Maybe this question is a little out of subject, but it's been very controversial between my friends: which is the best mp3 encoder in terms of sound of the ncoded files? a friend of mine says it's the CD-DA Encoder, but I'd like another opinion...

I have had rather mixed results; I have tried CD-DA, HyCD and Audio Catalyst.

This is was carried out on NT 4, Dual PPro @ 200MHz, Plextor 32TSi.

CD-DA had trouble ripping from the disk drive, and every mp3 produced had popcorn and breaks. I did not listen to the sound quality as a result; I was more concerned with trying to get the thing to rip properly, without success. I gave up and de-installed it.

HyCD does not operate with NT, so I tried it on an alternative machine with Win 98; trouble is, since it only has a 2X SCSI multi-drive, it took ages to rip any tracks. I decided that I really was not into waiting that long (patience....)

Finally, I installed Audio Catalyst, it worked, so I registered it and I have been (with only a few odd problems) ripping successfully ever since.

I did compare a couple of tracks between the HyCD and Catalyst; I am personally unable to discern any audio quality difference between tracks ripped on each package.

Given that RealAudio have bought Xing Tech for the MP3 technology, and Diamond have invested in them too, then my money goes (has gone) with Xing/Audio Catalyst.

I can also recommend Xing's AudioCatalyst. I tried a few others first, then tried AudioCatalyst and registered in within hours. Using 128k variable bitrate encoding I can't tell the difference between CD and MP3, and at that setting I find that CDs take up on average slightly under 50Mb each.

On one of my machines, which I forget the exact spec. of at the moment but it was the bees knees about a year ago and miles out of date now, it says there are hundreds of "possible speed problem"s during the encoding of each track, but in practice I can't find any pops or drops when I listen afterwards.

One really nice feature of AudioCatalyst is that it uses CDDB to connect to a database somewhere "out there" on the 'Net to find out the name of the artist, album and tracks then encodes them into the ID3 tag so that the Empeg unit can display the details without you needing to type them in.

Cheers,

Mark.

Quality has always been my prime concern with encoders. I only want to have to encode once, not re-encode when a better sounding encoder comes along. The possibility that I may have to re-encode when Mp4 or some other higher quality format comes along. So I've consequently looked into this as much as possible. And from what I've seen, which includes both "number comparisons" where the sound files are digitally compared by the computer in terms of accuracy, listening tests where several people are exposed to various sound samples in random order of the various encoders AND the original sample, as well as personal opinion etc. the best encoder is generally thought to be the Fraunhoffer MP3 Producer 2.1 or any encoding engine or application that uses the full Fraunhoffer codec. It has the most faithful reproduction after compression. This is both at the standard of 128k/s, as well as at higher bitrates such as 160, 192, etc. though the difference narrows at higher bit rates. So if you're concern is quality, then this is probably the encoder you want to go with. Keep in mind however it is slower than Xing based encoders, as well as several other engines. And you may not actually notice the difference. One thing people tend to overlook as well is that several programs allow you to use third party codecs to encode. Programs such as Audiograbber, Musicmatch Jukebox (I think), etc. allow you to select alternate encoders, as opposed to their internal ones (most of which are based on the Xing codec). Audiocatalyst, the effective sequel to Audiograbber may also allow you to do so, though I am not sure. In any case, it increases the functionality of the Fraunhoffer encoder greatly, as the original encoder only does 1 file at a time, and doesn't have CDDB support. Using the codec through another program allows you to do the rip straight to Mp3 with automatic naming of tracks that you may be used to. I suggest you do your own comparison tests though. Because bottom line, it's your ears that will be hearing it, and whatever sounds best to you is what you should use. Some people prefer other encoders. A relatively complete list of encoders can be found at www.mp3.com . Keep in mind the player also does have an effect on what you hear, as different players use different decoding engines. I am not sure what the best quality player would be. If you'd like to see some info on the encoder and some comparisons, I'll include a few links below. I hope that helped some.

http://www.iis.fhg.de/amm/

http://www.pinoyware.com/fliptech/ac-vs-mp.html

I have allot more links on the subject, however I am at work and don't have my bookmarks. E-mail me if you'd like more.

- JavaJones

We tend to reccommend Xing Tech's Audio Catalyst. The audio quality that it produces has improved massively over early versions, and it's faster than ever.

We hope to include a demo version on the empeg car CD.

Rob

Take a look at Musicmatch Jukebox 3 or 4, I have tried many mp3 encoders and this is the fastest and most likely to work!! Also as the player can effect the sound quality as well, I suggest looking towards winamp.

Another option you might consider is MP-2 instead of MP-3. The downside is you only get half the compression (gee, imagine only 250 hours of music on line instead of 500) but the upside is that it is entirely lossless. I work at a radio station (4 stations, actually) where all of the music is on hard drives encoded MP-2. There is difference between the original and the encoded musc. If sound quality is your primary consideration (it is just about my ONLY consideration!) MP-2 might be the way to go. The folks at empeg have told me that their unit will be able to play back MP3 and MP2 files indiscriminately - you can mix and match them with no problems. So you can put all your Rock & Roll (and other children's music ;-) on MP3, and put the good stuff (Mozart, Bach, etc.) on MP-2.

"There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch"