What streaming format do you prefer?

[Compdoggie]

I am very happy using shoutcast server with a simple conf, non public and some encoder standalone set to one stream @ 320 44.1.  I connect in two places and the bass response is outstanding!

[DJ Garybaldy]

I am very happy using shoutcast server with a simple conf, non public and some encoder standalone set to one stream @ 320 44.1.  I connect in two places and the bass response is outstanding!

Strange why you would want your station private and not listed in any directory that sort of defeats the idea of getting listeners. 

I think 320 is too high for streaming with especially if most of your audio is ripped at different bit-rates it would sound naff in places.

[stevo87]

Strange why you would want your station private and not listed in any directory that sort of defeats the idea of getting listeners. 

I think 320 is too high for streaming with especially if most of your audio is ripped at different bit-rates it would sound naff in places.

I'll stick with 128k mp3 and 48 AAC+ both sound perfect.

Unless he gets enough listeners to not need to be listed? And yeah 320k is pretty excessive, must be costing a fortune!

[alerinaldi]

I'm curios, with the large offer of streaming formats we have, what is your choice?
Here is Romania the most used format is aacPlus v2 because of the excellent quality at low bitrates.
I'm asking this because i'm thinking to implement an internal shoutcast/icecast encoder in RDJ because it seems that DSP is not so stable.

Hi Marius,
we have 2 separate streams: one for the listeners and one dedicated to the FM trasmitters.
The listeners stream is a 128K stereo MP3, while the FM trasmitters one is a 128K stereo AAC+.
The AAC+ one sounds absolutely better of course, but we can't deliver it to users because we are worried about players support... Our in-browser Flash stream player doesn't support it, and switching to HTML5 will make it absolutely impossibile to use AAC+ for us at the moment

[dustdevilmedia]

This is what I'm using now:
128kbps mp3 because mp3 is so popular and used by so many services and the quality is acceptable (really drops off below 96kbps).
64kbps Ogg/Vorbis Very good quality, equal or better than 128 mp3 and at half the bitrate.  One thing I really like about Vorbis is that it is currently non-proprietary.
24kbps AAC+, Parametric Stereo. Ideally I wouldn't go lower than 32kbps with AAC+ but I like to have a dial-up feed for my streams, not everyone has broadband. Also great for mobile.

Another reason I chose this combination of these formats is that I've started using an HTML5 player for my website and if you run all three formats your HTML5 audio player will work in any browser.
For general usefullness and open-source freedom my dream is that mp3 would just go away and Ogg Vorbis would take it's place.

As to what dodobasi said about HE-AAC (aka AAC+) I don't think his statement about it's low bitrate quality could be farther from the truth.  A 32kbps AAC+ is nearly indistinguishable from 128kbps MP3, bump that AAC up to 48kbps and there is no question of equal quality but at a much lower bandwidth.

So what do I say?  Use 'em all if you want to make sure you are heard around the world.

[Benfreeman]

Hi Marius !

aac ++ v2 and mp3

Very good idea a encoder integre in Radiodj 

[DJ Garybaldy]

I've spent the best part of 2/3 years messing about with the configuration of my streams I've gone from 48 kbps AAC+ to 128kbps Mp3 to 64kbps OGG Vorbis and Opus and back again.....

Now the encoder plugin has sample rate support I've finally found a bitrate I'm happy with. Now streaming @96kbps with a Sample rate of 22050. As well as one stream on OGG Scrub the ogg bit icecast kept crashing on us.

It sounds crisp and clear to my ears..... Even sounds good through my android phone in Winamp!

If you want to hear how it sounds [link removed by admin]

It's been great fun testing various theories ......

[ncborges]

I'm curios, with the large offer of streaming formats we have, what is your choice?
Here is Romania the most used format is aacPlus v2 because of the excellent quality at low bitrates.
I'm asking this because i'm thinking to implement an internal shoutcast/icecast encoder in RDJ because it seems that DSP is not so stable.

ACC Plus & Mp3 should cover all needs Marius. Great Idea an internal encoder. I've been on Mp3 64k 44.100 but now thinkingto go to Acc

[Hansen]

i use some encoder stream into icecast 192 kbit 44100 stereo 

[Hansen]

I use 128 kbit mp3 44100

[DJ Garybaldy]

I've finally settled on 128k mp3 22050 sample rate streaming with the plugin that Marius wrote.

Sounds OK through our new sound system. Streaming faultlessly at the moment* (*broadband connection permitting)

[joshuatree44]

Same here Gary, broadband permitting. I am 128k AACP and 44100. I am wanting to try 48K as I have done before.

I've finally settled on 128k mp3 22050 sample rate streaming with the plugin that Marius wrote.

Sounds OK through our new sound system. Streaming faultlessly at the moment* (*broadband connection permitting)

[packzap]

We are using 64k aac at our stations. This one seems to yield the best sound / lowest bandwidth ratio.

The better the codec, the more solid the sound, and less propensity to decay over time (without rebooting).

[joshuatree44]

64k is very nice for mobile users. 128k is OK too. It all depends on where and what they are listening on. If they are on most modern cell networks 128k should be no issue.