kalman;244329 Wrote: > I have noticed after a change in my cd ripping device that my recently > ripped files are of a higher bitrate than before. Does this point to a > difference in quality or is FLAC always FLAC, lossless?
No, there's no difference in quality. The "bitrates" shown for flac files aren't really bitrates in the sense of mp3 or other lossy compression scheme. For lossless compression schemes, the bitrate is just the file size divided by the duration of the track. This bitrate will depend on how much compression flac achieves with a particular audio file and will vary with the source material. Simple material (solo guitar, for example) will compress a lot, while complex material compresses relatively little. I have flac files in my library with bitrates ranging from 228 kbps up to 1160 kbps. Exact same quality for all. Lossless is lossless. Another way to look at it: With lossy schemes you generally have a target bitrate, say 256kbps CBR (constant bitrate). For any given material you end up with a certain audio quality level at that bitrate. For simple material the quality level will be higher than with very complex material. (This is why VBR - variable bitrate - schemes have been devised, so that the quality can be kept somewhate constant, while allowing variations in the bitrate for different parts of a track.) With lossless schemes you have exactly one quality level - 100% lossless - and the bitrate needed to achieve that varies with the complexity of the music. -- JJZolx Jim ------------------------------------------------------------------------ JJZolx's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=10 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=40446 _______________________________________________ ripping mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/ripping
