mp3 or WMA

pin

I have a shiny new hard drived based player which has the option of either mp3 or wma.

Have been reading up on the subject of which to use, however thought I would ask the views of this esteemed forum.

So what do people think is better in terms of sound quality, mp3 or WMA?

Cheers much.

shrek101

Wma appears to be better for low bitrates 128kbps and below but I believe for a higher bitrates 192kbps and greater mp3 is the best way to go for quality. I normally prefer 192 kbps mp3's, 320 kbps is very high quality just about on par with cd's, 128kbps mps are not cd quality despite companies claiming otherwise.

I use 90-128kbps wma for my mp3 player. But for home pc I perfer 192 kbps

pin

Cheers for that. I was planning on going high quality on the player. I guess I will try 192kps mp3. I'm guessing things like player quality and headphone quality also make a difference to the listening experience?

shrek101

Yes good headphones not only enhance the listening experience but can make it more comfortable particularly for long usage

Reluctant_spender

I don't know what mp3 drive you have bought but visit their homepage and see if the firmware, intruction to the mp3 player to tell it what to do, can be upgrade or if the player will play ogg vorbis format.

This is similar to mp3 but some argue plays back at a better quality. A quick google search will bring back free software capable of assisting you.

I did this with my mp3 flash player.

pin

Unfortunatly no ogg vorbis support (I do know about this format).

On the whole 192kps front, ripping to MP3 player at level does slow it down a fair bit, may consider just sticking to 96 - 128kps WMA!!