Stereo or Mono broadcast, which one???

OldIronsides · 24th March 2003, 21:24

HI, I am broadcasting shoutcasts of online games. I have a pregame where I play music occasionally. In the game, I have background music playing from winamp that is in mp3 format. As I have stereo mix selected in record mode, the in game sounds are also broadcast and recorded. My voice is added when I hit the talk button obviously. I'm broadcasting at 56kps. 22,000 hz

I read somewhere that choosing the output mode to stereo essentially just halves your output quality as it chops the 56kps stream into two parts. Is that true? I just tried a recording of music plus my voice with mono selected and I couldn't hear any appreciable difference in my headset.

Can someone tell me if MONO is more appropriate for my broadcasts and if stereo would be recommended. I'm thinking that I Might go with stereo once I can afford more bandwidth and can up the kps to 96. Help please!
OldIronsides
www.oisradio.com

agss509 · 25th March 2003, 01:35

it depends on how bad you want your music to sound. when you listen to your video game music do you have your volume set to stereo or mono? stereo is better, so i'd go with stereo to give your listeners the best ability to hear what your playing.

-MArK

FesterHead · 25th March 2003, 03:56

IMHO, 56kbps and below sounds much better in mono.

jesseg · 25th March 2003, 21:38

depends on what codec youre using, and how much of the original "clarity" relies on the many stereo psycoacoustic effects.

for comparison, try comparing these two streams
http://radioio-hi.sc.llnw.net:8030/listen.pls
http://radioio-med.sc.llnw.net:8020/listen.pls

Both streams use 64k per channel (aside from joint-stereo improvement) and the cutoff frequency is the same, but the difference in clarity... should be very apparent to you.

hope that helps you decide whats best.

djqwest · 26th March 2003, 06:36

You're so smart.

Qwest.

Quote:

Originally posted by jesseg
depends on what codec youre using, and how much of the original "clarity" relies on the many stereo psycoacoustic effects.

for comparison, try comparing these two streams
http://radioio-hi.sc.llnw.net:8030/listen.pls
http://radioio-med.sc.llnw.net:8020/listen.pls

Both streams use 64k per channel (aside from joint-stereo improvement) and the cutoff frequency is the same, but the difference in clarity... should be very apparent to you.

hope that helps you decide whats best.

DJ Matt · 26th March 2003, 08:01

mine has 56k stereo and it sounds great because of Radium.

24th March 2003, 21:24	#1
OldIronsides Junior Member Join Date: Feb 2003 Posts: 17	Stereo or Mono broadcast, which one??? HI, I am broadcasting shoutcasts of online games. I have a pregame where I play music occasionally. In the game, I have background music playing from winamp that is in mp3 format. As I have stereo mix selected in record mode, the in game sounds are also broadcast and recorded. My voice is added when I hit the talk button obviously. I'm broadcasting at 56kps. 22,000 hz I read somewhere that choosing the output mode to stereo essentially just halves your output quality as it chops the 56kps stream into two parts. Is that true? I just tried a recording of music plus my voice with mono selected and I couldn't hear any appreciable difference in my headset. Can someone tell me if MONO is more appropriate for my broadcasts and if stereo would be recommended. I'm thinking that I Might go with stereo once I can afford more bandwidth and can up the kps to 96. Help please! OldIronsides www.oisradio.com

25th March 2003, 01:35	#2
agss509 Junior Member Join Date: Mar 2003 Posts: 17	stereo or mono... it depends on how bad you want your music to sound. when you listen to your video game music do you have your volume set to stereo or mono? stereo is better, so i'd go with stereo to give your listeners the best ability to hear what your playing. -MArK

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25th March 2003, 03:56	#3
FesterHead Alumni Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: Maui, Hawaii Posts: 14,108	IMHO, 56kbps and below sounds much better in mono.

25th March 2003, 21:38	#4
jesseg Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Minneapolis Posts: 234	depends on what codec youre using, and how much of the original "clarity" relies on the many stereo psycoacoustic effects. for comparison, try comparing these two streams http://radioio-hi.sc.llnw.net:8030/listen.pls http://radioio-med.sc.llnw.net:8020/listen.pls Both streams use 64k per channel (aside from joint-stereo improvement) and the cutoff frequency is the same, but the difference in clarity... should be very apparent to you. hope that helps you decide whats best.

26th March 2003, 08:01	#6
DJ Matt Senior Member Join Date: May 2002 Posts: 433	mine has 56k stereo and it sounds great because of Radium.