I agree with this - my call is that the X, Y combo is the one with the 192 rate version.
X & Y sounded a bit better to me too but none of the versions sound very open here, or is it just me?
deffinately sound closed in to me... how about a bit of MJ human nature? at least the production of the recording is spot on. or madonnas frozen... or any other suggestions, pretty open to all later beatles recs, and sinatra of course...
Dire Straights - Brothers In Arms is often used for this type of thing. The more open sounding the recording is the better.
Yeah, your latest trick is on my auditioning playlist too, it's astounding what a good system does to that track
=) I voted, based on the stock output of my work HP laptop, and a pair of HiFiMan HE-400's.
I've always kinda thought that higher bitrate MP3s from modern encoders were pretty good. 128 kbps mp3's I have from the early 2000's don't sound so good. The streaming audio (128 kbps) I listen to sometimes turns up a song that I decide is pretty good. If I go and buy it I usually have a happy little "Hey this sounds better than I thought" moment.
I've always kinda thought that higher bitrate MP3s from modern encoders were pretty good. 128 kbps mp3's I have from the early 2000's don't sound so good. The streaming audio (128 kbps) I listen to sometimes turns up a song that I decide is pretty good. If I go and buy it I usually have a happy little "Hey this sounds better than I thought" moment.
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Well through my iMac, Sure T-amp, Markaudio CHR-70 setup it wasn't too hard to tell the difference. I voted and my votes matched the majority. In the good versions you can begin to hear the room around the musicians.
BTW: I just put up a thread, "Tidal: Anyone using it?" in which I complained about Spotify thru my living room system. This was exactly what I was talking about.
-Tom-
BTW: I just put up a thread, "Tidal: Anyone using it?" in which I complained about Spotify thru my living room system. This was exactly what I was talking about.
-Tom-
I am in temporary housing right now with no stereo, so I plugged my $69 Sennheisers into this ASUS laptop. Neither of these recordings is something I would often listen to, but I thought the first pair was pretty obvious, and the second was maybe a little less obvious. This setup distorts at the level I usually listen at to mask the tinnitus in my head.
Well recorded dynamic music with ample high frequency (the Dire Straits CD) content like sizzling cymbals in the presence of other sound usually makes short obvious work of picking out MP-3's since the HF content gets bit reduced by the encoder.
Some popular but simple (one vocalist with one instrument) Audiophile music like Norah Jones or Diana Krall can be more difficult because there isn't as much information being thrown out by the encoding / compression algorithm.
Can I always pick out the higher definition recording in situations like this? No. Do all MP-3's sound terrible? No. When I record live music for myself, I use 24/96 WAV. When I rip LP's for my own listening, I use 24/96 WAV. I then re encode to VBR MP-3 for casual listening in my phone or iPad.....through the Sennheisers. Yes, I can spot the obvious flaws, but ignore them......Still better than listening to the loudmouth in the cube next to me at work.
Well recorded dynamic music with ample high frequency (the Dire Straits CD) content like sizzling cymbals in the presence of other sound usually makes short obvious work of picking out MP-3's since the HF content gets bit reduced by the encoder.
Some popular but simple (one vocalist with one instrument) Audiophile music like Norah Jones or Diana Krall can be more difficult because there isn't as much information being thrown out by the encoding / compression algorithm.
Can I always pick out the higher definition recording in situations like this? No. Do all MP-3's sound terrible? No. When I record live music for myself, I use 24/96 WAV. When I rip LP's for my own listening, I use 24/96 WAV. I then re encode to VBR MP-3 for casual listening in my phone or iPad.....through the Sennheisers. Yes, I can spot the obvious flaws, but ignore them......Still better than listening to the loudmouth in the cube next to me at work.
Its great reading through all your comments 🙂
I picked these tracks simply because they are complex, loud and busy (the Beethoven was for Pavel 😀)
It was very surprising to me just how close these were when listened too. I like to think I can hear a wider soundstage on the uncompressed but my results with Foobar show its not always that easy.
They are darned close. What I can say with certainty is that swapping hardware (amplifier for example) gives a change many many magnitudes more than the differences in these files.
Over in the Blowtorch thread Scott mentioned how MP3's show a characteristic trait when examined carefully... and that has given me an idea I might try... but I'll sound out the idea first and get some opinions.
Keep listening 🙂
I picked these tracks simply because they are complex, loud and busy (the Beethoven was for Pavel 😀)
It was very surprising to me just how close these were when listened too. I like to think I can hear a wider soundstage on the uncompressed but my results with Foobar show its not always that easy.
They are darned close. What I can say with certainty is that swapping hardware (amplifier for example) gives a change many many magnitudes more than the differences in these files.
Over in the Blowtorch thread Scott mentioned how MP3's show a characteristic trait when examined carefully... and that has given me an idea I might try... but I'll sound out the idea first and get some opinions.
Keep listening 🙂
Correct me if I'm wrong but there is A and B and A or B is a WAV file.
Then there is the separate X and Y where also X or Y is a WAV file. So you have to chose 2 that are WAV files.
There are ways to tell the difference but that is cheating. From my PC I couldn't tell which is which. I may be deaf as hell. Or I don't know what to look(listen) for?
Then there is the separate X and Y where also X or Y is a WAV file. So you have to chose 2 that are WAV files.
There are ways to tell the difference but that is cheating. From my PC I couldn't tell which is which. I may be deaf as hell. Or I don't know what to look(listen) for?
I tried again with fresh ears at work (sibelius live concert on radio last night so didn't get a chance at home) and listening to one then the other without an AB comparison plugin gave up again. listen to one, listen to other, think you heard a difference, go back to the first and the difference is still there!
I'll try and throw the kids out the living room at some point over the weekend to have a good listen.
Once a few more have voted would be interesting to know what those who said 'easy' actually heard.
I'll try and throw the kids out the living room at some point over the weekend to have a good listen.
Once a few more have voted would be interesting to know what those who said 'easy' actually heard.
You sound very sure of yourself. But why not vote rather than give others an expectation and possibly skew the results.
I also would like to be interested where/how can I detect the difference, at what moments, what instruments, at which point?
Tattoo: can you please remove your guess as others may want to test without influence from others? Thanks 🙂
Specially if you cheat.
Tattoo: can you please remove your guess as others may want to test without influence from others? Thanks 🙂
Specially if you cheat.
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