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Does anyone know of independent analysis of the different encoding formats, i.e. AAC, OGG, FLAC, MPEG2, etc.? I plan on ripping my entire CD collection to loss-less format and would like to see a comprehensive comparison of the main encoding formats both for playback and encoding. Too much of what I read in forums is opinion and not based on proper analysis. Anyone who can steer me in the right direction would be appreciated.
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Free software from Liberty Instraments.http://libinst.com/Audio DiffMaker.htm
Good thread on the Madisound fourm.
http://www.madisound.com/cgi-bin/audio_forum/index.pl?read=392238
All lossless codecs will (or should) sound identical, by definition.After that, the analysis mostly regards compressed file sizes, speed of compression and decompression, tagging capabilities and (the somewhat subjective) general acceptance of the format.
Flac is a no-brainer, IMO, unless maybe you have specific needs for a particular operating system or device.
In any case, the decision isn't critical. Once you've ripped your CDs into a lossless format you can transcode the files into any other lossless format with no loss of quality.
*** All lossless codecs will (or should) sound identical, by definition. ***See the thread below in this forum. It is possible for different lossless codecs to sound different. For example, different CPU usage can result in different EMI levels, or different levels of noise dumped into analog circuits.
*** Flac is a no-brainer, IMO ***
Agree that FLAC is a good "default" choice, particularly since it is supported on some portable devices.
However, the compression ratio is not that great (even at the highest setting), and till recently it did not support m-ch and/or esoteric formats (like 32-bit floating point).
I use WMA Lossless, FLAC and Wavpack regularly and FLAC always results in the largest file sizes (particular for high resolution, such as 96kHz 24 bit where FLAC seems very inefficient).
*** Once you've ripped your CDs into a lossless format you can transcode the files into any other lossless format with no loss of quality. ***
Agree, provided there are no bugs in the encoding/decoding process. Some bugs have been recently discovered in FLAC and Wavpack which causes corruption in specific situations, so would recommend using the latest versions of both. If absolutely paranoid, try and verify the file after encoding to make sure it's okay.
Link provided to "listening tests" forumAlso check out www.soundexpert.info
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