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Post by watchtower on Jun 2, 2015 21:50:54 GMT -6
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Post by jeromemason on Jun 2, 2015 22:51:37 GMT -6
All mine were uncompressed or 320.... I always send 320 mp3's, never any lower, IMO that's pretty close but there are some things you can still hear, but it really depends on the recording and what frequency information is the most prevalent. Higher frequencies and fullness and also image are how I hear it usually. Honestly, they older songs are easier to pick out because when they cut songs back then it was cut for hi fidelity, now songs are cut with the understanding most of the information is going to be chopped off and are mixed and mastered to compensate.
I buy from HDtracks.com, I always try to get the 96k ones if it's newer stuff. I never get anything over 44.1 on older stuff because they are just up sampling, I think that at least. But, HDtracks.com is really a good place to get your music from, good prices and they will send deals out quite a bit.
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Post by donr on Jun 2, 2015 23:08:21 GMT -6
watchtower, did you take the test?
I'll jump.
I actually preferred the 320kb mp3 over the CD quality 4/6 times.
Only on Suzanne Vega did I easily pick the higher-rez file.
I was impressed how crappy Neil Young’s Harvest sounded no matter what. I liked the 320 mp3.
Got the classical one wrong too. I wonder if the mp3 [data] compression made the 320 clip a tad brighter or more compressed.
On JayZ, I preferred the 128 mp3. Go Figure! ..as nobtwiddler sez.
Takeaway?
My ears are shot or 320 mp3 is plenty good ‘fi for me for listening to every song that’s ever been recorded in the cloud by subcription with fair compensation for creators.
Would I choose hi-rez audio files to listen to stuff I care about? Sure. But most of my listening by volume [to other people's music] now is streamed bluetooth from compressed files on my phone to decent systems in my cars. You know what? I STILL love good music. I like it as much as ever.
Old Timer story:
I was a kid in grade school, around the Cuban missle crisis era, and I remember the first time I heard recordings of my day played on a decent system. It was in a lunchenette/candy store on a mono Seeburg jukebox. It had a sweet little hump in the upper bass, and it was loud. It was a revelation. Recorded music could sound GREAT.
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Post by watchtower on Jun 2, 2015 23:21:32 GMT -6
watchtower, did you take the test? Sort of. The results were funny. I'll explain, but I'm going to retake it tomorrow with headphones. The order of the songs/answers all changes if you refresh the page |
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Post by tonycamphd on Jun 3, 2015 7:51:47 GMT -6
The problem with this is the point is a moving target, as technology progresses, CONVERTERS will improve, so will car audio systems etc, it's the nature of technology, if u stock up on crap music file purchases, u may be buying all over again pretty soon?
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Post by EmRR on Jun 3, 2015 13:00:20 GMT -6
It totally depends on the quality of the entire playback system as to whether you can hear differences or not. Streaming through a good converter and playback chain, it's even 320 versus 44.1/16 is generally pretty easy to pick out on well recorded source material. Crap/average system, maybe not apparent.
Switching to material you produced, 320 conversions always seem to lack top end compared to full res.
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Post by jcoutu1 on Jun 3, 2015 13:08:08 GMT -6
I thought this was totally interesting. I sat in my office during lunch today listening. I was using the built in DAC on my rMBP with AKG Q701 headphones. The only one that I was totally consistent on was liking the 128 Coldplay track the best. It seems like I preferred higher res for Jay-Z and Katy Perry and lower res for Neal Young and Coldplay.
1ST
Vega - 320
Young - 128
JayZ - Uncompressed
Coldplay - 128
Orchestra - Uncompressed
Perry - Uncompressed
2ND
Vega - Uncompressed
Young - 128
JayZ - Uncompressed
Coldplay - 128
Orchestra - 128
Perry - 320
3RD
Vega - 128
Young - 320
JayZ - 320
Coldplay - 128
Orchestra - Uncompressed
Perry - Uncompressed
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Post by tonycamphd on Jun 3, 2015 13:10:10 GMT -6
It totally depends on the quality of the entire playback system as to whether you can hear differences or not. Streaming through a good converter and playback chain, it's even 320 versus 44.1/16 is generally pretty easy to pick out on well recorded source material. Crap/average system, maybe not apparent. Switching to material you produced, 320 conversions always seem to lack top end compared to full res. Yes, it also depends on the quality of what happened in the studio before file completion. |
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Post by jcoutu1 on Jun 3, 2015 13:19:24 GMT -6
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Post by tonycamphd on Jun 3, 2015 13:37:53 GMT -6
I didn't think any of them sounded remotely hifi, plus I'm stuck on the mac dac, so i went for the worst of the worst sounding files lol, i got 128 on 3, and the other 2 were both 320, never hit a wave, which means nothing as i didn't think any of them sounded good, so i believe luck would have it 8) edit; so i see there were 6, so i must have gotten 128 4 times, because i KNOW i only hit 320 2wice. |
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Post by donr on Jun 3, 2015 14:08:28 GMT -6
Ha, I think I picked the 128 on the JayZ because I thought it sounded the least obnoxious. There's not many 'modern' rap tracks I think sound at all pleasant.
