AAC 320kbps or ATRAC 352kbps - PlayStation 3

[JP]

Since getting my 250GB hdd in my PS3 I've been looking to start importing some CDs onto it.

I don't usually touch lossy audio but as the choices I have at the moment are AAC (320kbps), ATRAC (352kbps) or MP3 (320kbps) I don't really have much choice.

MP3 has been removed from my list due to the fact that I've not once heard quality encoding using that.

So I'm stuck with either AAC 320kbps or ATRAC 352kbps. At the moment I'm running off a really old amp so I'm not hearing it at a high enough quality to be able to judge correctly.

Which of the 2 would people recommend as the higher quality format?

They both produce file sizes which are the same, I'm aware that ATRAC is limited in it's support but the music will only be used on my PS3 so that's meaningless here.

Any advice people?

[sj33]

AAC is the most advanced, more advanced than Mp3 too, and is officially part of the Mpeg4 spec. Many view it as the official sucessor to Mp3.

ATRAC is the format used on Minidiscs and similar Sony devices. It's outdated and not very well supported, you'll notice the only company that even bothers with it anymore is Sony.
That's not to say it's bad, but I can think of no logical reason to use it over AAC.

If you find 320kbps Mp3 to be 'not good enough' though, then I fear no lossy encoding will be, though I'm sure you can do lossless AAC.

[JP]

Like I said I can't judge it at the moment due to my set up but I was hoping that if they were of a similar standard then the 352 over the 320 should produce better results.

Before you say anything...I know that a higher bit rate doesn't guarantee anything at all.

The problem with ATRAC is the same with most proprietary formats, even if they are good they just don't get the support. That doesn't affect the one I'll use though because the music will stay on the PS3 only.

The encoding I've mentioned here are the highest that the PS3 supports at the moment, unfortunately. There is lossless AAC but I've not used it.

Why can't all companies be legally forced to support FLAC??

[sj33]

Well, an open format like Flac will never be accepted en masse by consumer devices, but I digress. It's disappoining the PS3 apparently doesn't support AAC lossless, but I still think AAC is the superior option.

[JP]

I'm going to see if I can encode something as lossless on my PC and drag it across to the PS3 to play it now.

It'll be a pain doing it this way but it may be the only way for now...

[sj33]

Worth a go, I'm sure it could play it back at the very least.

I certainly understand where your coming from - I have my DVD's stored on my PC as pure VOB files! Even better that Japanese ones usually have LPCM audio!