Poor quality MP3

Danhill · Jul 2, 2004, 07:56 AM

I've downloaded a Metallica show from livemetallica.com in MP3 format (128 k) for 9,99$.

There wasn't a option to listen to a sample from the show, showing how bad quality it really was, so I'm a bit disappointed with my purchase.

My question is: Is there a tool or a program that can improve the quality of MP3??

grog · Jul 2, 2004, 08:25 AM

You can not up-sample to improve quality. Just wont work.

You could use something like "Sound Forge XP" to remove some types of spectral quality issues.

http://mediasoftware.sonypictures.co...ct.asp?PID=668

Sony owns the product now but if you have a Sound Blaster Live MP3+ card setting around the CD has the older 4.0 or 4.5 version on it.
Runs fine with WinXP and does not require the Sound Blaster Live card to be used. A lot cheaper than the $400.00 for version 7.0.

You can do spectral changes to the sound content which might make it sound better. Removing background noise etc...

Greg

Danhill · Jul 2, 2004, 08:28 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by grog
You can not up-sample to improve quality. Just wont work.

You could use something like "Sound Forge XP" to remove some types of spectral quality issues.

http://mediasoftware.sonypictures.co...ct.asp?PID=668

Sony owns the product now but if you have a Sound Blaster Live MP3+ card setting around the CD has the older 4.0 or 4.5 version on it.
Runs fine with WinXP and does not require the Sound Blaster Live card to be used. A lot cheaper than the $400.00 for version 7.0.

You can do spectral changes to the sound content which might make it sound better. Removing background noise etc...

Greg

Thanks alot Greg, I'll try the trial version when I get home.

Danhill · Jul 2, 2004, 09:21 AM

Hi

I tried the program out a little here on work (yeah I know I'm a bad employee) but man it's difficult for my small brain.

Isn't there a program that has some kind of wizard or maybe some simpler program??

germanjulian · Jul 2, 2004, 09:42 AM

even if you do make it better it will still sound bloddy awful at 128kps. they shouldnt even sell it. my telephone ringtone is better then 128kps (joke) but seriously 128kps is AWFUL to say the least with mp3.

Danhill · Jul 2, 2004, 09:53 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by germanjulian
even if you do make it better it will still sound bloddy awful at 128kps. they shouldnt even sell it. my telephone ringtone is better then 128kps (joke) but seriously 128kps is AWFUL to say the least with mp3.

Yeah, I agree with you, think it's the first and last time I download from livemetallica.

**dj_stick** · Jul 2, 2004, 12:05 PM

for decent quality audio - nothing really beats the CD itself, or a full size .wav file (44,100hz/16bit)â€¦ but those files are huge (~10Mb per minute)
try at least 360KB/Sâ€¦ it also depends on what the file was encoded with - the lame 2.92(?) is the best MP3 encoder around

EDIT: btw you may want to ignore me

i use WMA9 @ 64KB/S

Danhill · Jul 2, 2004, 12:39 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by dj_stick
for decent quality audio - nothing really beats the CD itself, or a full size .wav file (44,100hz/16bit)â€¦ but those files are huge (~10Mb per minute)
try at least 360KB/Sâ€¦ it also depends on what the file was encoded with - the lame 2.92(?) is the best MP3 encoder around

EDIT: btw you may want to ignore me i use WMA9 @ 64KB/S

Well there was not much I could have done, they had the songs in MP3 128 k, and it sounds awful.

Is'nt there something I can do??

BTW, I have lots of 128 k MP3 thats sound OK, but this one......

**dj_stick** · Jul 2, 2004, 12:50 PM

as i saidâ€¦ its the encoder format they used i guessâ€¦ lowest quality settings at 128 most likelyâ€¦ email me the track (i'll pm you my email) and i will see what i can do

Danhill · Jul 2, 2004, 01:54 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by dj_stick
as i saidâ€¦ its the encoder format they used i guessâ€¦ lowest quality settings at 128 most likelyâ€¦ email me the track (i'll pm you my email) and i will see what i can do

Very nice of you as always, I'll send it to you tonight.

Thanks

**dj_stick** · Jul 2, 2004, 02:08 PM

no worries

Logla · Jul 2, 2004, 07:26 PM

they wouldn't be MP3Pro encoded by any chance?

