Flac(?)/Monkey vs mp3

M

Moofasa~

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Oct 13, 2003
Messages
1,571
I was reading an article and it mentioned Flac (or something) and Monkey are "lossless" files (bigger) and mp3's are "lossy" (loses some info). So which brings me to my question, how much better are Flac and Monkey then mp3? Is the different really noticable? Do you think I should be using these formats instead of mp3? I also heard (not exactly sure where though) that Flac/Monkey are 24-bit ( I know mp3 is 16-bit), can anyone verify this? Thanks...

-MoOfAsA~
 
I've recently switched from MP3 to Monkey's Audio, and there is a definite difference. On some songs when encoded in MP3 they sounded less lively in comparison to the CD, however the Monkey's Audio ones sound identical to the CD.
 
I just recently re-ripped my entire CD collection to FLAC.

The sound quality difference between a lossless encoder and a "WELL encoded" lossy format such as Lame --preset standard or extreme is not that much, particularly if played back on less than stellar audio gear.

However one thing that is nice about a lossless format is I can transcode that format to any other format without introducing generations. So I rip everything to FLAC and I have a perl script that transcodes everything to mp3 and saves all the metadata too. I do this because my portable does not support FLAC. However my Squeezebox does support FLAC so I stream that directly.

FLAC and other lossless formats generally only give you a compression of about 2:1 from the original wav file, compared to mp3 that is closer to 10:1. So you need some drive space.
 
Here's the test: if you can distinguish an MP3 from the WAV it was encoded from, then you'll notice the difference. FLAC and APE (Monkey's Audio) sound absolutely identical to the WAV--down to the 0s and 1s--but are compressed. FLAC and APE are more akin to ZIP and RAR than to MP3 and OGG in that they preserve the source material down to the very last bit.

And no, FLAC and APE files aren't encoded at 24-bit resolution by default. It may be an option for those that like to upsample the source material, but no, FLAC and APE aren't better because of bit resolution.
 
Can a difference be heard in LAME MP3s with -alt preset extreme or insane as opposed to FALC or Monkey's?
 
Of course, but you need a good soundcard, good speakers, and good ears. Like I said earlier, compare a WAV from a CD with the LAME encoded MP3 of the same file. If you can hear the difference, you can distinguish between FLAC/APE and MP3.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top