What bitrate do you guys use for your MP3s?

Greenbean

Registered
I understand the differences in WMA, WMA Pro, lossless and all the rest. But for MP3s and listening in a helmet and stuff.

What are your guys preferred bitrate?

Thanks,

GB
 
I am experimenting with my MP3 player, I have some cds that sound great and they are at 196, I am riping one now in 126 and will compare on the playr to see if I can tell the difference in clarity versus volume level.

Well I also called Big Ears Inc since they are the ones who made my ear phones and they recommended 320.
 
128 is a good compromise between file size and sound quality, particularly when using headphones.
 
So am I crazy for just now listening to two tracks, both trance back to back on my MP3 player and the volume was set for the 128 track, then I switched to the 192 track and the volume was lower. I guess my Sandisc @gig player can't use the added info on the 192, man the difference was wild.

I'll try and load some more at 128 and see if any of the music is clearer.
 
So am I crazy for just now listening to two tracks, both trance back to back on my MP3 player and the volume was set for the 128 track, then I switched to the 192 track and the volume was lower. I guess my Sandisc @gig player can't use the added info on the 192, man the difference was wild.

I'll try and load some more at 128 and see if any of the music is clearer.

You might wanna see what the optimal bit rate for the player is.. if its having a hard time with 192 try a 160 if that still fails you may be stuck at 128.
 
72,000 songs...all 192 bit rate, since I'm a dj and do sound system installations for a living(Purdue Football stadium, Basilica at Notre Dame, Excalibur Nightclub Chicago.. and many more) I can tell you the lesser bit rate mp3's really sound terrible on a large sound system, so for iPods, or anything you listen to with a headphone I'd say 128 is fine but If your a dj, do weddings nightclubs or other I'd go with a higher rate...You can see major differences in what it sounds like when you look at what the eq microphone hears back...(this is how we EQ a room)also keep in mind distortion is what blows a speaker not the power, lesser bit rates have more distortion, also one thing I have noticed for those of you who actually mix there music, is the lessor bit rates dont seem to keep the beats per minute consistent, so if I'm cueing up a song to mix and its 125 beats per minute, it may be ok for 7-8 beats then its off to 123 bpm and back up to 129bpm, it makes it much harder to mix with..the higher bit rates seem to hold the time better, fortunately for me I have a KEY lock on my mixer...the idea of the bit rate is its compressing the sound(removing data, or changing it)the lessor the bit rate the more missing data from the original recording, in a perfect world we would have gigs and gigs of storage space and all our mp3's would be 320 bit
 
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Thanks for the insight man, I appreciate your input...:thumbsup:

Since all of mine is on an MP3 for riding purposes it'll be at 192, however I have over 60 cd's worth or music at 320 on my portable hard drive, lol... I know thats not much but I stopped really buying cd's years ago.
 
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