I usually use --alt-preset standard, but with most heavy songs, it creates mp3 around 220Kbits/seg. It's too much for me, i would like around 190Kbits.

I don't want to use --alt-preset 192 or something like that. I only want to know if there is a way to decrease only a bit the bitrate of --alt-preset standard without losing too much quality (-Y is not the way).

Thanks a lot, i'm quite newb on that.

I use CDex and aps with a max bitrate of 224kbps. This usually makes files that are around 180-200...

I think the command line option for the same is -B 224, not sure tho.

did You ABX or did some even quick & dirty tests of APS vs. APS -Y ?
[b]edit:this is the beauty of these forums - in one visited 20 times a day it wouldn't be very probale to happen

capping the bitrate using -B is probably not the best way to go, since this pretty much eliminates the benefit of using VBR: the bitrate can increase when it's needed.

Skweez, I want to make sure you've ruled out the use of -Y experimentally. Have you done any ABX tests to see if you can really hear a difference between --aps and --aps -Y? Using -Y removes a lot of quiet high-frequencies, but still keeps the high frequencies when they're loud (snare hits in particular).

Most people can't hear a difference in music, even if they can hear pure tones well above 16KHz. I certainly can't tell whether or not -Y is used (I've done my own tests), and using -Y on metal drops the bitrate from 220kbps to ~175kbps. So, try using -Y, then prove to yourself, using a blind comparison tool such as the one at www.pcabx.com , that you can really tell a difference. Only then should you look for other ways to reduce bitrate.

edit: hey look maciey agrees with me too

Yes, i've done some '-Y' vs 'no -Y' tests. But not on pc; i did that on my Clarion MP3 player for car, and i noticed differences on some tracks, but not on all. Maybe i'm so exigent, but the encoded tracks seems to be more 'empty' (i don't really know how to explain it with my bad english ._. )

Anyway, I only wanted to know if there were a best way to reduce that bitrate using -aps than using -Y or not ^^.

Thanks a lot all of you.

you'll only be sacrificing quality, and it sounds like you're trying to avoid that. Best choice is to just live with the bitrates --aps gives you. Not like there's that much difference in size anyways, especially when you're using a CDR to store with. If you only had 64 or 128MB of storage in a portable player to deal with, then I could understand. But not when you've got a whole disc, or a handful of discs, for your storage needs.

Hi Skweez,
You can try --alt-preset standard -V3, that should decrease the bitrate about 10%. Sure it will affect the quality, but you can test and decide if it is convenient for you.
Bye

I've seen that in this post people are also talking about decreasing VBR bitrate, particulary the -Y and -V switch.

At least, i'm not the only who don't want to waste 2XXKbits on a mp3 song

I will keep doing '-Y' vs 'no -Y' vs '-V' today and i will post my opinion then.

C ya!

I would say --aps -Y is good at decreasing bitrate while keeping good quality after some informal testing myself.

Music encoded at 2xxkbps with --aps can drop to 17xkbps steadily on most music, while --r3mix can jump to 2xxkbps on some busy music.

I personally don't like to change the -V though. It seems it is not recommended.

waste? *sigh* You love FhG 128kbps

After testing, and althought i can hear some differences between '--aps' and '--aps -Y', i will use -Y switch from now, cause it decreses from 220Kbits to 170Kbits, and it is a big difference for only a slightly worse quality Using -V3 or -V4 it also works for lower the bitrate, but i prefeer not modify the internal working of --aps with that, as someone said on another post.

Anyway, in the future, I would welcome a new -alt-preset for VBR medium size (170~190Kbits)