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Post by jcoutu1 on Jun 3, 2015 15:51:39 GMT -6
Ha, I think I picked the 128 on the JayZ because I thought it sounded the least obnoxious. There's not many 'modern' rap tracks I think sound at all pleasant. That's how I felt about the Coldplay. 128 seemed the least distorted from mastering. |
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Post by watchtower on Jun 4, 2015 17:03:48 GMT -6
Ha, I think I picked the 128 on the JayZ because I thought it sounded the least obnoxious. There's not many 'modern' rap tracks I think sound at all pleasant. That's how I felt about the Coldplay. 128 seemed the least distorted from mastering. Yep. Coldplay 128k was the least distorted. That's why I picked it. I picked 128k for 4/6, which I thought was very funny. Neil Young I couldn't tell at all. And Katy Perry I picked Uncompressed. That was my very quick listen through when I discovered the article. Haven't tried it with my headphones yet. |
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Post by Bob Olhsson on Jun 5, 2015 8:32:17 GMT -6
FWIW, it's often harder to tell with headphones and easier on a pa system in a big hall!
Ambience and even noise actually helps us identify detail better. Our hearing is like a long, very fast telephoto lens having no depth of field. The brain needs to choose what to focus on because we can't comprehend more than a tiny portion of the available information. That learning requirement combined with expectation bias makes simple blind tests like this meaningless because they require that we stumble across the audible artifacts by happenstance. Over time in the same listening environment, we eventually learn what to listen for.
Everybody's hearing and experience is different so it's always a moving target. I never assume everybody will hear the same things I do. Hearing damage also prevents masking so according to Jim Johnston, guitar shredders can be expected to hear all manner of distortions that the rest of us can't! One of my clients discovered a d*ther bug that was obvious once pointed out. This is why I believe in a very conservative approach to signal processing using mostly broad strokes. Armin Steiner and Doug Sax clued me into this and I'm eternally thankful to them.
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Post by svart on Jun 5, 2015 10:03:28 GMT -6
4 out of 6 chosen correctly for WAV, the other 2 were 320mp3.
of course, I was listening pretty hard to pick them out.. For regular listening I wouldn't really care which one it was.
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Post by Guitar on Jun 6, 2015 11:46:04 GMT -6
I got 3 WAV and 3 MP3 320.
I also had a really hard time with the Neil Young bit.
You've got to hand it to NPR, once in a while they nail something.
To Svart and Bob O's point, I'll enjoy music on all kinds of consumer systems. My inner audiophile seems to come out more in a studio setting. It comes with the critical listening.
I do listen to a lot of 320 kbps MP3. Usually that or lossless, or vinyl records.
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Post by henge on Jun 6, 2015 13:14:24 GMT -6
I got 3 wav 2 320s and a 128 but was surprised at how little difference there actually is.
I don't think the vast majority of listeners could tell and more importantly, they don't care.
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Post by tonycamphd on Jun 6, 2015 13:36:46 GMT -6
I got 3 wav 2 320s and a 128 but was surprised at how little difference there actually is. I don't think the vast majority of listeners could tell and more importantly, they don't care. I still say the uncompressed files sound like a dogdoo snow cone tastes, so this example is useless to me, get me a file that actually sounds great, and then give me the same file at 128 and all of us would nail it, maybe i'll do that with that acoustic file i have! be right back.... |
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Post by tonycamphd on Jun 6, 2015 15:19:01 GMT -6
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Post by wiz on Jun 6, 2015 15:25:09 GMT -6
tonycamphdboth those links come up with a Dropbox 403 error... cheers Wiz
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Post by tonycamphd on Jun 6, 2015 15:29:36 GMT -6
tonycamphdboth those links come up with a Dropbox 403 error... cheers Wiz hmmm, they come up on my phone and computer? reload the page and try again, i fixed them right after i posted, maybe it took too long to turn upside down? 8) |
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Post by wiz on Jun 6, 2015 15:36:16 GMT -6
tonycamphdboth those links come up with a Dropbox 403 error... cheers Wiz hmmm, they come up on my phone and computer? reload the page and try again, i fixed them right after i posted, maybe it took too long to turn upside down? 8) Ha Ha Ha... 8) the down under jokes... 8) nope, cleared my cache, .... then no go.. so I cleared my cache again and even logged in to dropbox.. nope... the error is being thrown up by dropbox itself, so I don't think its a safari thing, though who knows... I know... its cause I live in the future, and in 17 hours from now you will delete them 8) cheers Wiz |
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Post by Guitar on Jun 6, 2015 18:29:58 GMT -6
one of them is just a bunch of weird digital squeaks and beeps... the other one sounds like led zeppelin
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Post by henge on Jun 6, 2015 18:34:20 GMT -6
first one sounds better to me. |
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Post by wiz on Jun 6, 2015 18:42:28 GMT -6
I actually like both, for different reasons..
goes to show if you have a good high quality source......
though I think the first one is high
cheers
Wiz
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