wav vs mp3 ..which is best ?

[esumitkumar]

Frnds
As we all know by the invention of mp3, wav format has become obsolete.
but still if u hear CD sound its very crisp and clear compared to mp3..my q is that does CD still have better quality than mp3 ? i am a big fan of rammstein , i have all the mp3s of them but was wondering whether its worth listening all those guitar strings on a Audio CD ?

please advice
thanks
Sumit

[VarDOS]

MP3 is best. Because It Is Avaliable In Compressed Format.

[esumitkumar]

but i think still wav rocks for clear sound..lets see wat others say

[Rahim]

Audio CDs are far better than any compreressed formats

[iMav]

Neither in today's world. wma, ogg, flac, aac these are the ones. mp3 is old, wav is pre-historic.

[pushkaraj]

but was wondering whether its worth listening all those guitar strings on a Audio CD ?

AFAIK, mp3 is compressed lossy format of audio whereas Audio cds are in uncompressed format. Note that audio cd songs(.cda) and wav files(.wav) are different format.

mp3 files are generally 128 kbps - 320 kbps whereas audio cd files are nearly 1.4 mbps

Trust me, there is a big difference in the quality of mp3 128 kbps and audio cd file/wav file coz in mp3, some redundant parts of the song are removed while compressing but it may lead to loss of certain sounds like the strumming of a guitar, if that sound was of low amplitude.

So u c, it is always better to listen to an audio cd to listen to the song in all its glory.

I hav not compared the quality of a 320 kbps mp3 and the same song on an audio cd so cant comment about the difference in quality of the two.

[Pathik]

Considering economies of space, MP3 or OGG.

[The_Devil_Himself]

flac ftw!

cdquality>>>>mps(even the 320kbps).

flac==lossless(just compressed cd-data)

[koolbluez]

I cant imagine a discussion of this sort!!!

Is BMP/TIFF or JPG better? Is AVI or DIVX better? Stupid questions.

Any uncompressed format is better. The compressed formats can be of 2 types. Lossy/Lossless. It depends. A compressed lossless format has lesser compression rate than a lossy one.... as u, obviously, lose data in the latter. Flac is an excellent example of a compressed lossless audio format. As are WavPack(WV), Monkey’s Audio(APE), ALAC(M4A)...
It'll b of same quality as an audio cd (one that u call wav). But every player doesn't support FLAC... Also its compression is around 1/2 or 1/3rd of the original format.

Ppl who want better compression go for MP3, WMA or AAC/MP4 formats (of differing bitrates... again.. a better bitrate maintains more quality). My fav is the AAC/MP4 format.. which maintains the equal quality @ around 2/3rd size of a similar MP3 file (@ certain bitrates).

So.. bottomline.... WAV, obviously(again...), is the better quality.. as it's compressed. But u got a better format in FLAC. But prefer AACs than MP3 for good quality audio... but remember... MP3 scores in the fact that most players support it... AAC... not many...reason.... mostly proprietary format... Sony/Apple.

More.. u might get it here... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio_file_format