Posted by Steven Sullivan on 11/30/07 15:43

In rec.audio.tech Jack <jack@beanstalk.net> wrote:
> Steven Sullivan <ssully@panix.com> wrote in
> news:fik6ot$61j$1@reader1.panix.com:

> I was too lazy to upload anything but you got me started now.

> > wma Blaze 128 CBR
> > http://www.badongo.com/file/5333875

> Oddly, that WMA file is actually 192 kbps per Winamp and Windows file
> properties.
>
> > mp3 LAME 192 VBR
> > http://www.badongo.com/file/5333913

> That MP3 shows as 131 kbps (VBR) per EncSpot Pro (analyzes MP3 headers).
> EncSpot also shows the encoder as FhG, not LAME. Were those typos?

Definitely not in the case of the MP3. That was made by me using LAME, via
foobar2000. I don't even have FhG on any of my computers.

I don't recall the Blaze file being 192, either--bitrate is selectable from
a menu and I thought I selected 128 CBR. But I'd have to double check.
I don't have the mp3s handy on this computer, and the badongo downloads have
expired.

> Also, is that a remastered version of the song? Those "slushy" highs sound
> a lot crisper than on my original CD. I have Reprise Records Catalog #
> 2257-2.

There is no remastered version of Decade.


> Your recording sounds noticeably cleaner, but of course that's moot to the
> WMA/MP3 comparison. The part WMA really mangles (on my CD version) is
> between 3:30 and 4:00, plus similar sections. The very dullness of the
> recording confuses it, IMO.

> Since you gave such an easy site to work with, here are my samples. Notice
> the muffled "breathing" effect in the WMA file. Very unusual in my
> experience with WMA. I used GoldWave 5.22 to encode these.

> http://www.badongo.com/file/5340634 (WAV 3:30 to 3:40)
> http://www.badongo.com/file/5340662 (WMA 9.2 128 kbps 3:30 to 3:40)
> http://www.badongo.com/file/5340669 (MP3 FhG 128 kbps 3:30 to 3:40)

> Don't get the impression that I'm picking on WMA. The artifacts are truly
> puzzling. On many other tracks WMA sounds crisper to me than the MP3
> counterpart. For example, LAME 3.97 128 kbps adds notable distortion to the
> background strings on The Eagles "Take It To The Limit" (encoded using
> EAC). WMA 128 kbps seems to shine on that track.

> My working theory is that each encoder uses different tricks that get
> tripped up by unique harmonics.


> Jack

--

___
-S
"As human beings, we understand the world through simile, analogy,
metaphor, narrative and, sometimes, claymation." - B. Mason

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