iTunes Encode Rate

[oldschool]

What do most of you rip your cds at in AAC format?

128 or 160?

[Daveman Deluxe]

256kbps.

[Kwyjibo]

160aac, i like the compromise between sound and space at that rate

[ITR 81]

Just started doing AAC encoding.

160 for me because on my sound sys they sound the same as the CD.

So far no one can tell the difference in a couple of blind tests I've done with friends.

[Westside guy]

160kbps aac works for me.

I have found that if I listen really close, I can hear slight differences between the uncompressed original and the aac@160 - but I have to really focus on specific small pieces of the sound. At 128 the differences are fairly apparent (as it is with mp3@160).

Different sets of ears will have different cut-offs, as will different peoples' psychologies. :) See what bit rate works well for your ears, and go with it. It doesn't take long to rip a song at several different bit rates. See if you can really tell a significant difference between 128 and 160, or even 96 or 192. Your opinion is the only one that really matters. There will be other folks whose ears are more finely tuned than yours; and a larger number who think theirs is - but you're not ripping for them.

[Finiksa]

192kbps

[benixau]

128 = CD quality
160 i do at cause i feel it keeps some of the "non-audible" stuff that adds a little extra in my 2.1 3yr old system.

[maradong]

128 for me.

[7on]

128k AAC

And before AAC, I did 192 MP3.