best p2p client for quality music? (EAC, LAME, Ogg)

[Chilledinsanity]

Hey, I never used to think anything beyond 128kbps CBR was necessary to maintain all the quality, but now I finally have some kickass headphones and I'm able to clearly tell the difference between a good and badly done MP3, especially with sounds like cymbals. I look back in horror now to all the albums I encoded using Musicmatch Jukebox.

My question is which client is best for finding high audio fidelity music where people who rip/encode the music know what they're doing? Any better than others?

[method77]

imo..
soulseek and winmx.
The only sure thing that you should do is stay away from kazaa, kazaalite,k++, kashit, kaboom...

[Sockfulloflove]

dc++ and soulseek and sometimes winmx have some good quality music. wouldn't recommend FastTrack if you want stuff higher than 128k. although k++/k-lite let you download 128k or higher mp3's, doesn't seem to be that many on the network.

if you want to use dc++ you should share a good amount, atleast 2-3 gigs or you won't be able to access any hubs, and you have to have a broadband connection because it's not 56k friendly.

as for winmx, be patient with the queues.

as for soulseek, some queues, but overall good and maybe a better choice than winmx.

EDIT: method, you got to the question before me. ;-)

[Ken17625]

With the extended search options Kazaa++ has, you might be able to find "high audio fidelity music" as you put it. Granted fasttrack has a lot of "beginners" so to speak, but it has millions upon millions of users. With the autosearchmore, you're bound to find good quality.

You may also wish to try Piolet. Smaller network, but is music only and has good quality.

Some say Winmx has good quality music. I tend to agree. Problem is, in my opinion, you get queued way too much. You'll be waiting a long time, if you even get you're file.

Using a search program such as MoSearch to search Direct Connect may yeild good results. You might wan't to try that in combination with DC++.

[Andy_TRN]

Emule is good for downloading entire albums at once and Kazaa lite for single files (fast).

[KurtCocain]

hey to all the kazaa HATERS,

let me tell u somethig,

I download music from kazaa all the time. some of the mp3 are not well ripped, however i download 320kbps mp3z and usually the people who made them appreciate quality and knew what they were doing. And kazaa used to have only 128 mp3z like 1-2 yrs ago, but now with so many users u can find a lot of 320kbps mp3z for most of the artists. Dont give me that bull sheeeet :)) cuz i have compared recently and WinMX is becoming oere and more weaker in terems of the amount of mp3z shared. For many artists i heve been comparing search results of 320 mp3z and Kazaa beats winmx, esp. with the autosearch shit :)). OK? And not long ago, WInMX was the best mp3 sourse with the purest mp3z. SO stop bitching about Kazaa, its true it has crap, but u can find good stuff and in greater numbers there.


Kurt.

[d-koolest]

You might try UberNode. It has strict requirements for entry, but once you're in you get easy, fasy downloads of full albums ripped at high quality. It's not a program, rather a hub on the DC network. You can check it out here (http://ChrisMyden.com/uber)

[Chilledinsanity]

It's not just the bitrate man, that's the problem. I did some comparison testing and a 160kbps file from LAME sounded better than a 320kbps file from Musicmatch. For the most part it wasn't that noticeable, but the cymbals ALWAYS sounded washed over over.

[KurtCocain]

Ppl that use lame need also to learn to rip in 320kpbs. and stop being SATISFIED with the average 192.

[eivioolla]

start lame with lame --alt-preset insane and you get the best possible quality. No other options needed, it creates a 320 kbps mp3 with some quality tweaks.

[TransShift]

eMule!

Most of the releases are in APE(monkey's audio), at least now they are, so you'll be getting perfect WAV lossless quality.

Also, MP3 and Ogg Vorbis, suck :D

If you know what to do with FLAC files(get dbpoweramp with the plug-in), try this audio file; http://sjeng.org/ftp/vorbis/c44.flac

At 320k MP3, it is *easily* distinguishable from the original. At -q9 Ogg Vorbis, it's damn hard to, but still can be distingiushed. MPC, impossible to distinguish it from the original, and the MPC standard is smaller than the -q6 Ogg Vorbis file.

As long as it's lossy audio compression, it won't be perfect; MPC is the closest to it. eMule with sharereactor/musicdonkey has the best quality though. SoulSeek, I found mostly 128k-192k stuff, eh.

And there is a reason musicmatch sucks. With 320k MP3s, and 320k only(I think); it cuts off everything at 16000 KHz. That, sucks. If they are xing, the bitrate doesn't matter, they will suck, and if the lowpass is shitty, it doesn't matter, they will suck. WinMX does have a lot of high bitrate music, but if it's xing and blade, the bitrate doesn't matter at all.

I use eMule since I get no uploads on any other P2P for Monkey's Audio files(APE).

[WaWaWang]

emule has the best for complete albums and quality.

[Chilledinsanity]

At 320k MP3, it is *easily* distinguishable from the original.
not if it's with that -insane preset for LAME somebody mentioned. Really as I understand it, you're some sort of bat if you can even tell on -extreme mode.

With Musicmatch it's no contest though. I have to wonder if it doesn't do more than just a 16khz cutoff...

eMule (was using overnet, but it kept crashing) kicks ass. I haven't come across any APE files though, I'll have to start looking. That'd be the most ideal, I can just compress them myself then.

