FLAC to OGG with dbpoweramp Options

[h8uthemost]

Hey guys,

I'm wanting to convert some albums to OGG straight from FLAC to put on my portable player, but with the best possible settings in dbpoweramp. So what slider setting should I use, and what setting in the Frequency and Channels box?

I usually always converted to mp3 V0. So is there a V0'ish quality with OGG? I pretty much know nothing about this format. But...I did read that OGG is supposed to have a superior sound over MP3, and in a smaller file size? Hope that's true.

I just converted an album to V0(slider all the way to the right on dbpoweramp, estimated bitrate 240kbps), and the album size came out to 61MB. Then, I took the same album and converted to OGG. And I slid the slider all the way to the right(estimated bitrate 500kbps, -q1 setting, under vbr setting), and the album came out to 119MB. So that's obviously not the setting that I'm wanting since the file size is so big. My bitrate setting was too high I'm guessing.

I tried one more time with the slider down to estimated bitrate of 224kbps(-q0.7 setting under vbr setting), and the file size came out to 55MB. So I'm guessing this is more along the lines of the setting that I'm wanting? Or would it be possible to go down to an even lower bitrate for smaller file size, but not really having to sacrifice sound quality?

Basically I'm wanting a setting with good sound quality, but with a small file size.

Thanks for any help.

[h8uthemost]

Thank you for responses guys. I really appreciate the help. I"ll start with q5.0(actually it's -q0.5 on dbpoweramp) like The Seeker suggested, and then do a couple listening test with some other bitrates like Xanikseo suggested.

And thank you pdq. As for compatibility, the new portable player I'll be getting supports OGG, so that's why I though I would give this format a go. See how it compares to MP3. I'm sure my ears won't be able to differentiate from most higher bitrates on a portable player. But if my ears aren't going to notice a difference, on the portable player, between say MP3 V0 and OGG 160, then I would rather pick OGG 160 for the smaller file size. With these portable players it's all about cramming as much music you can on it as possible, but still having a good quality to my ears.

Would anyone have any suggestions for what settings I should put in the Frequency and Channels boxes? There is also a Finer Quality Resolution box right under the slider(EDIT: Oh I see, ticking this box just enables you to pinpoint the exact bitrate, for example if you want something between 160 and 170, you can tick this box and pick something like 168). Would you guys recommend ticking this box?

Thanks for the help everyone.

EDIT: Yeah, q5 definitely gives me a much smaller file size. I'll throw this on my player when it arrives. If to my ears it sounds just like the usual mp3 V0 that I throw on there, then I'll stick with that.

This post has been edited by h8uthemost: Mar 9 2010, 05:14