Audio converting which bit rate ?

[Tech198]

Is there a rule to say what bit rate should be a minimum? Or does it just depend on where your listening with music?

(bypassing all the introducing of noise in the output if the source is lower quality etc) ?

 

[bsamcash]

You should never transcode to a higher bitrate. And it’s best to convert from a uncompressed and lossless source. Those are the only two rules of thumb. What you convert to will depend on the complexity of the music, your hearing, and how picky you are.

 

[buklauu]

128kbps VBR AAC should be good enough for most casual listening, hell, HydrogenAudio doesn't really do tests above 96kbps with high quality encoders because the results aren't interesting. However, this assumes you're coming from a lossless or otherwise very high quality source (such as directly from a CD). 256kbps VBR AAC is likely overkill for most people, but you can rest assured that the quality is indistinguishable from the source, while saving a massive amount of space.

Only the most sensitive of ears and/or the most impressive of equipment need to dabble in bitrates beyond that (someone with super high-end headphones, or a DJ with access to fantastic speakers playing for a large venue).

 

[Okla]

You should never transcode to a higher bitrate. And it’s best to convert from a uncompressed and lossless source. Those are the only two rules of thumb. What you convert to will depend on the complexity of the music, your hearing, and how picky you are.

I'm still in the digital learning stages, so please go easy on me. At this point, we have an intranet (non-internet) LAN setup and we're experimenting with JRiver MC28 for Mac as our audio media server software application.

Long story [a bit] shorter, we're sending flac audio files over the network to our streaming devices -- Oppo 105D and Sony X800M2 -- and, invariably, they are displayed on our video monitor (our TV) as being played back as .mp3 at 128 Kbps. Is there a utility out there that can tell you which format you're listening to? I'm asking because we've put many years into buying some pretty decent audio equipment and I'd like to think that our music is remaining as bona fide and true to the source material as possible.

If this isn't making any sense or, if I'm in the wrong place, please let me know.