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Topic: Lowest compression that sounds good on headphones? (Read 5567 times) previous topic - next topic
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Lowest compression that sounds good on headphones?

Hi everyone,

I recently bought a sony PSP with a 1GB memory stick. It comes with some pretty good headphones.

What I want to know, is what is the best way to compress the music so that I can fit the maximum amount of music into 1GB. I have tried a 64 bitrate, and it sounds *decent* on headphones for most songs, and makes the file 1/2 smaller.

Is there another way to make the file a bit smaller, but still keep a decent listening sound on headphones?

Lowest compression that sounds good on headphones?

Reply #1 –
48kbps HE-AACv1 by nero sounds exceptionally good for its bitrate.

Lowest compression that sounds good on headphones?

Reply #2 –
And lets say I had a 5.0 MB 128kbps MP3, it would be reduced to about what, 1.6 MB?

Also, are there any other free programs I could use instead of Nero?

Lowest compression that sounds good on headphones?

Reply #3 –
Quote
And lets say I had a 5.0 MB 128kbps MP3, it would be reduced to about what, 1.6 MB?

Also, are there any other free programs I could use instead of Nero?
[{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Somewhere close to that.

I guess "Belight", a besweet GUI is a good choice for beginners for encode/transcode music to variety of formats, including 4 different types of AAC's.
Though I do have trouble with some of the codecs that makes a scratchy noice every 15 sec. using that software.
[a href="http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=85566]Belight Doom9's Forum[/url]

Lowest compression that sounds good on headphones?

Reply #4 –
You don't need to purchase nero to get the encoder (I think) -- you can get it at the bottom of the latest 48kbps listening test page (link 1)

I believe you can use dbPowerAmp to transcode / encode into nero aac, or use foobar.  I've never actually encoded to aac, but I've participated in the listening test.

Lowest compression that sounds good on headphones?

Reply #5 –
I'm actually interested in finding an answer to the same question.  I'm not sure what formats Sony Supports, (probably not Ogg Vorbis), but I rather like the way that Vorbis sounds at about that bitrate.  You can use ogg q0 to get files that are about 64bit/s.

Probably, most people would think that HE-AAC sounds better than ogg at very low bitrates, but I think that the artefacts in ogg at say, q0 are more tolerable than those in AAC.

with aoTuVb4.51 or such, you can encode at q-2 to get files that are just over 30 kbit/s, but I think they sound pretty bad.  To me, q1 is almost transparent without consciously trying to listen for artefacts, and that usually results in a bitrate of about 80 kbit/s.

Lowest compression that sounds good on headphones?

Reply #6 –
Quote
To me, q1 is almost transparent without consciously trying to listen for artefacts, and that usually results in a bitrate of about 80 kbit/s.

I agree with this...Vorbis tends to reshape the stereo field more so than its competitors at this bitrate but that is a much less harmful artifact than pre-echo, ringing, etc., IMO and not noticeable unless you have the original on hand for comparison (which is not likely for mobile listening).

Lowest compression that sounds good on headphones?

Reply #7 –
well.. since this is in the mp3 forum...

lame 3.93.1
-V 9 --resample 44 --lowpass 16 --nspsytune

should end up around 96kbps, depending on the song
Vorbis-q0-lowpass99
lame3.93.1-q5-V9-k-nspsytune

Lowest compression that sounds good on headphones?

Reply #8 –
Quote
well.. since this is in the mp3 forum...

lame 3.93.1
-V 9 --resample 44 --lowpass 16 --nspsytune

should end up around 96kbps, depending on the song
[a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=378027"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

UGH!

Resampling to 44kHz is totally useless at a 16kHz lowpass.  In fact, it's even counter-productive.

You'd best not resample at all, or resample at 32kHz.

However, you'd be better off using ogg Vorbis or HE-AAC if you can.

Lowest compression that sounds good on headphones?

Reply #9 –
Does the PSP support HE-AAC?

Or Vorbis?

If not, you are pretty much stuck with MP3.

But with a 1GB card, you can fit 250 songs using V5 and they sound excellent!
I'm the one in the picture, sitting on a giant cabbage in Mexico, circa 1978.
Reseñas de Rock en Español: www.estadogeneral.com

Lowest compression that sounds good on headphones?

Reply #10 –
The PSP does not support OGG or HE-AAC.  The PSP only supports atrac3, atrac3plus, wma, mp3, wav, and mpeg-4 AAC (LC-AAC).

It all really depends on how universally compatible you want your music.  If you want compatibility with other devices besides your PSP, the Lame mp3 encoder would be the way to go.  If you don't mind having less compatibility then LC-AAC would be fine (the iPod supports LC-AAC as well).  In my opinion, wma really isn't worth touching as -V 5 mp3 has better sound quality than 128kbps wma and wma requires more processing power from your PSP to play and will cause a reduction in battery life.  I have conducted, what I like to call, some extensive battery playtime testing for both my PSP and 5G iPod.  Believe me, 128kbps wma cut the PSP's battery life down from 11 hours (which I got with -V 5 mp3 and 128kbps LC-AAC) to 8.5 hours.

I have also done some listening tests using the PSP's headphones are they definately are not the best.  A $25 pair of Sony's will definately produce better bass and highs.

Anyways, back to topic.  I think your best bet would be to stick with -V 5 --vbr-new with Lame 3.97b2.  Just to give you some help, I have all my mp3 music encoded at -V 4 --vbr-new and I am able to fit 6 songs on a 32MB memory stick with each song coming in around 3-4 minutes long.  A 3 minute song encoded at -V 4 will roughly take up 3.5MB depending on the music.  -V 4 or -V 5 Lame 3.97b2 will provide pretty good files that will sound perfectly fine on the PSP's headphones.

Lowest compression that sounds good on headphones?

Reply #11 –
IMO, the lowest you can go with decent quality is -V7 --vbr-new, which lowpasses just under 15kHz, IIRC, and usually ends up someplace around 105kbps. Below -V7, things get too dicey and start sounding dull (as the lowpass drops further). But as others have said, I'd probably just stick to -V5 --vbr-new: it sounds quite good for the bitrate and is small to boot.

Lowest compression that sounds good on headphones?

Reply #12 –
Quote
Resampling to 44kHz is totally useless at a 16kHz lowpass.  In fact, it's even counter-productive.

You'd best not resample at all, or resample at 32kHz.
with a 32khz samplerate, the signal starts dropping off at around 15khz, just because 32/2 = 16 it doesn't mean that a 32khz sample rate can handle the 15-16khz content with much acuracy.  The point of using --resample 44 is to keep the signal from dropping off before 16khz.  If you can't hear the difference you can at least see it (using analfreq1.8 or something)

if you are only looking for 15khz of bandwidth, then I would highly recomend resampling to 32khz
Vorbis-q0-lowpass99
lame3.93.1-q5-V9-k-nspsytune

Lowest compression that sounds good on headphones?

Reply #13 –
Remember this will also depend on the quality of your ear/canal/headphones and what maybe ok for a cheap pair certainly won't be for a more expensive pair.

Lowest compression that sounds good on headphones?

Reply #14 –
When I think of sound quality on "headphones" I consider that implying that you hear more detail, less outside noise, and very high accuracy.

Of course, I'm pretty used to using Etymotic ER-4P in-ear headphones now... a world entirely different from say, cheap dollar store, or those bundled headphones that come with many low-end players.