Bit-perfect AAC/MP3/etc decoding?, Is it an issue? Options

[mavere]

Sorry if this is easily answered elsewhere.

My question is that in a comparison of lossy-format decoders between, let's say, iTunes and Foobar and Winamp, will the output (edit: of a single source file) vary between decoding implementations?

Or is it that once a decoder follows a specified format, all output is equal assuming there are no bugs?

This post has been edited by mavere: Jan 5 2013, 00:51

[db1989]

Sorry, I did read it wrongly.

RMS level [of the then-latest version of MAD] is over a hundred times the one produced by Apollo 37zm and the maximum difference is four times the one by Apollo (interestingly the results for MAD 0.11.4b seem to be somewhat better than for the latest one but they are still worse than Apollo's). Actually, the maximum difference of Apollo's output is the smallest possible deviation in 24-bit data, the only smaller possible value would be zero.

So, you’re right; this suggests that MAD produced an RMS between 6–7 bits larger in magnitude than Apollo did, and (I guess) a maximal difference 2 bits larger in magnitude.

I apologise for talking nonsense. :/

[Soap]

I apologise for talking nonsense. :/

No, no. My reading and math both fail me at times.