rockboxed Nano. I would be fine with 190kbps but since I have the classic it's no big deal. The Nano is for traveling light so I just don't have as much on it.