[Scott Dorsey]

Jim Lesurf wrote:
In article , John Williamson

e.g. Some years ago I got some 'AVRO' issued 256k mp3 files made using a
decent pro encoder. These were for one of the celebration events for the
Concergebauw or Haitink IIRC. In general, they sound quite good, albeit
that I have no source LPCM to compare with.

However in some quiet passages the result became quite 'ragged'. I finally
realised that the encoder judgement rule settings was treating a lot of the
low level detail as 'noise floor' simply because it wasn't fully taking
into account the overall low sound level.

This is adjustable! You can set some of those thresholds down manually
when necessary.. And yes, for classical music it's necessary.

So not all mp3 files are equal, even when at the same mp3 rate.

This is why we pay mastering engineers. It's just like cutting LPs, you are
trying to pack 10 gallons of music in a 5 gallon container. Something has to
be thrown away. It's better for a person with ears to help make the decision
about what instead of letting the computer do it.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."