Sound quality: CD vs FLV/MP3

Mike Smit said:
Esquire sell them for about R40. I grabbed a whole lot a few weeks back. Very handy for storing OS installs etc..
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Fronstosa doesn't have stock, Pinnacle doesn't have stock, Syntech doesn't have stock, etc. I'm surprised Esquire has (or maybe it's old stock because nobody really wants to buy from them? :D).
 
You guys that rip the same CD to FLAC / MP3 320 to compare - how do you get passed the volume difference as well?

Although not massive, that alone gives me 100% success rate in telling the two apart. If both were perfectly equal volumes, it would make things a little more difficult at least
 
Oj0 said:
You're welcome to double blind test me using my audio equipment, clipping and compression even at 320kpbs is aweful. In fact, with semi decent sound equipment anyone other than the tone-deaf will probably be able to tell. MP3 is crap. Ultra crap. They'll do if you're using a R120 pair of earphones something, for anything decent I wouldn't touch them. FLAC for me, thanks.
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Testing has shown that people cannot consistently reliably tell whether they're listening to good quality lossy compression or lossless/uncompressed.
 
Dolby said:
You guys that rip the same CD to FLAC / MP3 320 to compare - how do you get passed the volume difference as well?

Although not massive, that alone gives me 100% success rate in telling the two apart. If both were perfectly equal volumes, it would make things a little more difficult at least
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The muddy bass and distorted/clipped treble would help tremendously. Of course, if you're listening to modern electronic music made from 320kbps samples you won't be able to tell...
 
Gary M said:
I've listened to music in forms of flv, mp3, FLAC etc...

On numerous systems except in the car.. I don't notice the difference..

Is there a difference ?
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Get ears checked?
 
noxibox said:
Testing has shown that people cannot consistently reliably tell whether they're listening to good quality lossy compression or lossless/uncompressed.
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Who? The tone deaf? Those using cheap multimedia speakers? If that were the case, there would be no market for high end audio equipment.
 
How accurately does a recording, even one using a lossless format, reproduce the true sound? For worse and for better, a recording may sound different to the actual sound. I've spent thousands of hours listening to piano music from dozens, if not hundreds, of CDs, on several different sound systems, and I'm always struck by how differently a live piano sounds to a recorded piano. I've attended piano concerts in acoustically well designed auditoriums with the music being played on well maintained Steinways, and I've listened to recordings of the same and other music also played on well maintained Steinways, and the recorded Steinway sounds different - rounder and gentler - to the live Steinway, which sounds more dimensionless and metallic (to me). Up close, the sound coming from a live piano, even at low volume, has an intensity to it that a sound system cannot recreate. The sound from a live piano fills up every part of a room and has the ability to linger almost endlessly for as long as the damper does not return to the string. One not only hears a piano at close range, you literally feel the sound as it vibrates through your body.
 
Humberto said:
How accurately does a recording, even one using a lossless format, reproduce the true sound? For worse and for better, a recording may sound different to the actual sound. I've spent thousands of hours listening to piano music from dozens, if not hundreds, of CDs, on several different sound systems, and I'm always struck by how differently a live piano sounds to a recorded piano. I've attended piano concerts in acoustically well designed auditoriums with the music being played on well maintained Steinways, and I've listened to recordings of the same and other music also played on well maintained Steinways, and the recorded Steinway sounds different - rounder and gentler - to the live Steinway, which sounds more dimensionless and metallic (to me). Up close, the sound coming from a live piano, even at low volume, has an intensity to it that a sound system cannot recreate. The sound from a live piano fills up every part of a room and has the ability to linger almost endlessly for as long as the damper does not return to the string. One not only hears a piano at close range, you literally feel the sound as it vibrates through your body.
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There's a massive difference between a speaker and an actual piano.
 
Oj0 said:
I didn't spend R20k. Or anywhere near that. I bought some high end equipment which varies from 10 to 30 years old
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What equipment do you have that you can so easily tell the difference between a 320 rip and a FLAC recording?

I'm not saying the difference isn't there - but it isn't as glaring obvious as you're making out
 
Dolby said:
What equipment do you have that you can so easily tell the difference between a 320 rip and a FLAC recording?

I'm not saying the difference isn't there - but it isn't as glaring obvious as you're making out
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Rogers Studio 2 speakers (I'll be surprised if you're familiar with them, I grabbed them after hearing them without having heard of Rogers as a brand), Yamaha A-1 amplifier and Denon DCD-1560 CD player. I don't know if you'll be familiar with any of that. It easily takes on R15k home theater systems for sound quality, and cost me around a third of that.

I also have a semi-decent set of headphones, the M-Audio Studiophile Q40. They look cheap and tacky, but sound better than the Audio-Technica ATH-AD700X they replaced. The one big downside is they are silly bass happy, it HAS to be turned down unless you feel like having a taxi strapped to your head. PC sound output is taken care of by a Sound Blaster Zx.
 
Have an excellent oem car system and mp3 good enough for me. Have flacs and itunes but as I said mp3 in car good enough. Then again I am not a music/sound fanatic.

Btw hope u all realise the op was trolling :-)
 
I bought a pair of Sennheiser HD202s yesterday.

Installed Foobar and the tester plugin now.

Queued up Team by Lorde, FLAC vs 320 kbps and managed to get 3/3.

The quality difference at beginning of the song (voice only) was especially distinguishable.

Not enough tests to be sure, I know. Will keep playing around when I have more time.
 
Oj0 said:
It easily takes on R15k home theater systems for sound quality, and cost me around a third of that.
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But it's a stereo system?

I still believe you'll be hard pressed to tell to tell the difference between 320 and FLAC. There may be a difference but it's not as massive as you say. I've also got the issue with the volume, making it impossible to do AB tests as I can hear the FLAC everytime.
 
Yes it is, why do I need 5.1 for music? And the difference is pretty much day and night, MP3s have no... Life (?) to them.

Er, did you just say that you too can tell the difference every time?
 
Dylan_G said:
I bought a pair of Sennheiser HD202s yesterday.

Installed Foobar and the tester plugin now.

Queued up Team by Lorde, FLAC vs 320 kbps and managed to get 3/3.

The quality difference at beginning of the song (voice only) was especially distinguishable.

Not enough tests to be sure, I know. Will keep playing around when I have more time.
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The point being that you can tell the difference even if you use a cheap pair of Dj cans.
You should hear the difference on a pair of Beyerdynamics DT990.
 
Oj0 said:
Yes it is, why do I need 5.1 for music? And the difference is pretty much day and night, MP3s have no... Life (?) to them.

Er, did you just say that you too can tell the difference every time?
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You mentioned HT - just clarifying ....

And yes - I did say I can point out every time, but that's because of the volume issue. I think it would be extremely difficult to tell at the same volume. I don't believe night or day - unless you were blessed with golden ears or something
 
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