whats the best bitrate to write cds for ur car stereos??

navin · 4th November 2005, 16:26

BTW I would really recommend reading the WACK manual you can rip to any number of formats using this tool.

Remember guys there might be easier ways to do this stuff or even get better quality stuff. I am an idiot when it comes to computers.

rsjaurr · 4th November 2005, 18:08

Quote:

so now i wrote some cd using WMP and yet the quality wasnt that great..most of my songs are downloaded from P2P sites so that might be one of the reasons..well so whats the best way to write them as to get best quality..i mean any softwares and also brief procedures..navin,GB,JB,sam,vivek...

Mclaren...... WMP is not a good software for burning cd.Nero is the best for this purpose and one very important point which everyone has missed is that we should burn cd at slowest possible speed.[Like at 4x,8x,10x or 12x rather than 52x,48x etc. And quality of blank media will also influence the outcome.

More the bit rate better will be sound quality but it will take more space.

I think difference is more noticeable in case of audio formats rather than mp3 format.

rsjaurr · 4th November 2005, 18:09

Quote:

so now i wrote some cd using WMP and yet the quality wasnt that great..most of my songs are downloaded from P2P sites so that might be one of the reasons..well so whats the best way to write them as to get best quality..i mean any softwares and also brief procedures..navin,GB,JB,sam,vivek...

Mclaren...... WMP is not a good software for burning cd.Nero is the best for this purpose and one very important point which everyone has missed is that we should burn cd at slowest possible speed.[Like at 4x,8x,10x or 12x rather than 52x,48x etc. And quality of blank media will also influence the outcome.

More the bit rate better will be sound quality but it will take more space.Navin has given links to softwares required for encoding.

I think difference is more noticeable in case of audio formats rather than mp3 format.

mclaren1885 · 4th November 2005, 18:41

hey navin thanks a lot for that lovely insight into ripping cds..and also for the links..will download and see what best results i can achieve..well ya i agree that WMP is not that great but i dont think nero did a better job either..i usually do rip most of my cds using nero only and as u suggested at the slowest bitrate possible..and coming to the recording media its only sony cd-r's that i use apart from the sony rw's..
once again thanks to all for their valuable inputs..keep the spirits rolling guys..

gunbir · 4th November 2005, 18:43

McL apart from Navinji's suggestions, you can also try this...

For Ripping:
Use Windows Media Player 10 (update your WMP if you have an older version). Go into TOOLS > OPTIONS > RIP MUSIC. Choose Windows Media Audio (Variable Bit Rate) from the drop down list. Below that set the slider to maximum quality. This encodes at around 355kbps and yeilds an album size of 155Mb. I have found this to be very close to Audio CD while maintaining a decent file size. On a CD-R you will be able to fit 60-70 such tracks which I think is decent.

For Downloading:
The Internet is full of crappy, poorly ripped audio. It is extremely difficult to find a well ripped file. I strongly suggest you try and buy audio CDs as they sound best. They arent that expensive anymore. Also, rather than download, find a friend who owns a CD you want and copy / rip his disc. I can suggest some paid sites where you can buy music. I use these a lot.

navin · 4th November 2005, 18:57

i think there are sites that allow members to only share high quality music. i dont download music as it is against my wierd set of self imposed guidelines but i feel no harm in ripping a set for my car esp after some of my CDs died after a few years (the alumina former baked between the plastic slides corroded and left me with CDs looking like swiss cheese).

airfoil · 4th November 2005, 21:23

Do the car stereos handle a Variable Bit Rate well? Most of my mp3s are in VBR format for space saving reasons.

jkdas · 4th November 2005, 21:45

depends on HU i guess. check HU's manual, or post your HU's model number.

navin · 4th November 2005, 22:26

most are ok. even my finicky alpines do. some are better like my nephew's kenwood (2 DIN OEM in Honda CVT) read just about any CD thrown in. my alpines only like the good stuff (better CDRs recorded at slower speeds) but there is signifcant difference in the sound between the alpines and the kenwood.

usually the more high end HUs are more finicky. wierd. but i guess that is the name of the game.

rsjaurr · 4th January 2006, 23:15

I just found something which may be useful to others who r using lame + razerlame for encoding.
Enable "custom options only", and put --alt-preset standard in the "custom options" line. You'll get very-high-quality, joint stereo, VBR MP3's at between 192 and 224 average.

