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Topic: Problem with LAME in EAC (Read 2109 times) previous topic - next topic
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Problem with LAME in EAC

I'm new to EAC (a long, long time Audiograbber user, from back before it was called Audiograbber) and I've recently re-ripped my collection and ended up having a problem with the "dual stereo" setting in LAME... for some reason the music is much louder on the left speaker and sounds like hell when I use that setting.  Anyways, I now have to re-rip and encode everything and was browsing around because I don't want to screw things up again, and it seems that almost everyone recommends EAC.  But in the mean time I've figured out that if I encode using "stereo" with Audiograbber, everything works great.  But, if I do the same thing using EAC and LAME the left and right outputs are switched (left ear in right and right in left).  I don't to encode again and make another mistake, so can someone tell me what the problem with EAC is that I'm having?  I've used this website to configure EAC:

http://blowfish.be/eac/Lossy/lossy.html

Also can someone give me some general advice about encoding...

My understanding is:
- stereo is better than joint stereo
- VBR is better than CBR

Is it therefore OK to encode with VBR 0, stereo, or am I better off with CBR or joint stereo for one reason or another?  Disk space is not much of a concern for me... my entire collection fits on about 1/8 of my iPod's available space.

Problem with LAME in EAC

Reply #1 –
Quote from: canucknje on
My understanding is:
- stereo is better than joint stereo

No
Quote from: canucknje on
- VBR is better than CBR

Maybe
Quote from: canucknje on
Is it therefore OK to encode with VBR 0, stereo, or am I better off with CBR or joint stereo for one reason or another?  Disk space is not much of a concern for me... my entire collection fits on about 1/8 of my iPod's available space.

VBR is the better way to accomplish maximum quality per file size consistently. VBR 0 (also known as -V 0) should give the best quality possible except for rare examples, for which CBR 320 might give some further improvement.

If you really have that much disc space then you should consider using lossless instead.
 

Problem with LAME in EAC

Reply #2 –
Quote
stereo is better than joint stereo

That's not true.

Quote
Disk space is not much of a concern for me... my entire collection fits on about 1/8 of my iPod's available space.

Then you can use ALAC (lossless!).

Added: a bit too late... :/

Problem with LAME in EAC

Reply #3 –
Quote
with the "dual stereo" setting in LAME... for some reason the music is much louder on the left speaker and sounds like hell when I use that setting.
  I have no clue why one channel is louder than the other, or why it "sounds like hell".  That problem needs to be solved before you start worrying about V0 vs 320 CBR, etc.

Quote
My understanding is:
- stereo is better than joint stereo
- VBR is better than CBR
First, at high bitrates it's hard to say if one setting is "better" than another, since at high bitrates the MP3 should sound identical to the original (with most songs).

Joint stereo is generally better.  It's "smarter" and it takes advantage of the sound that's similar in both channels.    Regular stereo can end-up redundantly encoding the same information in both channels which is less efficient, and is not taking the best advantage of the limited bits available.  (i.e. With 320kbps regular stereo, each channel is encoded at 160kbs.)

For a given (average) bitrate, VBR is better.  Again, it's "smarter" and it uses higher bitrates when the music is complex, and it uses lower bitrates when the music is "simple" (or during silent parts).  However, 320 CBR is the "highest quality" setting, as V0 will not go above 320, and will use lower bitrates when lower bitrates can give good quality.

Quote
Is it therefore OK to encode with VBR 0, stereo, or am I better off with CBR or joint stereo for one reason or another? Disk space is not much of a concern for me... my entire collection fits on about 1/8 of my iPod's available space.
I'd use V0 joint stereo.  (Actually I do use V0!).  If it makes you "feel better" go ahead and use 320kbps CBR.