GridStream Productions

Yes, clearly this is an unscientific test, but it's interesting to see what percentage preferred the lower bitrate.

I listen to GSP all day at work through my headphones @48K AAC+ and it sounds great to me, but then I've never tried spotify.


http://crave.cnet.co.uk/digitalmusic/0, ... 980,00.htm

Well! Since this is radio, which you usually have on in the background or you are listening to particular shows, where there are talking or other forms of entertainment as well, CD quality is not really a goal.
So with 48kbit AACPlus we are at the tether (!) point of low bandwidth vs quality.

Oh and in comparison to what we used to do. 56kbit mp3 I believe. which was only 22KHz, vs 48kbit and 44KHz or 48KHz which AACPlus can handle it truly is night and day difference.

Ogg is a alternative to mp3, AAC is a alternative as well.
there are no alternative to AACPlus as neither Ogg nor MP3 (or MP3Pro) can compete with AACPlus at really low bitrates... at least not yet, although Ogg has more room for improvement than mp3 which has pretty much reached it's limits.

(Edit: KHz)

Yeah based purely on the bandwidth and average buffering of worldwide listeners, I am still strong on my opinion that 48aac+ is perfect and should not be increased. We had quality complaints at 56k standard, but not a single one since 48aac.