105kbps or 132kbps? (Sony NW-HD5)

[ChrnoXIII]

I am wondering whether to use 105kbps or 132kpbs (both with ATRAC3 encoding) with my new HD5. I am not worried about space but battery life. obviously 132kbps uses up more 'battery' but does anyone know the exact times?

Thank You

 

[drmoze]

Why are you avoiding Atrac3plus encoding? A3+ at 64 will sound better than A3 at 105, and the general opinion is that it sounds as good as A3 at 132.

Of course, you should try encoding a few favorite tunes at the different rates and do a listening test. Definitely include Atrac3plus at 64 kbps........

 

[clonmult]

Is 3+ much better than 3? I've been using LP2 (132kbps) on my NetMD, and won't go to LP4 at all - it has terrible stereo artifacts at times, whereas LP2 sounds great pretty much all of the time.

 

[Sasso]

3+ is alot better. If possible, rip a track from CD at Atrac3 66kbps, and then same track at Atrac3+ 64kbps. Then Listen to them on the computer or stereo or HD5 and I can almost guarantee that the 64 will sound stacks better.
I wouldn't go as far as saying 64 is as good as 132, its not quite. But I would probably go for 64 anyway, as the battery will last stacks longer plus you can fit more songs on.
For some reason I have never liked or wanted to use Atrac3, maybe because I know that it could be better using '+', its almost like using old technology, well feels like it anyway, its like it makes it sound worse in your mind simply because its not +, but its just a mental thing, It does actually sound good.
Anyway, all our problems would be solved if only Sony made firmware to make all the many new Atrac3+ bitrates COmpatible!!!

 

[sunflowerhx]

Hi (HD5 user)

I currently rip all my tunes using VBR MP3. However in the interest of increasing battery life I am thinking of converting them to Atrac3+.

1. What would be a equivalent Atrac3+ rate?
2. Would I lose quality converting straight from my MP3 files? I really don't want to go through my CD collection again.
3. Any other advise would be most welcome.

Thanks!

 

[shadowritten]

1) Nearest equivalent (I'm guessing) would be 132 ATRAC3 or 160 ATRAC3Plus - this latter rate doesn't work on the HD5, however.

2) There's always some generation loss transcoding from one lossy codec to another, so yes. But honestly, it's not noticeable to most of us!

 

[sunflowerhx]

1) Nearest equivalent (I'm guessing) would be 132 ATRAC3 or 160 ATRAC3Plus - this latter rate doesn't work on the HD5, however.

But how much battery life would I gain if I convert from VBR to 132 ATRAC3?
Maybe ATRAC3+ 64 would be a better option?

Also using a lower bitrate I find that I have to turn up the volume compared to a song in VBR, Surely that negates some of battery life gained?

 

[shadowritten]

Can't say I've ever had to significantly increase volume just for lower bitrates?

I use ATRAC3Plus at 64kbps. Shuffling 4137 tracks for up to 8 hours daily, five days' a week, at half volume and with Digital Sound Presets both at +3dB, I can usually get about 28-35 hours (or thereabouts - it can vary a little either way) out of a fully charged battery.

 

[flushme]

Shuffling 4137 tracks for up to 8 hours daily, five days' a week.

so that's why you formerly said "if i had a life..."

 

[shadowritten]

so that's why you formerly said "if i had a life..."

To, from and at work - you goon!!

 

[dups45]

Anybody hazard a gess at how big a 4MB WMA 128kbps formatt song would be in MB in mp3 formatt?

 

[shadowritten]

Only fractionally smaller: 3.9MB, maybe 3.8MB - in my experience, anyway ... Assume you mean same bitrate?

 

[syenite]

just ordered a hd5 through sonys UK website(managed to get a 30gig!)

ive enjoyed the bitrate vs battery life vs file size discussion and am close to deciding on how to set mine up. think i may sacrifice battey life for higher quality

as an aside, will my new toy arrive with the lastest SS software or will i need to get updates straight away?

 

[drmoze]

The Sony software (SonicStage) should e anywhere from v3.0 to v3.2. You may have to update if it's <3.2, but that's easy.

As for bitrate, definitely do a test first. I had pretty much decided to use Atrac3+ at 192kbps, as a compromise between quality and number of albums on the player. (I have a ton of CDs and wanted to minimize swapping.) When I did listening tests on a few songs with a couple of different headphones, I found no real noticeable difference (to my ears) between 64kbps and 192kbps. This was in a quiet environment too. So I am encoding my CDs at 64.

YMMV of course, but definitely give a listen to different encodings.

As for battery life, that's less of an issue for me as the HD5 lasts for a few days' worth of listening anyway.

 

[sunflowerhx]

Just how do you convert MP3 to Atrac3?

I tried SS 3.2 by right click on a track -> Convert Format, I get the following

Cannot convert the specified track.
SonicStage does not support the file format of the track
or the track is protected by copyright.

The track that I am converting is a VBR MP3 done using EAC with no copy protection.