Ogg/MP3 encoding at very high bitrates

[Cory K.]

Joseph Wakeling wrote:
> Hello all,
>
> I listen to a lot of classical and otherwise complex music, so I'm
> concerned that when I rip CDs I get a very high-quality result.
>
> By default I'd therefore use FLAC but I'm curious about the very high
> quality level (say -q 9 or -q 10, that is, round about 300+ kB/s) ogg
> and MP3 encoding and how it compares.  Partly just theoretical curiosity
> about the algorithms and how they work at different levels of
> compression (what data does it remove at these high bitrates?), partly
> an "is it worth it" question about lossless compared to high-bitrate
> compared to not-so-high bitrate encoding.
>
> So, could someone comment?
>
> Many thanks,
>
>     -- Joe

The higher bitrate you use you obviously get closer to lossless. So it
really becomes a question of acceptable file-size and HW support.

At high bitrates, you'll hear no difference between _any_ codecs. I've
done studio testing to the effect. Most tests you'll find online test
low bitrates also. That's where you see the difference and Vorbis
usually does very well here.

So what is the target HW you use for playback? PMP (iPod) ? HTPS?

-Cory \m/