ffprobe of ffmpeg fame say:
- bitrate: 256kb/s
- Stream: #0:0: Audio: mp3 (mp3float), 44100 Hz, stereo, fltp, 256 kb/s
Is it better to buy the CD and rip or or is that about as good as it gon’ get? Should I quit while I’m ahead
Its literally nowhere else online in a hq format besides YouTube (lq) and various random blogs/sites
No FLACs :( until I change that
That’s not really true. If I rip at 320kbps VBR, I can definitely hear a difference with 320kbps CBR. VBR ends up giving me weird audio artifacts; it sounds like the music is hollowed out and echo-y. I’m not using particularly nice headphones.
Might be how the program I’m using rips things, but man, the stuff I’ve accidentally ripped as VBR is unlistenable to me.
If you can hear a difference in these, your encoder is broken. Use LAME.
True, if we start comparing vbr to cbr, then there can be differences. Honestly though I would just choose a lossless format if you are able to tell the difference.
The difference in space ends up being significant; 500mb for lossless, 100 or so mb for 320kbps CBR. It adds up quickly, and expandable memory is rare now.