On this forum only two people that I know of have correctly identified high bitrate MP3 from lossless in a blind test. One of them was able to tell the bitrate!
I've been able to teach people to hear the difference in an A/B test, but hearing just one track alone? No. And I've known people to prefer the compressed file. There have been times when I seen a group of audiophiles happily listening to a system and talking about how great it sounds - Only to learn the source is MP3. Then suddenly it's horrible and they wander off grumbling about MP3. 😀
I've been able to teach people to hear the difference in an A/B test, but hearing just one track alone? No. And I've known people to prefer the compressed file. There have been times when I seen a group of audiophiles happily listening to a system and talking about how great it sounds - Only to learn the source is MP3. Then suddenly it's horrible and they wander off grumbling about MP3. 😀
No, not in any structured way. Have you? Could you tell a difference? Many years ago I compared OGG-Vorbis to MP3 and found that for low bit rates OGG was better. But >200Kbs the difference wasn't noticeable.
Sometimes I hear 192K MP3 that sounds OK, sometimes not very good at all. This makes me wonder if the tracks wasn't compressed more than once. Similar to the artifacts in a Jpeg that has been saved over and over again.
Sometimes I hear 192K MP3 that sounds OK, sometimes not very good at all. This makes me wonder if the tracks wasn't compressed more than once. Similar to the artifacts in a Jpeg that has been saved over and over again.
What an awful thing to teach students. Much like a French chef teaching his students to hate the taste of wine and garlic!
But now there's opus, any other lossy format is not worth using IMHO.
If you want to hear how bad MP3 really is, run it through "stereo voice removal" and listen to the artifacts...
If you want to hear how bad MP3 really is, run it through "stereo voice removal" and listen to the artifacts...
AAC is better than mp3, but opus is better than AAC.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opus_(audio_format)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opus_(audio_format)
Regarding the Opus wiki, it says, "several blind listening tests have ranked it higher-quality than any other standard audio format at any given bitrate until transparency is reached, including MP3, AAC, and HE-AAC."
Transparency reached?
Transparency reached?
I suppose that means "can't hear the difference from uncompressed."
IME all the compression schemes converge at high bit rates.
IME all the compression schemes converge at high bit rates.
Is there any way to identify an mp3 that sounds bad - distorted, trashy, lacking punch and detail, from the waveform in Audacity or something else?
Not that I know of in Audacity. But I don't think that the MP3 format at 192K is going to change "punch". What bad MP3 tends to have is a lot of phasey sounding artifacts. On very low bitrate, like satellite radio, you can hear it even on voices. With higher bitrates the artifacts can still be heard on cymbals, especially bushed cymbals. That's an easy "tell".
Sure. Look at a spectral view 🙂
Also, Use this in audacity to hear joint stereo artifacts - "Remember me" by Blue Boy sounds like it's under water...
https://manual.audacityteam.org/man/tutorial_vocal_removal_and_isolation.html
Also, Use this in audacity to hear joint stereo artifacts - "Remember me" by Blue Boy sounds like it's under water...
https://manual.audacityteam.org/man/tutorial_vocal_removal_and_isolation.html
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Here's an example of the begining of Blue Boy.
REG is regular, SVR is Stereo Voice Removal.
Source file was 160kbit MP3 joint stereo.
REG is regular, SVR is Stereo Voice Removal.
Source file was 160kbit MP3 joint stereo.
It's easy enough to find the artifacts, but does MP3 encoding change the tonal balance or perceived punch of a recording?
IMHO yes, if you use joint stereo and/or low bitrate.
So does AM radio and some people like that well enough.
So does AM radio and some people like that well enough.
IIUC punch has to do with time-domain accuracy of dynamics transients. Tonal balance is more of a FR response thing? Lossy compression can result in some loss of HF.
True, it's usually low passed. But I think of punch as more mid-bass. Does low bitrate encoding change the mids or upper bass?
By the way, equalizing, normalizing and exporting as .wav makes it sound better, smoother in my subjective view. Is this possible?
Normalizing probably makes it a bit louder. Louder is usually perceived as better. However normalization to 0dBFS can result in intersample overs.
https://benchmarkmedia.com/blogs/application_notes/intersample-overs-in-cd-recordings
Also, EQ can make something sound better in some cases. There is corrective EQ, Happy Face EQ, EQ to taste, 300Hz notch for mud, Rising ramp-shaped filter can sometimes also help with mud. However, EQ for muddy sound is more of a bandaid than a proper fix.
https://benchmarkmedia.com/blogs/application_notes/intersample-overs-in-cd-recordings
Also, EQ can make something sound better in some cases. There is corrective EQ, Happy Face EQ, EQ to taste, 300Hz notch for mud, Rising ramp-shaped filter can sometimes also help with mud. However, EQ for muddy sound is more of a bandaid than a proper fix.