Can You Tell The Difference Between MP3 and CD Quality? (2 Viewers)

[ur_inner_child]

WAV/AIFF is CD Quality.

Apparently a lot of people do, but don't know how to rip CD's properly off itunes and whinge about the quality later.

If you own an ipod or use itunes and want high quality copies, do the following when you rip a CD of an artist you fucking love to death:

ITUNES.

Edit > Preferences > Advanced > Importing

If you are on a Mac, use "Import Using AIFF Encoder"
If you're on a PC, use "Import Using WAV Encoder"

Then below, go to settings, click "Custom"

Sample Rate: 44.1 kHz
Channel: Stereo

Import using these settings to have CD quality (ie the mastered and mixed version in high quality) put onto your ipod/itunes. For your ipod, if you're going to do this to all your music, expect to only use 10% of its capacity; wav and aiff files are large because of its high quality etc. Chances are you probably don't own a shitload of cd's anyway, or only have a few artists you would want to hear every detail of anyway. So use that.

Horay.

Now vote on the poll if you know and can hear the difference between a compressed mp3 and a wav/aiff/cd quality file.

To put it back, use the AAC encoder and High Quality 128kbps

 

[AsyLum]

Re: Can You Tell The Difference Between an MP3 and a WAV/AIFF file?

Yes, I'm a self-confessed audiophile but for the most part to be able to hear most of the changes, (not the blatant 128 v VBR/192/320 mp3 stuff) you'd need some pretty decent gear and training to be able to hear it.

FLAC is probably a better container as it provides lossless with some sort of compression, though I'm pretty sure ipods can't natively read it.

 

[ur_inner_child]

Re: Can You Tell The Difference Between an MP3 and a WAV/AIFF file?

Oh. Also, pretty sure people notice some kind of difference if I pointed it out to them :/ I can't see how you could... not...

I don't know. I always always always could tell ipods didnt play the high quality when ripped. Perhaps fewer people actually own CD's now and hence cannot tell the difference.

Or we have sexy trained ears, I don't know.

 

[AsyLum]

Re: Can You Tell The Difference Between an MP3 and a WAV/AIFF file?

Oh. Also, pretty sure people notice some kind of difference if I pointed it out to them :/ I can't see how you could... not...

I don't know. I always always always could tell ipods didnt play the high quality when ripped. Perhaps fewer people actually own CD's now and hence cannot tell the difference.

Or we have sexy trained ears, I don't know.

And yes, most times for people who have perfect pitch or been classicaly trained, its very easy to figure out differences in sound. The training is evident in those respects, but not restricted to it

Yeah, the default settings aren't too crash hot, I think there was a comparison of MPC v OGG v AAC v MP3 a bit ago on hydrogenaudio but not sure if that was with the new/recent revisions, and AAC came up around the same as LAME MP3 but like I said that was a while ago.

But I think the biggest thing is usually the equipment and encoding used in these. You can learn to pick up artifacts and whatnot, but the generic headphones and lack of actual good speakers/headphones is the biggest barrier to anyone trying to pick up what something is supposed to sound like.

It wasn't until my friend introduced me to a Grado back in year 9 that I thought all headphones were the same and that EQing using the media player was fine. Recently picked up a pair of Koss KSC75s for day to day use, and moving from a Pioneer MSC-50 and Sennheiser HD 280 Pro for monitor use and I'm still finding new things in songs.

Most people will just turn up the volume looking for more bass, more treble or whatnot, and not really care about the overall clarity or transparency of the sound. And there's nothing wrong with that but yeah, technology has had a massive impact. The proliferation of sub-standard $30 headphones, the lack of players which played sound bit-for-bit and emphasised plugins and EQs. I'd suggest giving foobar2000 as an optimal music player if you want bit for bit-kernel streaming DSP capable player.

Another factor was the role of the slow take up broadband had. 128 was considered 'decent' because of the limitations of 56k back in the day.

 

[AsyLum]

Re: Can You Tell The Difference Between an MP3 and a WAV/AIFF file?

