I have two versions of the same album.
One is in Mp3 Vbr 192-224 Kb/s encoded with Lame 3.93 (not 3.93.1) an one is in Ogg at 224 Kb/s. Now, what should i choose?

Thanks.

If you used Ogg GT3 then that is probably transparent. If you used LAME --alt-preset standard then that is probably transparent too. Take your pick.

is it 224 CBR ogg vorbis?

anyways, i doubt there is any difference in quality, go with that you like best

As far as I know, LAME 3.93 had some issues that made it be replaced by 3.93.1. I can't recall exactly what they were, but other members here certainly could. Anyway, therefore I would advise you to keep the Ogg Vorbis files.

~Dologan

Use the recommended LAME compiles, not 3.93, its somewhat broken.

Anyway I doubt theres any real difference at 224. Just about anything modern is transparent there. I'd probably use LAME though since it will work on more portables.

i dont think they are not transparent

if the OGG is a RC versiion, then u choose mp3
if its a ogg GT version, choose ogg
its easy, its a royalty free codec

I'm not paying any royalties for my MP3 codecs...

Better not use LAME then.

No, ogg vorbis is a VBR codec, and does not do CBR.

The one that sounds better.

Seriously. Listen to them and keep the one that sounds better. No one hear can tell if either of those are a transcode or something els is seriously up with them. YOU have to listen to them in the future, pick the one YOU think sounds better.

Erm... yes, it does.

You mean --managed -b BR -m BR -M BR ?

The first album was encoded when the lame 3.93 bug wasn't discoverded......
The other, was encoded with a rc version off Ogg in VBR....Arghhh...i'm really undecided........
I think i'll do a test........

Pardon me .


So this is true, then?

But if you find differences how will you know which one is closer to the original?

I think i will choose the one sounds "better" to me, not the one closer to the original ...

The switches -m and -M set minimal and maximal bitrate, so I thought it will work.. but look

oggenc --managed -b 64 -m 64 -M 64 iron.wav
Enabling bitrate management engine
Opening with wav module: WAV file reader
Encoding "iron.wav" to
"iron.ogg"
at average bitrate 64 kbps (min 64 kbps, max 64 kbps),
using full bitrate management engine
[ 99,7%] [ 0m00s remaining] |

Done encoding file "iron.ogg"

File length: 0m 34,0s
Elapsed time: 0m 40,4s
Rate: 0,8654
Average bitrate: 57,0 kb/s

ogginfo iron.ogg
Processing file "iron.ogg"...

New logical stream (#1, serial: 620ad2b0): type vorbis
Vorbis headers parsed for stream 1, information follows...
Version: 0
Vendor: Xiph.Org libVorbis I 20020717 (1.0)
Channels: 2
Rate: 44100

Nominal bitrate: 64,000000 kb/s
Upper bitrate: 64,000000 kb/s
Lower bitrate: 64,000000 kb/s
Vorbis stream 1:
Total data length: 249378 bytes
Playback length: 0m:34s
Average bitrate: 57,026400 kbps
Logical stream 1 ended




WARNING: Using managed bitrate mode is not recommended due to lower quality. Though specifying upper bitrate limit is useful for streaming.

Looks the Mp3 version is better to my ears....
Thankyou guys.

- See you space cowboy -

I don't know what he meant, but you might want to have a look at OggdropXPd's encoding options: There's a "Quality Management Mode" = VBR and 2 bitrate managment modes: ABR + CBR.

A last question:
Is better 192 Cbr Lame 3.93 or Ogg at 224 kb/s?
i think ogg..... am i wrong?

This potentially means the artifacts in mp3 are less irritating to you than those in vorbis. Or that the artifacts in mp3 are more pleasant. Hmm, seems a bit.. un-orthodox.

So you are saying that ogg at 224 is better than mp3 192-224 ?

I think this was already told by someone, but I'll repeat: PLEASE, don't use a "CBR" mode of vorbis, but the quality based ones. Using the so called "CBR" mode is at least as dumb as disabling a bit reservoir in CBR mp3 encoding, for example... (If you don't have a good reason to do this, like streaming). And I'm not talking from zealot's point of view. I never understood (and never will) the comparision of CBR and VBR codecs, when the one that has VBR abilities is forced to CBR... Anyway, technically there is no real CBR in vorbis, as far as I know. If you'll use the GT3 version, quality mode (q6 will give ~such a bitrates like 224), in my opinion quality will always be equal or better than in appropriate mp3.

This is not that unorthodox. I also prefer mp3 artifacts compared to vorbis with certain types of music and situations. (I also know that I am not alone with this based on other posts at HA.) Genjo has to live with the music, so the choice is best left with Genjo.



I can't answer on behalf of sld, but I don't think vorbis is particularly better than mp3 (LAME) at higher bitrates. They both have a number of issues, but it can be safely stated that vorbis is not highly optimised at the upper end of the bitrate scale. Garf's excellent efforts are a start, but they are by no means complete. After a certain point, both codecs just add bits for no significant gain in quality, but it is hard to say which is the better at 224. (Perhaps again, you should test for yourself.

Of course.

I'd take the Vorbis one.