Fluctuating birate

[meatsean]

I am currently running MM version 4.1.20.1864 on Windows 10, version 1709.

When I rip a CD, I set MP3 setting to standard (fast) VBR 192 kbps but after ripping, MM displays several different bitrates.

If I set MM to rip @192 kbps, should the MP3 be ripped at the preset setting?

[Peke]

Hi,
This is normal as VBR means Variable Bit Rate and MMW shows calculated Average Bit Rate.

To clear the rest ABR means Average Bit Rate and CBR means Constant Bit Rate

[meatsean]

Thank you.

So is that why the sound quality of the ripped tracks fluctuate so much? Also, volume leveling is at the default 89db but playback volume is all over the place.

If I set MP3 setting to Constant Bit Rate, would that fix the sound quality of the tracks and would volume be leveled at 89db for all tracks?

[Lowlander]

You shouldn't notice a quality difference. It just means it won't use as many bits for parts of the song that don't have that much information to encode (like silence).

Is volume fluctuating within a song or between songs? With the latter you maybe using Album Volume on Playback which does fluctuate in volume between songs on an Album (preserving their volume differences as on the Album).

[meatsean]

Volume fluctuates from track to track. But if you rip tracks at a preset volume level, shouldn't MM normalize all tracks?

[Lowlander]

If you enable Volume Leveling in the Rip Dialog it will Rip all files to the same volume. Disable Play > Level Playback Volume in the Main Menu and try to play again.

[Peke]

And for existing tracks you can analyze volume and then by simply enable Level Volume playback from Play menu will have them played at same level.