It takes bit longer but gives best quality output,i heard.Even the histogram is very different than when we do it without custom option.I use red for LR and blue for MS stereo just to make histogram visible.

There r some other commands in the link
http://www.dors.de/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=372 and presets can be downloaded from

http://www.geocities.com/neorenegade/RLOPack.zip

navin · 4th January 2006, 23:26

Doc APX (alt present extreme) with wavegain and a few other flags will do one better. Just ask Sam. My BIL has been compraing my MP3s to his WAV Lossless files and found the MP3s sound better. Sam thinks they are fine too and he is a Pro. ACR is about 224kbps.

rsjaurr · 5th January 2006, 00:00

Quote:

Doc APX (alt present extreme) with wavegain and a few other flags will do one better

for example..........??

And now read this....then why r we doing it

Quote:

Transcoding from one bitrate of MP3 to another is totally possible, but it does NOT improve quality of sound. In fact, it will only make it diminish even more.

Once a song is in MP3 format, or any other lossy format like WMA or OGG for that matter, it has lost a certain amount of sound info and therefore sound quality. This can never be regained.

When you try to reencode an MP3, the encoder treats the MP3 as a fresh source file, and so it tries to duplicate as close as possible the sound of the MP3. The problem with this is, though we often can't hear it, an MP3 is a lot dirtier than a CD track or a WAV file. So what happens is the MP3 encoder is reading dirty audio and outputting even dirtier audio.

...

So, it is recommended whenever possible that if you want to change the bitrate of an MP3 file, you should just get rid of it and make a new one from the CD. Otheriwise, leave all MP3's as they are because you can't make them any better.

Link is http://www.dors.de/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=182

navin · 5th January 2006, 10:10

I do not subscribe to transcoding. Burn from CD source only. The rest of LAME/EAC etc is a long discussion better left to forums like hydrogenaudio.org.

rsjaurr · 5th January 2006, 18:07

[SIZE=2]Does that means there is no benefit encoding already made mp3 [at lower bit rate] to mp3 with higher bit rate??[/SIZE]

navin · 5th January 2006, 22:45

No benefit! None. Nada. Capiche?

4th November 2005, 16:26	#31
navin Team-BHP Support Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Mumbai Posts: 25,199 Thanked: 9,306 Times	BTW I would really recommend reading the WACK manual you can rip to any number of formats using this tool. Remember guys there might be easier ways to do this stuff or even get better quality stuff. I am an idiot when it comes to computers. Last edited by navin : 4th November 2005 at 16:30.
	() Thanks

4th November 2005, 18:41	#34
mclaren1885 BANNED Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Bangalore (the city of modded cars) !! Posts: 4,820 Thanked: 45 Times View My Garage Infractions: 0/1 (10)	hey navin thanks a lot for that lovely insight into ripping cds..and also for the links..will download and see what best results i can achieve..well ya i agree that WMP is not that great but i dont think nero did a better job either..i usually do rip most of my cds using nero only and as u suggested at the slowest bitrate possible..and coming to the recording media its only sony cd-r's that i use apart from the sony rw's.. once again thanks to all for their valuable inputs..keep the spirits rolling guys..
	() Thanks

