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jbforever05

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 21, 2006
16
0
Hello, I have a quick question. I know that you can check the VBR box in preferences in iTunes to enable VBR which also enhances the quality of the music. However, I have seen it mentioned several times on the internet that you can actually change the VBR quality (from low to high), but I can't find any way to do this. Is this possible or were people talking about a different program?
 
jbforever05 said:
Is this possible or were people talking about a different program?
Just a different codec. Sounds like you're using VBR for AAC while others are using it for MP3. Switch to the MP3 encoder and you'll see the High/Medium/Low settings.

B
 
I use VBR AAC (192 kbps). Sound is pretty damn good, and I think it's the perfect mix between file size and sound quality.
 
This might be a stupid question but since the songs downloaded from itunes music store are at 128 kbps is there any way to improve the quality of these to match the other songs from CDs in my library? I would think not but there surely must be something I can do. Of course maybe the difference also won't be that noticeable.
 
jbforever05 said:
This might be a stupid question but since the songs downloaded from itunes music store are at 128 kbps is there any way to improve the quality of these to match the other songs from CDs in my library? I would think not but there surely must be something I can do. Of course maybe the difference also won't be that noticeable.
You can't restore what was lost in compression. The good news is that Apple may have something up their sleeves since the latest iTMS upload tool supports Apple Lossless files as well which would be equal in quality to a CD.

As EricNau already said in your other thread. You won't notice it unless you have better than average equipment, hearing, and are looking for something to pick on. 128 kbps AAC is pretty decent.

B
 
balamw said:
128 kbps AAC is pretty decent.


AHHHH!! HOW COULD YOU SAY SUCH A THING? ME AND MY AUDIOPHILES ARE GOING TO THREATEN YOUR FAMILY UNTIL YOU RETRACT THAT STATEMENT!!!! :p :p
 
balamw, are you saying that you can now get files from the itunes music store in lossless form or did I just misunderstand you? If you can, how would I go about doing this?
 
jbforever05 said:
balamw, are you saying that you can now get files from the itunes music store in lossless form or did I just misunderstand you? If you can, how would I go about doing this?
No, I'm saying that the content providers can now opt to send their material to Apple in Lossless. Whether Apple intends to sell in Lossless or not is unclear. But it's 100% clear that if only 128 kbps AAC was uploaded that's the best you could ever get.

I frankly can't generally pick out 128 kbps from lossless under usual listening conditions. I can if I specifically try to in the wee hours of the night, but that's usually not when I'm listening.

B
 
I have to admit that it is difficult to tell on my creative speakers at times (although there are some songs where it is plain obvious). However, if I listen on my B&O A8 headphones, or on my HiFi, it's just painfully obvious, all the compression just drags the music right down with the sound quality. That's when lossless downloads really would be great...
 
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