Questions related to EAC3 and AAC

[latigular]

Hello,
could someone be so kind and answer me these few questions? I will be very grateful.

1. What is the best eac3 encoder? Is it safe to use ffmpeg?
2. What codec is better for 5.1 and 7.1 movie audio. Is it eac3 or aac?
3. Is eac3 quality eaqual to aac? Lets say 650 kbps are same like 650 kbps aac?
4. What is the best aac encoder? Is it qaac?
5. Does fdkaac encoder need some extra files like qaac? I am getting error in Staxrip if i choose fdkaac encoder and start encoding.

Systém nemůže nalézt uvedený soubor (System can't find related file)

File: --bitrate

Arguments: 118 --ignorelength -o "D:\Music Videos\Mortal Kombat Official Soundtrack _ Techno Syndrome 2021 - Benjamin Wallfisch _ WaterTower_0.m4a" "D:\Music Videos\Mortal Kombat Official Soundtrack _ Techno Syndrome 2021 - Benjamin Wallfisch _ WaterTower_0.wav"

[tebasuna51]

1) There are the commercial DD+ encoders. But ffmpeg is the only free encoder than I know and is safe to use.

2) Forum rule 12: "...Do not ask "what's best" because this question cannot be answered objectively."
Maybe AAC is a little more efficient (best quality with same size) but the AVR's can't (normally) decode multichannel AAC and your player must decode and send PCM multichannel by HDMI to AVR.
EAC3 can be send by SPDIF to AVR's to be decoded. Then EAC3 is more compatible with player devices.

3) I don't know multichannel test at high bitrates. I only know this one (https://tech.ebu.ch/files/live/sites/tech/files/shared/tech/tech3324.pdf)
At high bitrates (650 Kb/s) both (EAC3 and AAC) are 'transparent' (can't be differenced from lossless source easily by human ears).

4) "...Do not ask 'what's best'..."
The last test I know (http://listening-tests.hydrogenaud.io/igorc/aac-96-a/results.html) is over 96 Kb/s but who know at other bitrates...
Apple QuickTime 7.6.9 constrained VBR, high quality, 96 kbit/s (qaac)
Apple QuickTime 7.6.9 true VBR, high quality, 96 kbit/s (qaac)
Fraunhofer IIS (via Winamp 5.62) VBR 3 (like fdkaac)
Coding Technologies (via Winamp 5.61) CBR 100 kbps
Nero 1.5.4.0 -q 0.345
See also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codec_listening_test

5) Nope, AFAIK fdkaac only need fdkaac.exe

[latigular]

Thank you for answering all my questions. I really appreciate it.