4 ms·

With a setup this bespoke, why not transcode to Opus or AAC or MP3 VBR?

maybe_pablo 2y ago
I do something similar to OP but do the final transcoding to HE-AAC VBR 64kbps (ffmpeg params `-c:a aac_at -profile:a 4 -b:a 64k -aac_at_mode 2`). The tracks sound more than acceptable to me and this way I can easily store my entire collection (+80k tracks) into my iPhone. Modern codecs are wonderfully efficient.
- sandreas 2y ago
  Thanks for sharing your params... This is nice, maybe that's something I should consider. I need to test wether my car supports aac. My ipod does and kitchen radio is not that important. You should See my audio books workflow with m4b-tool and audiobookshelf, which is probably even better ;) Did you know ffmpeg has a non free Encoder (libfdk_AAC) thats sounds slightly better?
  - maybe_pablo 2y ago
    No problem, please do share any interesting part of your workflow if you have the time! > Did you know ffmpeg has a non free Encoder (libfdk_AAC) thats sounds slightly better? Ah yes. I'm not sure it sounds better than the audiotoolbox encoder though, at least it is reported that it doesn't here: https://trac.ffmpeg.org/wiki/Encode/AAC#aac_at https://trac.ffmpeg.org/wiki/Encode/AAC#aac_at although the hydrogenaudio source of this claim seems to be down, is still readable on the web archive at https://web.archive.org/web/20240407200855/https://wiki.hydrogenaud.io/index.php?title=Apple_AAC https://web.archive.org/web/20240407200855/https://wiki.hydr...
    - sandreas 2y ago
      I'm desperately trying to publish a blog article about this topic for half a year now :-) Maybe I'll never get it done, there is so much to cover... from - what I know about iPods - why modern Android Phones still can't compete in my opinion - why the Apple Earpods can't change volume on Android devices and vice versa (https://tinymicros.com/wiki/Apple_iPod_Remote_Protocol https://tinymicros.com/wiki/Apple_iPod_Remote_Protocol) - how you can harvest Earpods remote to create a durable good sounding headset using the right pinout - that OneMore seems to have implemented the Apple Remote Protocol without anyone noticing - why I wrote my own command line cross platform audio tagger (https://github.com/sandreas/tone https://github.com/sandreas/tone) - why I self-host my audio stuff - and why nobody seems to care about an audio everything solution (music, audio books, podcasts, etc.) So, let's hope I'll find the time :-)
sandreas 2y ago
That's a choice I made years ago. Maybe today I would change this, but I did not feel the pain to reencode my whole library yet. Maybe in the future. At least I know I can do it very easily by just reimporting the FLACs and change one config switch in beets :-) Opus is more exotic and does not work on all my players though (e.g. my car or kitchen radio)
- wwalexander 2y ago
  That is the beauty of a lossless archive :) makes sense

I do something similar to OP but do the final transcoding to HE-AAC VBR 64kbps (ffmpeg params `-c:a aac_at -profile:a 4 -b:a 64k -aac_at_mode 2`). The tracks sound more than acceptable to me and this way I can easily store my entire collection (+80k tracks) into my iPhone. Modern codecs are wonderfully efficient.

sandreas 2y ago
Thanks for sharing your params... This is nice, maybe that's something I should consider. I need to test wether my car supports aac. My ipod does and kitchen radio is not that important. You should See my audio books workflow with m4b-tool and audiobookshelf, which is probably even better ;) Did you know ffmpeg has a non free Encoder (libfdk_AAC) thats sounds slightly better?
- maybe_pablo 2y ago
  No problem, please do share any interesting part of your workflow if you have the time! > Did you know ffmpeg has a non free Encoder (libfdk_AAC) thats sounds slightly better? Ah yes. I'm not sure it sounds better than the audiotoolbox encoder though, at least it is reported that it doesn't here: https://trac.ffmpeg.org/wiki/Encode/AAC#aac_at https://trac.ffmpeg.org/wiki/Encode/AAC#aac_at although the hydrogenaudio source of this claim seems to be down, is still readable on the web archive at https://web.archive.org/web/20240407200855/https://wiki.hydrogenaud.io/index.php?title=Apple_AAC https://web.archive.org/web/20240407200855/https://wiki.hydr...
  - sandreas 2y ago
    I'm desperately trying to publish a blog article about this topic for half a year now :-) Maybe I'll never get it done, there is so much to cover... from - what I know about iPods - why modern Android Phones still can't compete in my opinion - why the Apple Earpods can't change volume on Android devices and vice versa (https://tinymicros.com/wiki/Apple_iPod_Remote_Protocol https://tinymicros.com/wiki/Apple_iPod_Remote_Protocol) - how you can harvest Earpods remote to create a durable good sounding headset using the right pinout - that OneMore seems to have implemented the Apple Remote Protocol without anyone noticing - why I wrote my own command line cross platform audio tagger (https://github.com/sandreas/tone https://github.com/sandreas/tone) - why I self-host my audio stuff - and why nobody seems to care about an audio everything solution (music, audio books, podcasts, etc.) So, let's hope I'll find the time :-)

sandreas 2y ago

That's a choice I made years ago. Maybe today I would change this, but I did not feel the pain to reencode my whole library yet. Maybe in the future. At least I know I can do it very easily by just reimporting the FLACs and change one config switch in beets :-) Opus is more exotic and does not work on all my players though (e.g. my car or kitchen radio)

wwalexander 2y ago
That is the beauty of a lossless archive :) makes sense