MP4 is the official successor to MP3, which sports better audio quality at the same bitrate or the same audio quality at lower bitrates. However, the limitations of the audio gear are usually far greater than the limitations of the format. If a human ear can't distinguish the original from the compressed file, I don't care for the parts that were left out, so I don't deem lossless compression particularly useful except for archival purposes (remastering might have use for inaudible details).Īs a side note, even the data on a CD is lossy: the 16 bit quantization means that any dynamic peaks over 100 dB can't be stored (the human ear can hear up to 120 dB) and the sample rate of 44.1 kHz means that any frequency above 22050 Hz can't be stored (the human ear can hear up to about 20 kHz (children) or 16 kHz (adults)) and anything above about 20 kHz is severely distorted by the aliasing-filter used in mastering. There are scientific studies that prove that MP3s above 256 kbit/s and AACs above 192 kbit/s are not distinguishable from the originals even with good audio equipment. There is enough heated debate going around on the Internet on this topic as well which you can dip into if you like. I thought 128 kbit/s and below is really compromising quality, but I haven't bothered looking for the 'perfect' cut-off, something which will depend on the song anyway. On my iPod I carry around AAC 192/256 kbit/s files which is perfectly fine for casual on the go listening. The bigger choice to make is the bit rate. ![]() There is extensive debate around all kinds of other formats, but to be honest I doubt you should care. I have not tested it extensively and it is likely subtle. ![]() AAC is considered to be a better algorithm than MP3, meaning that it is supposed to achieve better compression at the same quality level. For my iPod, however, I often do use compressed files (the iPod audio is actually that bad -). ![]() I would never want to listen to lossy files on it as they all tend to sound 'harsher' than CDs. I have ripped all of my CDs as lossless to play them over my fancy home stereo. The question is whether it is audible and whether you care. Technically you almost always loose quality if you rip to AAC/MP3 (it is called 'lossy' compression for a reason).
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