About Decoders

[DeMoN]

Hi everyone:

I want to convert some MP3 into WAV... so I Need a Decoder.
There are so many decoders in the web, which Decoder is the best option?

Thanks in advance

[Fox Mulder]

http://mp3decoders.mp3-tech.org/
Here is an excellent review of MP3 decoders.

The Winamp decoder or the MAD decoder plugin for Winamp are perfect.

Hydrogen Audio is a very good audio forum: http://hydrogenaudio.org

[jkat]

I also use EAC, but have recently discovered cdex, seems ok and is simple to use. jkat

[jkat]

Whoops! I almost forgot the manual. jkat

[larini]

EAC uses Fraunhoffer Windows codec.
Feurio uses own decoder based on latest Fraunhoffer.
So both are the same (if you have latest Fraunhoffer) and the best. I like Feurio because detects defective MP3s.

[Shoebedobedoo]

Feurio or EAC (Exact Audio Copy)

Shoebedobedoo

[zver]

Eac and feurio use whatever you give(select) to them!!!Lame or any other is your choice!!

[larini]

No, AFAIK.
You can choose the encoder, but not the decoder.
In Feurio you can choose between any Windows codec or Blade or LAME (to encode). To decode you have to use integrated decoder based on latest Fraunhoffer (so, it's a perfect decoder and you can't choose any other - no need anyway).

In EAC I can't set up LAME to decode.
If I don't have Fraunhoffer Windows codec EAC can't decode.
(I use "Decompress..." from "Tools" menu).

[larini]

But it's easier integrated and same quality.

According to this all decoders should produce the same quality:

/http://privatewww.essex.ac.uk/~djmrob/mp3decoders/intro.html

"It's well known that mp3 encoders can have a significant effect on the sound quality of coded audio. However, the MPEG standard sets out the requirement for a decoder exactly – a given MPEG-1 layer 3 stream (typically an .mp3 file on a PC) should always decode to a certain uncompressed digital audio signal (typically a .wav file on a PC). Apart from rounding errors in the last bit (i.e. +1 or -1 on a scale ranging from –32768 to +32767 for 16-bit audio) the output should be exact.

Every decoder should produce the same result. They don't."


The WAV I get decoding with LAME is too different from the WAVs I get with Feurio or latest Fraunhoffer (those are almost equal).
So I don't trust LAME to decode.

[larini]

Feurio uses Frauenhofer as standard decoder....you can swith to others...
Lame is the best.... ......you can trust a codec that's recommended by audiophiles......

With Feurio I'm completely sure:
You can't choose MP3 decoder (only encoder).
Also it makes no sense, because the result SHOULD be the same.

It doesn't use the Windows system codec, but the integrated decoder built inside Feurio. The resulting WAVs are almost the same but no always exactly equal. They are also almost equal to Winamp results, which is known for being a perfect ISO compliant decoder.

However, in my system WAVs decoded with LAME are clearly different from those, so I can't trust those audiophiles...

[zver]

My mistake too(ysually people encode to mp3)......Allmost all soft will do good joob(even eazy cd and wocd5)

[larini]

Did you try different programs too,with frauenhofer encoder as main component and compared them afterwards to find out if there are differences ???

I decoded several MP3s (encoded with LAME CBR/VBR and Fraunhoffer) to WAV with different programs, knowing that the resulting WAV should be the same.
To compare WAVs I use the integrated EAC tool.

Fraunhoffer (latest), Winamp 2.7 and Feurio gave very similar results.
Nero results were clearly different. And surprisingly LAME didn't coincide with the good ones. (The web page named before says LAME 3.87MMX is a good decoder, so I don't understand why my results).
To test Fraunhoffer Windows codec I used EAC's "Decompress..." tool.

Allmost all soft will do good joob

Well, I wouldn't say that, but it seems that EasyCD 4 uses Fraunhoffer, and the only problem is that it clips end of some files.
And WinOnCD 3.6 was quite poor as we can see here (I don't know about versions 5.x):
http://h**p://privatewww.essex.ac.uk...s_winoncd.html

Direct Links are not allowed I have edited yours .Please read the Rulez >>> joripe

Sorry, I forgot it.

[jasmin]

Which version of Fraunhoffer? Is that somethin' really new and where can it be found? I'm very interested so can you please post a link to it (of course, forum rules in a first place!!!)?

Thanx!

[larini]

I was talking about Fraunhoffer 1.9 (Build 305) as the latest, but I don't know if it really is the latest. This version is enough to produce a correct result, in contrast to the old Radium hack, v 1.2.63, that comes with DivX3.11 for example).

But I don't know how it was installed... I guess it came with WinXP or WindowsMediaPlayer ¿7?

Here you can see the properties of that ACM mp3 codec from 1999 (the first two in the list):
h**p://privatewww.essex.ac.uk/~djmrob/mp3decoders/decoders.html

I think that decompressing VBR-LAME files, Feurio produces a correct lenght wave, and Fraunhoffer 1.9/EAC not.

[zver]

Well,i can guarantee that any software decoding will be ok(doesent work for encoding----for that i would always go with lame).....With regular listening you cannot find a difference(blind test)....Same goes with audiocopy)....You can find a difference only with some tool(software)......But,as long is sound ok for me,im satisfied............