MP3pros play back through the normal mp3 codec but sound crap as a result as a lot (approx 1/2 I think) of the sound out.

Do they sound like the treble is all muffled or mixed up and the overall track sounds flat by any chance.

BTW - if this is the case, good luck finding the pro codec - very expensive.

Danhill · Jul 2, 2004, 07:42 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Logla
they wouldn't be MP3Pro encoded by any chance?

MP3pros play back through the normal mp3 codec but sound crap as a result as a lot (approx 1/2 I think) of the sound out.

Do they sound like the treble is all muffled or mixed up and the overall track sounds flat by any chance.

BTW - if this is the case, good luck finding the pro codec - very expensive.

I really don't have a clue Logla, I dowloaded it from livemetallica.com and payed for it, at least they could have some sample of some kind to listen to it before paying for the show to then find out that the songs were of crappy quality.

Logla · Jul 3, 2004, 10:02 AM

totally agree with you.

It Stinks.

Danhill · Jul 3, 2004, 12:49 PM

Yes it does. They have another format for dowload called "flac" never heard of such a format before, but they say that it's better than MP3.

Vampyromaniac · Jul 5, 2004, 01:43 AM

yes, flac is true CD-quality sound, compressed with no loss of any bits. but the filesizes are huge.

Danhill · Jul 5, 2004, 06:56 AM

The next time I'll choose Flac.

**dj_stick** · Jul 5, 2004, 07:39 AM

free lossless audio codec
http://flac.sourceforge.net/

Danhill · Jul 5, 2004, 07:46 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by dj_stick
free lossless audio codec
http://flac.sourceforge.net/

Thanks DJ

Jul 2, 2004, 07:56 AM	#1
Danhill DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: May 2003 Location: Sweden Posts: 4,112 Rep Power: 0	Poor quality MP3 I've downloaded a Metallica show from livemetallica.com in MP3 format (128 k) for 9,99$. There wasn't a option to listen to a sample from the show, showing how bad quality it really was, so I'm a bit disappointed with my purchase. My question is: Is there a tool or a program that can improve the quality of MP3?? __________________ MOBO: [color=white]ASUS A8N-SLI Premium[/color] CPU: AMD 64 3200+ (Venice) @ 2,50 Ghz MEM: 2 x 512 DDR 466, VGA: 2 x 6600 GT in SLI, HDD1: WD Raptor HDD2: Maxtor Diamond Plus 9, Case: Antec Plus View 1080, PSU: ThermalTake PurePower 500W, MX 1000, Dell 2001 FP, Aud. 2 SZ

Jul 2, 2004, 08:25 AM	#2
grog Roxy Music Join Date: Jul 2002 Posts: 623 Rep Power: 66 System Specs	You can not up-sample to improve quality. Just wont work. You could use something like "Sound Forge XP" to remove some types of spectral quality issues. http://mediasoftware.sonypictures.co...ct.asp?PID=668 Sony owns the product now but if you have a Sound Blaster Live MP3+ card setting around the CD has the older 4.0 or 4.5 version on it. Runs fine with WinXP and does not require the Sound Blaster Live card to be used. A lot cheaper than the $400.00 for version 7.0. You can do spectral changes to the sound content which might make it sound better. Removing background noise etc... Greg __________________ Dell UltraSharp 2405FPW 24" LCD Philips 47" 1080p 47pfl7422d/37 LCD ASUS M3A32-MVP Deluxe/WiFi BIOS 1406, AMD Phenom 9600 Agena 2.3GHz, G.SKILL 8GB(4 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 (PC2 6400) ASUS EAH4850 TOP/HTDI/512M PCI Express 2.0 Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Elite Pro Sound Card, 1TB Hard Disk storage Thermaltake Tai-Chi VB5001SNA Black/ Silver Computer Case with liquid cooling AeroCool GateWatch-SV Silver GateWatch with LCD display, PC Power & Cooling 510 SLI-PFC 510W APC Back-UPS XS 1000 UPS, 1000 VA, 600 Watts Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate SP1 64-bit VM's (Fedora, RHEL4..etc) Klipsch ProMedia Ultra 5.1

