What is an appropriate Bit Rate for Exact Audio Copy?

[surv1v0r]

When ripping a CD to MP3 in Exact Audio Copy, under the EAC & Compression Options tab you are able to select a required Bit Rate.

This can range from 96 kBit/sec to 320 kBit/sec or Variable 96 kBit/sec to Variable 192 kBit/sec. Can anyone explain what is the optimum to choose and why please? I imagine that 96 kBit/sec is too low and 320 kBit/sec is way over the top.

I do realise that neither CDs or MP3 format are not exactly Audiophile quality. However, FLAC doesn't appear to be widely supported and you can get a shedload of music onto a USB memory stick to carry around in the car.

[skimminstones]

What makes you say FLAC isnt widely supported?

Personally it depends where im going to be listening to the music. If its on my mp3 player or in the car i tend to rip to 320 but if at home it will be FLAC

[surv1v0r]

My car radio Mobile Device Interface can playback MP3s from a USB memory stick but not FLACs. I believe that this is also true of most low end PVRs and BluRay players and mobile 'phones?

As it happens, the "MP3" player that I use (Sansa Fuze) does support FLACs and that is what I have stored on it.

I may be entirely missing the point and I don't know how to do the relevant calculations but isn't 320 kBit/sec excessive for encoding a frequency range that will top out at 22 kHz anyhow?

[skimminstones]

so do it at 192 and save the space

[struth]

I copy everything to a lossless format...flac being my preferred one ... If i want to play a file on a non flac machine which there aint many now, then i can run off a copy at , whatever i need or want and still have the original. 320 is way better than 192 on music i listen to, although on some styles of music or poorer recordings, it may not matter so much. Depends on what your listening it through as well

[Ali Tait]

If you have the space, use the highest bit rates for best sound quality.

[surv1v0r]

I have found some interesting observations:

Using a bit rate of 128 Kbps usually results in a sound quality equivalent to what you'd hear on the radio. Many music sites and blogs urge people to use a bit rate of 160 Kbps or higher if they want the MP3 file to have the same sound quality as a CD. (LINK)

and

The absolute lowest MP3 bit rate you should consider is 128kbps. This was often referred to as being CD quality, but it's far from being so. This bit rate will allow you to get much more music on to your MP3 player but you'll sacrifice a great deal of audio quality as a result. If you use the headphones that came with your player and don't listen to that much music, 128kbps will probably suffice for you.

The happy medium between small file sizes and true CD quality audio is a 256kbps bit rate. This offers vastly superior sound quality over 128kbps, without eating up too much disk space. The difference in quality between 128kbps and 256kbps is vast and immediately obvious -- your favourite tunes encoded at 256kbps will sound stunning in comparison to the same tracks encoded at 128kbps.
...
One final consideration should be to encode MP3s using a 'variable bit rate' instead of a 'constant bit rate'. Using VBR allows the MP3 encoder to use lower bit rates during quieter or less complex parts of a song, and significantly higher bit rates during more complex sections. This allows you to have a file of greater quality but without pushing file sizes up too much. (LINK)

I suspect that when they talk about "Radio quality" they are not talking about Radio 3 on FM!

I guess that the obvious / significant difference between high and low bit rates is going to be in terms of dynamic range?

[Macca]

I think Radio 3 is usually 256

For CD quality you want 320 non-variable.

[WAD62]

Treat yourself to dbPoweramp, rip your CDs in FLAC to a HD, then batch convert them to mp3/vbr on a USB stick...

VBR 192 mp3 is a good compromise for quality and size

Ripping is something you don't want to repeat, so don't miss out the FLAC stage...

[Yomanze]

320kbps or 256kbps for portable audio, and lossless for HiFi. Any decent system will benefit from that last touch of refinement and 'air' in the top end that lossless gives, but no way can I notice it on my phone or in-car...

When I did listening tests differences became more apparent at 192 and below, so IME staying at 256 and above does make the files very close to lossless.