BFA Condemns Low-Bit-Rate Audio

The British Federation of Audio
PO Box 365
Farnham
GU10 2BD
Phone: + 44 (0) 1428 714616
Fax: + 44 (0) 1428 717599

e-mail:
chrisc@british-audio.org.uk

The British Federation of Audio (BFA) – the UK’s specialist audio-visual consumer electronics trade body - says it’s becoming increasingly apparent that consumers are not getting the enjoyment they could from their portable music devices or Hi-Fis. There is considerable consumer apathy to high quality sound reproduction from popular contemporary portable media gadgets and today's music fans are happy to download and listen to low bit-rate music files – which, despite some absurd claims - often don't come even close to CD quality. The excellent alternative, the CD portable, is quickly losing ground to the fashionable but potentially poorer quality solid state or hard disk portable.

The BFA is concerned that downloads at inadequate bit-rates are primarily to blame. Listening tests carried out by various members of the Federation, using MP3 players and *Apple iPods, indicate that the standard recording rate of around 128kbits per second results in reproduction that is audibly inferior to CD by a wide margin – and demonstrably so. It is known that higher bit-rates of 256k and above deliver a far better performance bur still not as good as that from CD. Non lossy compression systems, for example Apple's Lossless compression, still allow for plenty of music on an iPod and the sound quality is far better - more akin to a budget specialist CD player. The BFA is keen to encourage users, using higher bit-rates, to connect their portable music devices to their Hi-Fis as the performance can be very good indeed.

‘The BFA is very pleased to see the renewed interest in music that mobile multi-media applications have stimulated and encourages music enthusiasts to pop into specialist hi-fi stores to hear just how good their music can sound’, says Stephen N Harris, the BFA Chairman, ‘We’re also urging our industry to try to educate its customers into taking the time to set their portable music gadgets to the highest possible bit-rate and to make sound quality as high a priority as convenience. The difference in the overall sound experience is quite striking – and very rewarding.’

*Apple and iPod are trademarks of Apple Computer Inc.