YouTube isn't really good enough quality for critical listening although it can be quite adequate for background, plus there's heaps of stuff on there which isn't on CD. Depends on the quality of the upload, but the Hendrix LA show, for example, is fine as it wasn't well recorded in the first place!
The only upload of 'Box' I've heard was terrible and the drums sounded like crap. Itunes releases of these tracks would be OK. LPs would of course be fine, but some of these tracks are n/a in that format.
I made WAV copies of the CD tracks and have them collected on one disc.
Geoff
The only upload of 'Box' I've heard was terrible and the drums sounded like crap. Itunes releases of these tracks would be OK. LPs would of course be fine, but some of these tracks are n/a in that format.
I made WAV copies of the CD tracks and have them collected on one disc.
Geoff
Last I checked Youtube was using 128kbps AAC, which is pretty damn 'transparent' in testing. Audiophiles like to dwell on testing done almost 20 years ago with crappy encoders when it was plausible to tell the difference between 128kbps MP3 and uncompressed, however from what I've seen this is no longer the case. Encoders have become a lot more efficient over the past 20 years. A recent test found no statistically audible difference between a MP3 and AAC at 192kbps and uncompressed audio (source: Subjective Evaluation of Music Compressed with the ACER Codec Compared to AAC, MP3, and Uncompressed PCM). Modern 128kbps encoders should be operating on the edge of audibility hence why Youtube and other streaming services see no reason to stream at increased bit rates. I also highly doubt Youtube are using a 20 year old AAC encoder.
The problem with Youtube however is that there is no way of knowing the quality of the original audio file that was uploaded, although for 'reputable' sources uploaded within the last few years, the answer is probably more often than not 'good enough'. If it was uploaded in 2006 when Youtube first started, all bets are off.
The speakers are going to be much worse than the effects of 128kbps AAC. Youtube therefore should be more than good enough to determine the difference between "These speakers seem pretty good" and "These speakers are trash".
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Quite right, the problem is with the upload quality. I'm not an 'audiophile' but I don't enjoy listening to music which doesn't at least sound reasonable. My ears are used to listening through audience noise for Hendrix but I can't listen to the Chilli Peppers' 'Californication' as it's far too harsh.
There can be several uploads of the same recording on YouTube and one can sound OK, another bleah; sometimes this can be seen after the track has been recorded, I did it yesterday and the audio for one source was 6.7MB, the other 17 - and the second was much more listenable, I couldn't tell the difference between it and a CD version.
The YouTube upload of the Hendrix LA show sounds much better than my old LP: the sound has been cleaned up a treat. Still not hi fi but at least you can hear more of the music.
So, if I play "Box" to check out the drum sound, I'd like the recording to be as good as possible so I can make a reasonable assessment of how the speaker reproduces the track. However, if you made a YouTube collection of good sounding tracks to start with and used that to audition speakers, that would of course work.
If I used just the Chilli Peppers CD to audition speakers and chose a pair which made it sound OK, I dare say the rest of our collection would sound terrible....
Geoff
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I use a few records that i know inside out, and if possible i take the old but very good Goodman Mezzo SL speakers i have since longtime and that i know inside out also with me as reference. And indeed, many expensive don't survive that test. That is why i got in speaker building as i did not find what i wanted. And even i'm not the big specialist that knows everything and my builds with limited budgets are far from perfect, i still do better than those...
But knowing how to measure and interpret measurement is handy and can give you insights in how speakers are build and how to get the sound (even if that is not flat), that you want.
But knowing how to measure and interpret measurement is handy and can give you insights in how speakers are build and how to get the sound (even if that is not flat), that you want.
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