what does sample rate and bit rate mean

[smuggs]

i have 3 copys of the same track 2 on itunes 1 play from spotify

one has 9.5mb, sample rate of 44.100khz and a bit rate of 320 vbr

the next has 27.mb sample rate of 44.100khz and a bit rate of 1023 kbps

they all the sound the same through my dac-magic very good but a tiny bit of a cd im not really fussed but would like to learn more i opened that thread a couple down and got in a right mess trying to get a rip the same as a cd. i am starting to think the usb is far worse than optical for audio into a dac-magic that is.

eac is that what everybody uses to rip cds and then is it peronal choice to what software you play back on is that right so far.

 

[Superaintit]

i have 3 copys of the same track 2 on itunes 1 play from spotify

one has 9.5mb, sample rate of 44.100khz and a bit rate of 320 vbr

the next has 27.mb sample rate of 44.100khz and a bit rate of 1023 kbps

Hi smuggs,

Maybe I can shed some light...

In the most basic form a musical signal can be described as a waveform. The sample rate is the rate at which a digital format takes a snapshot of that waveform. For cd that is 44100khz (44100 times per second). For dvd-a 96000khz. Then there are also high resolution files that come in the 88200 format- two times faster then cd.

Bit rate has everything to do with the total data that is being stored to reproduce that waveform. Most common is 16 bit word lentgh, which is cd. 24 bit is common for higher quality files. 1411kbps is the standard rate at which a cd format transmits data. That figure can be minimised without loss in quality with a lossless -hey!- codec, like apple lossless or flac or whatever format. My best guess is that the example of 1023 kbps you mentioned is lossless.

On the other hand there are lossy formats, like mp3. VBR means variable bitrate which attemps to mask the lower quality by using more bits (=data) when the music gets compex.

Phew, that was a lot of text! Summarizing: from higher to lower quality 96000khz 24 bit, 88200khz 24 bit, 48000khz 24 bit, 44100khz 16 bit, mp3 (lossy formats)

 

[CnoEvil]

If you want an in depth answer I'm not your guy, so here is the simple one :

The "sample rate" (kHZ), tells you how many times the original signal has been sliced up.
The "bit depth" (eg.32 24 or 16) tells you how much is recorded on each slice (ie.The resolution).

Any more complicated than that, and I will need to defer to others on here.

 

[Superaintit]

EAC should be fine. Software to play won't matter- choose anything you like. To maximise quality use highest quality files and a digital connection. In your case optical.

 

[smuggs]

thanks that is making sense so would a lossless 320 vbr just get rid of all the non music so for example if you studied the two songs would there be more seperation between parts of the music on a higher bit rate rip.

and is there a bit rate limit on usb

 

[CnoEvil]

i have 3 copys of the same track 2 on itunes 1 play from spotify

one has 9.5mb, sample rate of 44.100khz and a bit rate of 320 vbr

the next has 27.mb sample rate of 44.100khz and a bit rate of 1023 kbps

Hi smuggs,

Maybe I can shed some light...

In the most basic form a musical signal can be described as a waveform. The sample rate is the rate at which a digital format takes a snapshot of that waveform. For cd that is 44100khz (44100 times per second). For dvd-a 96000khz. Then there are also high resolution files that come in the 88200 format- two times faster then cd.

Bit rate has everything to do with the total data that is being stored to reproduce that waveform. Most common is 16 bit word lentgh, which is cd. 24 bit is common for higher quality files. 1411kbps is the standard rate at which a cd format transmits data. That figure can be minimised without loss in quality with a lossless -hey!- codec, like apple lossless or flac or whatever format. My best guess is that the example of 1023 kbps you mentioned is lossless.

On the other hand there are lossy formats, like mp3. VBR means variable bitrate which attemps to mask the lower quality by using more bits (=data) when the music gets compex.

Phew, that was a lot of text! Summarizing: from higher to lower quality 96000khz 24 bit, 88200khz 24 bit, 48000khz 24 bit, 44100khz 16 bit, mp3 (lossy formats)

Exactly......that's what I said......sort of.

 

[the record spot]

thanks that is making sense so would a lossless 320 vbr just get rid of all the non music so for example if you studied the two songs would there be more seperation between parts of the music on a higher bit rate rip.

and is there a bit rate limit on usb

Use whichever bitrate you like for playback - though I tended to find that 192kbps was my preferred minimum. A lot of talk in the forums around how some folk can readily differentiate between 320kbps and lossless, yet rarely proved under blind testing. Just be honest with what you think sounds good to you. The other thing to bear in mind is external hard drive storage is so cheap just now, you can land a 1TB Western Digital Elements drive for less than £50, which pretty much means you can rip the lot in WAV format and take it from there.

Lastly, with regard to your USB query, as regards playback via an offboard DAC, most are limited to 16-bit, however a few will go beyond this - Emotiva's XDA-1 being one such example going up to 24/192khz on all its formats.

 

[eggontoast]

thanks that is making sense so would a lossless 320 vbr just get rid of all the non music so for example if you studied the two songs would there be more seperation between parts of the music on a higher bit rate rip.

and is there a bit rate limit on usb

No a 320vbr is a 320kbps variable bit rate compressed mp3 file and it is lossy. FLAC is the compression you are referring to or apple lossless. Just a quick note iTunes does not support FLAC files so you would have to use different software to play/manage your music if you go with FLAC.