4th November 2005, 18:43	#35
gunbir Senior - BHPian Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: New Delhi Posts: 2,465 Thanked: 32 Times	McL apart from Navinji's suggestions, you can also try this... For Ripping: Use Windows Media Player 10 (update your WMP if you have an older version). Go into TOOLS > OPTIONS > RIP MUSIC. Choose Windows Media Audio (Variable Bit Rate) from the drop down list. Below that set the slider to maximum quality. This encodes at around 355kbps and yeilds an album size of 155Mb. I have found this to be very close to Audio CD while maintaining a decent file size. On a CD-R you will be able to fit 60-70 such tracks which I think is decent. For Downloading: The Internet is full of crappy, poorly ripped audio. It is extremely difficult to find a well ripped file. I strongly suggest you try and buy audio CDs as they sound best. They arent that expensive anymore. Also, rather than download, find a friend who owns a CD you want and copy / rip his disc. I can suggest some paid sites where you can buy music. I use these a lot.
	() Thanks

4th November 2005, 18:57	#36
navin Team-BHP Support Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Mumbai Posts: 25,199 Thanked: 9,306 Times	i think there are sites that allow members to only share high quality music. i dont download music as it is against my wierd set of self imposed guidelines but i feel no harm in ripping a set for my car esp after some of my CDs died after a few years (the alumina former baked between the plastic slides corroded and left me with CDs looking like swiss cheese).
	() Thanks

4th November 2005, 21:23	#37
airfoil BHPian Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Hyderabad Posts: 318 Thanked: 81 Times	Do the car stereos handle a Variable Bit Rate well? Most of my mp3s are in VBR format for space saving reasons.
	() Thanks

4th November 2005, 21:45	#38
jkdas Senior - BHPian Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Thiruvananthapu Posts: 9,687 Thanked: 1,492 Times View My Garage	depends on HU i guess. check HU's manual, or post your HU's model number.
	() Thanks

4th November 2005, 22:26	#39
navin Team-BHP Support Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Mumbai Posts: 25,199 Thanked: 9,306 Times	most are ok. even my finicky alpines do. some are better like my nephew's kenwood (2 DIN OEM in Honda CVT) read just about any CD thrown in. my alpines only like the good stuff (better CDRs recorded at slower speeds) but there is signifcant difference in the sound between the alpines and the kenwood. usually the more high end HUs are more finicky. wierd. but i guess that is the name of the game.
	() Thanks

4th January 2006, 23:15	#40
rsjaurr BHPian Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Batala Posts: 777 Thanked: 28 Times	I just found something which may be useful to others who r using lame + razerlame for encoding. Enable "custom options only", and put --alt-preset standard in the "custom options" line. You'll get very-high-quality, joint stereo, VBR MP3's at between 192 and 224 average. It takes bit longer but gives best quality output,i heard.Even the histogram is very different than when we do it without custom option.I use red for LR and blue for MS stereo just to make histogram visible. There r some other commands in the link http://www.dors.de/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=372 and presets can be downloaded from http://www.geocities.com/neorenegade/RLOPack.zip
	() Thanks

4th January 2006, 23:26	#41
navin Team-BHP Support Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Mumbai Posts: 25,199 Thanked: 9,306 Times	Doc APX (alt present extreme) with wavegain and a few other flags will do one better. Just ask Sam. My BIL has been compraing my MP3s to his WAV Lossless files and found the MP3s sound better. Sam thinks they are fine too and he is a Pro. ACR is about 224kbps.
	() Thanks

5th January 2006, 10:10	#43
navin Team-BHP Support Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Mumbai Posts: 25,199 Thanked: 9,306 Times	I do not subscribe to transcoding. Burn from CD source only. The rest of LAME/EAC etc is a long discussion better left to forums like hydrogenaudio.org.
	() Thanks

5th January 2006, 18:07	#44
rsjaurr BHPian Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Batala Posts: 777 Thanked: 28 Times	[SIZE=2]Does that means there is no benefit encoding already made mp3 [at lower bit rate] to mp3 with higher bit rate??[/SIZE]
	() Thanks

5th January 2006, 22:45	#45
navin Team-BHP Support Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Mumbai Posts: 25,199 Thanked: 9,306 Times	No benefit! None. Nada. Capiche?
	() Thanks