Ogg Bit Converter

[Blutin]

Does anyone know if using the Ogg Bit Converter to convert existing ogg files results in a loss of sound quality?

I'm listening to my converted 96kpbs ogg files now (they were already encoded to 96 but i had to further convert them using the bit converter else they wouldn't play in Slimx 350).

I absolutely freakin adore the clean clear sound of OGG.

[Step666]

Any form of transcoding will result in a loss in quality.
You're always better off re-ripping if possible

[Blutin]

Yes, I thought as much. I ended up re-ripping the CD and adjusting the OGG bitrate to 112 - now they play fine

I'm really loving the sound of OGG. I knew of it but never really delved into it - it sounds just incredible compared to MP3 - more punchy bass and better soundscape (at least with using my Yuin PK1's)

[Blutin]

I experimented with encoding further and got the iMP-350 to play my 96kpbs oggs on first go (w/o having to transcode using Ogg bitrate converter)....I use OggDropXPD and in the encoding options use ABR mode, min. bitrate = 96kpbs, nom. bitrate = 96kpbs, max. bitrate = 500kpbs. It works like a charm.

I still use the Ogg Bitrate Converter to check if my files are compatible with the slimx, so it's useful in that way.

But, there are still some issues...sometimes when playing an album sequentially (in iMP-350), the player sometimes skips songs that have no issue with them. I use CD-RW almost exclusively so it might be a matter of just changing to a regular CD-R.

Also - and this one is annoying...the player sometimes powers itself off and reboots randomly. It could be a question of bitrate, or seeking speed, I don't know...will keep posted.

[KHRoN]

actually it is pointless to use iriver's "ogg converter" as what it does is to decode OGG file to PCM stream and encode it again with another "average bitrate" setting with OLD Ogg Vorbis Encoder

which is bad because:
- it is re-encoding, which means "twice as compressed, twice as much artifacts"
- file size is actually bigger than it could be (because of average bitrate ie. 100kbps instead od 98kbps)
- you can use new (providing better sound quality) encoder (say aoTuV relase 1), but you still re-encode hi-quality file with old and bulk "vorbis pre-1.0 beta" encoder

far better is to use more strict settings at the first encoding ie. "average bitrate" set to 100kbps to ensure full compatibility with iMP but sacrificing those 4kbps

the only program capable of "bitrate peeling" (say "without re-encoding" change of bitrate) is "bpeel"... but it only decreases bitrate (ie. 250 -> 220kbps for iFP series) and not increases (in terms of quality it would not be as pointless as re-encoding, but still it will be like "padding with zeroes")... and in fact is capable of reducing bitrate as far as ~0.8 times original bitrate... and - in fact - speaking of quality, it would be better to encode once more from CD-Audio than to peel some bitrate off