Talk of bit rates, MP3 vs WAV come up a lot on these forums. Quick and dirty listen... can you tell which of these files is which ?
A and B are one piece of music. X and Y another. One file in each group is a direct WAV. The other is an MP3. One of the MP3's is at 256kbs and the other at 192kbs.
Now the easy bit
Which is which ?
A
B
X
Y
A and B are one piece of music. X and Y another. One file in each group is a direct WAV. The other is an MP3. One of the MP3's is at 256kbs and the other at 192kbs.
Now the easy bit
Which is which ?A
B
X
Y
I have not listened.
I'd first need a playback method that does not impart its own c**p and masking effects. Don't have any way to do that.
But, the recording that is selected would need to be such that it *can* reveal these differences. That's a non-trivial task.
Some years back a "world famous ABX advocate" sent me a disc with files to compare. The program material was beyond worthless for the alleged purpose. So, in effect the "test" showed that you could not hear any differences. Which was the idea!
Just saying...
_-_-
I'd first need a playback method that does not impart its own c**p and masking effects. Don't have any way to do that.
But, the recording that is selected would need to be such that it *can* reveal these differences. That's a non-trivial task.
Some years back a "world famous ABX advocate" sent me a disc with files to compare. The program material was beyond worthless for the alleged purpose. So, in effect the "test" showed that you could not hear any differences. Which was the idea!
Just saying...
_-_-
Well put. Just as interesting to me would be to know what conditions can and cannot reveal differences..... the less obvious ones. THx-RNMarsh
I did try. Not with these particular files, but on a different occasion, and with controls and witnesses present. It's absolutely possible to distinguish these ears-only, but it's not the "night and day" difference that's often touted.
Yes, excuses are lame.
Differences seemed pretty significant to me. Even with my budget back-up DAC and low budget speakers in the system at the moment.
Listening to the MP3s i wondered at the quality of recordings Karl chose, switching to the full rez files it became obvious that the source recordings were OK.
dave
Listening to the MP3s i wondered at the quality of recordings Karl chose, switching to the full rez files it became obvious that the source recordings were OK.
dave
Had another go, I moved the files from the laptop to my music server which has Windows mixer bypassed and runs Foobar. tried again, I'm no classical fan but A sounded the worst. Still not that much difference between the rest but then i got that look from herself. I cut it short.....
Interesting test, i tried doing this before using a fairly recent live recording by Dead Can Dance - not exactly cheerful but dynamic and well recorded, it was quite easy to tell which was the MP3.
Interesting test, i tried doing this before using a fairly recent live recording by Dead Can Dance - not exactly cheerful but dynamic and well recorded, it was quite easy to tell which was the MP3.
Karl, this will be interesting for me - I'm only using the inbuilt speakers of this backup laptop, which has really crappy sound - the bass in particular is stuffed, sounds like a pile of pebbles bouncing around every time a low note comes along; and hopeless volume levels ... anyway, it appears to be showing me differences, so I voted - I'm curious whether the right auditory clues still came through or not ...
I have some MP3 stuff and the rest is FLAC, i can usually tell the difference, things like cymbal strikes often seem poor in MP3 but how much is down to the higher bit rate & file size of my FLAC files I'm not certain.
I do think it helps when I'm familiar with the music and enjoy listening to it though.
I do think it helps when I'm familiar with the music and enjoy listening to it though.
I don't think so, except I think he should have asked which was the 192 and 256 as well.
I have my guesses written down so I can check to the answer..haha, yeah wouldn't have been my first choice of recordings, but interesting none the less - been a while since we've done something like this. And of course love all the excuses!
I thought the difference, if any, was a little more clear on x y than a b, but with my current set up it was very hard to find anything:
listened with dragonfly DAC => Denon PMA 250 MKII => Home made 2-way monitors that were ******* the S**T out of me yesterday
and dragonfly DAC => SONY MDR 1A headphones (would never have been my first choice but they came free with a mobile phone so who can argue!)
Will be interesting to see the results
I thought the difference, if any, was a little more clear on x y than a b, but with my current set up it was very hard to find anything:
listened with dragonfly DAC => Denon PMA 250 MKII => Home made 2-way monitors that were ******* the S**T out of me yesterday
and dragonfly DAC => SONY MDR 1A headphones (would never have been my first choice but they came free with a mobile phone so who can argue!)
Will be interesting to see the results
I don't think so, except I think he should have asked which was the 192 and 256 as well.
I thought you could only select one option?
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