Jul 2, 2004, 09:21 AM	Thread Starter #4
Danhill DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: May 2003 Location: Sweden Posts: 4,112 Rep Power: 0	Hi I tried the program out a little here on work (yeah I know I'm a bad employee) but man it's difficult for my small brain. Isn't there a program that has some kind of wizard or maybe some simpler program?? __________________ MOBO: [color=white]ASUS A8N-SLI Premium[/color] CPU: AMD 64 3200+ (Venice) @ 2,50 Ghz MEM: 2 x 512 DDR 466, VGA: 2 x 6600 GT in SLI, HDD1: WD Raptor HDD2: Maxtor Diamond Plus 9, Case: Antec Plus View 1080, PSU: ThermalTake PurePower 500W, MX 1000, Dell 2001 FP, Aud. 2 SZ

Jul 2, 2004, 09:42 AM	#5
germanjulian Back in London Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: London Posts: 1,797 Rep Power: 0	even if you do make it better it will still sound bloddy awful at 128kps. they shouldnt even sell it. my telephone ringtone is better then 128kps (joke) but seriously 128kps is AWFUL to say the least with mp3. __________________ /\|\ Asus P5W DH Deluxe, Intel C2D E6600, 2GB Corsair XMS2-6400C4 DDR2, E-VGA GeForce 7800 GT, Creative X-Fi Extreme Music, 500GB Seagate 7200.10 SATA, Lian Li PC-V1100 Aluminum Case Black, etc. http://germanjulian.com /\|\

Jul 3, 2004, 12:49 PM	Thread Starter #15
Danhill DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: May 2003 Location: Sweden Posts: 4,112 Rep Power: 0	Yes it does. They have another format for dowload called "flac" never heard of such a format before, but they say that it's better than MP3. __________________ MOBO: [color=white]ASUS A8N-SLI Premium[/color] CPU: AMD 64 3200+ (Venice) @ 2,50 Ghz MEM: 2 x 512 DDR 466, VGA: 2 x 6600 GT in SLI, HDD1: WD Raptor HDD2: Maxtor Diamond Plus 9, Case: Antec Plus View 1080, PSU: ThermalTake PurePower 500W, MX 1000, Dell 2001 FP, Aud. 2 SZ

Jul 2, 2004, 07:26 PM	#12
Logla HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: May 2003 Posts: 3,311 Rep Power: 0	they wouldn't be MP3Pro encoded by any chance? MP3pros play back through the normal mp3 codec but sound crap as a result as a lot (approx 1/2 I think) of the sound out. Do they sound like the treble is all muffled or mixed up and the overall track sounds flat by any chance. BTW - if this is the case, good luck finding the pro codec - very expensive.

Jul 3, 2004, 10:02 AM	#14
Logla HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: May 2003 Posts: 3,311 Rep Power: 0	totally agree with you. It Stinks.

Jul 5, 2004, 01:43 AM	#16
Vampyromaniac confutatis maledictis Join Date: May 2002 Location: somewhere dark Posts: 5,974 Rep Power: 77 System Specs	yes, flac is true CD-quality sound, compressed with no loss of any bits. but the filesizes are huge. __________________ *Digitalis 3.3* Athlon 64 3000 // ASUS K8V SE Deluxe // 1024MB PC3200 (2-2-2-10 1T) ATI All-In-Wonder 9700 Pro // 20" Dell 2005FPW (DVI) M-Audio Revo 7.1 + Philips Acoustic Edge // Klipsch ProMedia 2.1 320/16 Western Digital WD3200KS + 120/8 Seagate 7200.7 NEC ND-3550A 16x DVD±RW + Lite-On 52x24x CD-RW Antec Sonata case // 480W Antec TruePower personal bests \|\| Aq'3: 46796 \| 3D'01: 20461 \| 3D'03: 6336 \| 3D'05: 2677 \| PC'04: 4605 \| PC'02: 7691,9092,1250

Jul 5, 2004, 06:56 AM	Thread Starter #17
Danhill DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: May 2003 Location: Sweden Posts: 4,112 Rep Power: 0	The next time I'll choose Flac. __________________ MOBO: [color=white]ASUS A8N-SLI Premium[/color] CPU: AMD 64 3200+ (Venice) @ 2,50 Ghz MEM: 2 x 512 DDR 466, VGA: 2 x 6600 GT in SLI, HDD1: WD Raptor HDD2: Maxtor Diamond Plus 9, Case: Antec Plus View 1080, PSU: ThermalTake PurePower 500W, MX 1000, Dell 2001 FP, Aud. 2 SZ