hey everyone !

i bought this awesome compilation on the itunes store called "monster hits from the 20th century" but i wondered how good MP3's are for playing on large speaker systems. The file says its a 128 K/bs AAC file and I heard anything around 128 distorted on pro systems or are AAC's better than MP3's ? It's all so confusing waaaaaaaa

I personly dont like compressed music at all... but the the bit rate you can get away with depends in the qulaity of the sound system and also on how good the hearing is of the listener...

diferent people pick up on diferent things so if you want to keep every one happy you need the best sounds system and no compression... this is never going to happen with a mobile setup so finding a happy medium is best...

most people I think have been happy with bit rates around or above 192kbps some people with nice sounds systems like bit rates as high as 320kpbs (near as damn it to CD quality)

When I get dance music from the internet I like to down load the full size WAV file not the compressed music format..

So as far as the 128kbps goes.. I can hear in my headphones its compressed but its your choice... listen too it on your system and compaire the track with an original CD and see if you notice

Depends on how big / expensive the playback system is. Most Mobile DJ's using small - medium systems at functions won't notice any difference playing back mp3's at 192+ compared to CD on the same system, although I wouldn't be tempted to use it on a high quality PA in a large nightclub for example.

I've heard several mobile systems all using a pc based system, and to be honest I couldn't tell the difference, so I doubt that most members of the audience would either. After all, pc archive and playback is the method of choice for some commercial radio stations these days too.

Most systems, whether CD, Vinyl, or Computer based will sound better when using a sound enhancer such as those offered by Behringer. For as little as £50 - £60 you can add headroom and clarity to any system.

There are a lot of discussions on the forum regarding PC / laptop DJ'ing, and we also have many DJ's who have been using this method for years.

The general advice is that you should only use the PC / Laptop for music - in other words buy a pc / laptop purely for DJ'ing and don't use it for anything else other than running Windows and your choice of DJ Software.

Invest in a decent external soundcard - don't just rely on the built in one, which can be cheap and poor quality (especially in some laptops)

and it gets worse

Its not simply the bitrate, and I've spouted forth enough about this in other threads, but people still just don't seem to get it.

However, every bit (no pun intended) as important is the encoding engine used to make the mp3 in the first place.

I would not wish to touch anything encoded by a Xing encoder , and you really ought to be using nothing but a Lame or FhG (the original developers of the mp3 encoding technology) for high quality.

And then there's the complexities of the encoding algorithm which can be varied by the command line . . . .

Very true - people download these fast mp3 encoding programs, but they often don't do a very good job.

One 192 Kb/s may not be as good as another......

Oh, anybody still got a Blade encoder??
You don't know?? Shame on you!

Keep it WAV please!! Don't compress!