[TransShift]

I mean on that clip. Not normal music. It's attached on this post.

I bet that anyone on zeropaid with ears and headphones, on ANY type of MP3(I tried --alt preset insane), can tell a difference on c44. Bitrate doesn't effect that clip. I uploaded it as an attachment.

c44, kills MP3, and Ogg Vorbis. It's a clip designed to work on the weaknesses of MP3. Try it, you'll see.

Also, on ShareReactor there is an APE release thread there in the music releases part of their forum, named donkey kong the release thread for APEs.

I use LAME, --alt preset extreme with LAME 3.90.2 or 3.92, for music if I have to use MP3s. Yet I prefer using APE to listen to my music.

EDIT; APE release thread on ShareReactor

http://forum.sharereactor.com/viewtopic.php?t=110062&start=0

ADD WHAT YOU HAVE!

[Chilledinsanity]

Well hell, I take that back... You're right, I was able to notice the difference between the original file vs. Ogg or MP3.

Odd as it is though, I actually preferred the way Ogg sounded to the original as it seemed like it pronounced the clicks even more than the original. Obviously I'm not going to argue that Ogg is superior quality to the original copy, but I liked it enough to keep using it. There was also a tone shift in the ogg too, but it was very subtle. The LAME version never sounded right.

[TransShift]

Another happy Ogg Vorbis user. Use -q6 or -q7 for your music, and it'll be good. They're perfecting version GT3 beta, which already sounds loads better now. When that comes out MP3'll have met it's match.

Listen to a 64k MP3, and a -q0 Ogg Vorbis file, tell me which is better, low bitrates is what Ogg Vorbis specializes at. It's gettin' a player in a few months too...

[TransShift]

Also, attached is a MusicMatch with digital error correction vs CDex paranoia full, zipped, at 4 seconds you hear a skip in the musicmatch one

[TransShift]

Also, attached is a MusicMatch with digital error correction vs CDex paranoia full, zipped, at 4 seconds you hear a skip in the musicmatch one.

[Rickio]

Well Ape is obviously the best quality as it is lossless.

So for personal archiving I would have to agree ape is the answer for the best quality.

But for file sharing it is a bit tedious to download large ape files. At least I would rather download 3 or 4 other high quality releases as opposed to one ape file.

eac is the best ripper and lame best mp3 encoder. I will happily download anything at least 192cbr and above. I prever 192vbr and above though.

ogg is fine but I don't find it as often, seems mpc is more popular at least where I have been downloading music.

BTW the edonkey network is the best for high quality albums...

.mpc format is gaining on popularity on several edonkey music forums, http://musicdonkey.org and sharereactor.com's music forum. Musepak's .mpc format sounds to my ears better than mp3 and I have been downloading quite a few off those mentioned forums.

there is a winamp plugin available, so get it so you can hear some of these great rips if you find one.


peace

[overdo]

i myself use EAC and lame -aps. btw i'm on 56k and on ubernet hubs and i've found ppl there are more prepared to wait for their downloads to complete than on a lot of public hubs.

[Aklankrisz]

:green6

I use EAC, for CD grabbing in secure mode. This is the grabber and it's free. MPC is the best quality lossy format. It's clear, that mp3 has muddy highs and stronged out my ears quickly. Although lame mp3 encoder has the best quality.. You must encode in 256kbps or 320 and MPC is still far more better at -xtreme quality, which takes about ( 180...220 kbps ).

So if you have good sound card and good HI-Fi set, you must hear the difference or in your ear something is wrong...
I have an AKG K-55 headphone, a self made class-"A" headphone amplifier (Ultra Low TIM, Ultra low THD, 2*300mW) and a Terratec DMX-1024 X-Fire Sound card.

Before I builded the headphone Amplifier, I used a commercial Fischer Power Amplifier (CA-873) and it's headphone out.
It has far inferior quality compared to class-"A" headphone amp.

So if you're dissatisfied with audio quality "comes out" from yor system maybe your amplifier is the weakest link...

You find here DIY class-"A" power amplifiers with schematics and building instructions:
http://www.gmweb.btinternet.co.uk/
http://www.passdiy.com/amps.htm

Here is the headphone amp. circuit ( Circuit 2 is mine too ):
http://www.gmweb.btinternet.co.uk/jlhphones.htm

God luck for everyone in audio jungle !

[DETROIT]

WinMX:bling

[Aklankrisz]

Yes, I use WinMX and DC++ too ! :)

[moshsandwich]

I've never used APE audio, and have no means to. I copy my CD's with OGG format at 192kb/s, and I think that quality is perfect for my means.
MP3 at 320kb/s is quite sucky, comparing my old rips to new ones, it seems 'flat' and has no vibe to it, it's weird.
I guess it just depends on the encoder you use.
Apparently to dbPowerAmp, Musicmatch rips using QDesign or FHG FastEnc. I can tell the difference between those and LAME copies, and LAME is far better than those.
As for where to download, i've always found WinMX to be a good source of high quality rips. Soulseek I haven't tried because my network is bent and won't let me connect.

[Aklankrisz]

If you want to know, that which mp3 encoder was used for a file just download encspot...

http://cd-rw.org/software/audio_software/mp3_tools/encspot.cfm
http://www.mpex.net/en/software/download/encspot.html

Hydrogen Audio MPC forum :

http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?act=ST&f=11&t=1927