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MP3's soon to sound even better

Interesting article, care of the BBC.

Quote:

MP3 surround sound system debuts

It's not just about loud anymore
Soon your MP3 files could be sounding even better.

The Fraunhofer Institute has found a way to reproduce surround sound in a way that works with small MP3 files.

Using a small amount of additional information added to an MP3 encoding stream the technology catches information about where sounds are supposed to be coming from.

Fraunhofer said that the system it developed would work with existing MP3 software and music players.

Extra data

Surround sound is usually produced by recording audio on different channels so it appears to come from three or more directions.

But more channels means more data making it a poor candidate for converting into small files that can easily be swapped online or put on a portable player.

However, researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute have come up with a way to preserve this information without resorting to recording huge amounts of data.

Fraunhofer reproduces surround sound by adding to MP3 encoding extra information that describes the spatial characteristics of the main audio track.

Using this extra information helps MP3 players recreate the surround sound effect.

Music encoded with the new system will work with older hardware and software MP3 players but the extras will only the surround sound when piped through a player that can do something with the extra information.

Surround sound MP3 files played on devices or by software that does not work with the system will just sound like ordinary MP3 files.

Small size

The MP3 way of encoding music works by removing those parts that the human ear cannot hear.

They can reduce the amount of space needed to store music on a CD by a factor of 12 without losing much sound quality.

Fraunhofer said that the first products using the surround sound technology should be available by July 2004.

The surround sound MP3 technology arose out of a project that the Fraunhofer Institute conducted with Agere Systems and was showcased at the Cebit technology fair in Hanover, Germany.

Original article here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/3550833.stm

Mr Mephisto

How cool. And the next thing is a DVD that acts like a hard dirve. This will make music in my car sound better and allow me to fit more music on a cd. The only problem is that I will have to buy a new CD player when the technology is incorporated. Thanks for the info

Something about the words MP3 and sounds good in the same sentence just don't sit well with me. Time will tell whether this is worth a shit.

I think, for the most part, if you know what you're downloading and get higher quality shit (192 kbs and above) mp3s are of the same quality as a regular cd. But what do I know?

I've always downloaded it at 192 and I can't tell the diffenence on my surround sound stereo. I don't see why we can't keep things the same if something works fine.

/me waits for LAME Surround.

I have to disagree with Mp3s==shitty sound. With a DSP plugin and a good rip (VBR 160-224) I really notice no difference right after ripping a CD and playing them both.

Quote:

Originally posted by Holo
/me waits for LAME Surround.

I have to disagree with Mp3s==shitty sound. With a DSP plugin and a good rip (VBR 160-224) I really notice no difference right after ripping a CD and playing them both.

I can tell the difference in seconds. It's sometimes difficult to discern the differences on often shitty computer speakers, but play it on a decent home audio system and it's practically night and day.

Sheesh....

AUDIO geeks.

Who would have thunk it?

MP3's with a decent sampling rate are fine for most people. Now they may begin to sound better. If you don't like 'em, don't listen to them.

Mr Mephisto

The only setting I use for MP3s now is -alt preset standard with the hydrogen audio tested compile of LAME 3.90.3 - and those are just for friends and transcoded from lossless files frequently via the foobar2k diskwriter.

I much prefer AAC for my website files/other lossy purposes or FLAC for everything else.