Apple AAC TVBR quality level for portable use Options

[markanini]

What would you choose between ~165 kbps and ~195 kbps levels for portable? I listen through Etymotic ER4 IEM, the player is a Sansa Fuze.

[FLAC plz]

i actually just registered here so i could weigh in on this topic. i've been researching the exact same topic (optimal AAC bitrate) for the past week or so, and i ended up doing some of my own ABX tests. i used the true vbr setting on XLD, and to my ears, music is transparent at q80 or ~165kbps. in fact, to me, it's transparent at q70 (~150kbps), but i'm going with q80 for just that little bit of extra headroom.

i would very much suggest going with q80 (~165kbps). you could probably even go down to q60 (~135kbps) if you wanted to, since it's for portable use. but really, you should do some listening tests for yourself and figure out what works best. it's kind of cool to figure out what you--personally--can and can't hear in compressed music. i always thought i had more discerning ears (and needed higher bitrates), but AAC performs pretty darn well at low bitrates, as i've found out the past week. i used to compress all my FLACs to q100 (~225kbps), but q80 (~165kbps) seems to be just as transparent. to me, on my equipment, at least.