How big of an audiophile are you?

What bit-rate do you import your music at from iTunes?

I picked 256 since I have nice speakers and I like my music to sound well.

used to do 192 a lot but did notice some songs that really did suffer. 256 is a large file though, but worth it.

i've got both my itunes here at home and my WMP at work set for 256/mp3.

I try to keep all of my music 320kbps or above, lossless (FLAC) if possible. 192kbps is tolerable and 128kbps and lower is a no go.

FLAC for most, in iTunes I usually import with LAME v0 which has a target of around 220-260kbps.

Lately though I have been listening to some vinyl rips that I have made at 24/96

256 or vbr, although, some of my older stuff is at 192.

All my CD's were ripped at 128 but I ripped a lot of my vinyl at 192. My computer speakers crapped out and I use cheap $10 speakers at my desk at work, so anything higher is just a waste of HD space. 30GB is not enough space to rip what I want at the quality I want. Now fitting it to 8GB is tough.
Bryan
How does the quality of VBR sound?

VBR sounds good. You can't tell the difference between it and 320kbs.

Right now I have MP3 320 kbps with no VBR. I need more space. If I use 256 kbps aac with VBR will I notice a diference in sound quality?

Depending on the listening equipment/environment either 256CBR, 192VBR, or Apple lossless.

i prefer vinyl and my technics turn table....any music on my computer i just deal with whatever quality i get
-chris

I import at 320, but depending on where I DL from, I will go as low as 192... which is one reson I DL from other sources than the iTunes music store

I try to keep it somewhere between 192 - 256, although I have a lot of stuff still imported at 160 aac.

There's also a few 'impulse buys' from iTunes that are at 128K, but when the rest of the record companies make their stuff available in iTunes Plus format, I'll upgrade those tracks too.

I rip audio at 320 and prefer to keep it above 192 although I often find 192 inadequate for my taste depending on the recording. Usually with newer recordings I won't settle for anything below 320 because the mastering these days is god awful. The loudness war is ruining music.

The majority of my music is somewhere between 256 and 320. I won't go any lower than 192, except for the free downloads at the iTunes Store. I have never imported at 128 and will never download songs at that bitrate.

I would consider myself somebody who can appreciate sound. I have spent quite a lot of money on sound cards, speakers, headphones, and earphones, along with the surround sound setup in my living room.