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Posted by Kevin McMurtrie on 11/28/07 06:36
In article <13kniu1dhqq9r63@corp.supernews.com>,
Jack <jack@beanstalk.net> wrote:
> I have been happy with WMA sound quality at 128 kbps (44 kHz CBR),
> believing it to be generally cleaner than its MP3 equivalent. WMA built a
> reputation as excelling at lower bitrates (i.e. 64 kbps) and was also said
> to surpass MP3 at 128 kbps. To my ears, it did/does have a more crystalline
> quality on a lot of music. Subjective? Maybe. I hadn't noticed any real
> distortion on my good quality car stereo (main usage for WMA) until the
> other day.
>
> I was stunned to hear how bad WMA 128 kbps sounds on Neil Young's "Down By
> The River." That track has repetitive dull cymbal/brush hits throughout and
> it's not a pristine recording to begin with. Apparently the WMA (9.2)
> encoder treats those hits as some sort of lo-res background noise. This may
> be compounded by distorted guitar harmonics that chase along.
>
> At certain points the hazy cymbals fade in and out with a breathing effect;
> an artifact nonexistent in the original WAV. It's quite evident between
> 3:30 and 4:00 in this 9-minute song. Parts of the song have crisper highs
> and those seem to be handled OK, but it's still a disappointment.
>
> When you increase the WMA bitrate to 160 kbps, it seems to lose this
> affliction, and at 192 kbps sounds close to the CD. But MP3 (tested with
> LAME & FhG) handles that track noticeably better at 128 kbps. With a
> thousand songs encoded at WMA 128 kbps, I'm rethinking formats. This slush
> might show up elsewhere.
>
> Could this be a fluke or has WMA been using tricks to sound better than it
> really does? If anyone knows other "WMA torture tests," please post song
> names.
>
> Jack
128Kbps is highly lossy with today's technology. MP3 doesn't do all
that well with that loss. It tends to ring, howl, or have a reflected
effect. Newer codecs are extremely good at hiding the loss. Try
listening to satellite radio, which uses extremely low AAC+ bitrates.
It only sounds OK if you haven't heard the song before. There's a lot
of the music that's missing with hardly a clue that it was ever there.
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