ALAC is different to AAC. (lossless v lossy)

 

[Not-That-Bright]

Re: Can You Tell The Difference Between an MP3 and a WAV/AIFF file?

You can always test it yourself stef, make one cd in wav format - one in mp3... double blind the experiment, with some help from someone to just put one of the cd's in and there u go.

 

[AsyLum]

Re: Can You Tell The Difference Between an MP3 and a WAV/AIFF file?

Lossless tends to be more preference particularly with playback rather than a question of quality, since the purpose of lossless is to have as close a copy to the original as digitally possible.

So its more a case of what hardware you use to play the formats. If you've got an ipod ALAC would be better suited with it being natively supported. But there are others which natively support FLAC or the other lossless.

You can always test it yourself stef, make one cd in wav format - one in mp3... double blind the experiment, with some help from someone to just put one of the cd's in and there u go.

ABX tests are the best solution.

 

[Not-That-Bright]

Re: Can You Tell The Difference Between an MP3 and a WAV/AIFF file?

ABX tests are the best solution.

Yep that can be the go too, but you'll always get people who claim they can hear differences beyond what ABX accepts humans can really hear lol

 

[AsyLum]

Re: Can You Tell The Difference Between an MP3 and a WAV/AIFF file?

Yep that can be the go too, but you'll always get people who claim they can hear differences beyond what ABX accepts humans can really hear lol

http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=16295

Always a good guide.

 

[withoutaface]

Re: Can You Tell The Difference Between an MP3 and a WAV/AIFF file?

Wouldn't training yourself to become an audiophile just degenerate from the overall experience of music though, because you're having to spend more and more on equipment just to get something "acceptable"?

 

[breaking]

Re: Can You Tell The Difference Between an MP3 and a WAV/AIFF file?

i like 192k mp3, anything below that is yuk

 

[AsyLum]

Re: Can You Tell The Difference Between an MP3 and a WAV/AIFF file?

Wouldn't training yourself to become an audiophile just degenerate from the overall experience of music though, because you're having to spend more and more on equipment just to get something "acceptable"?

Not at all, the appreciation of music as its meant to be heard is the basis for the audiophile. Whether you just develop a better understanding of what EQ and bit-for-bit playback is to actually spending money on a few monitors, and DAP, its all the same endeavour.

There are different levels to each of our hearings, and most of the top-end stuff is more pseudo-acoustics rather than bit-for-bit playback, so no I don't think it detracts from it, particularly when you introduce someone who has been untrained to a completely different sound of the same song.

 

[runtlocks]

Re: Can You Tell The Difference Between an MP3 and a WAV/AIFF file?

i like 192k mp3, anything below that is yuk

Same

 

[Josie]

Re: Can You Tell The Difference Between an MP3 and a WAV/AIFF file?

Oh. Also, pretty sure people notice some kind of difference if I pointed it out to them :/ I can't see how you could... not...

I don't know. I always always always could tell ipods didnt play the high quality when ripped. Perhaps fewer people actually own CD's now and hence cannot tell the difference.

Or we have sexy trained ears, I don't know.

Classical training helps.

I can tell the difference, it doesn't worry me so much though.

 

[Serius]

Re: Can You Tell The Difference Between an MP3 and a WAV/AIFF file?

i dunno, i think i can tell the difference. Its probably mainly psychological though, i know theres a difference therefore i think i can tell the difference.

 

[AsyLum]

Re: Can You Tell The Difference Between an MP3 and a WAV/AIFF file?

i dunno, i think i can tell the difference. Its probably mainly psychological though, i know theres a difference therefore i think i can tell the difference.

It becomes psychological when you hit high-end stuff, not this, if you can't tell the difference its either equipment or your ear which can't tell it.

Pseudo-acoustics is when the mind starts 'filling in' the sound depending on how much extra data there is.

 

[lilkiwicutie89]

nup..

i rekon ....

its the earphones and the mp3.. if they are good everyhting esel should be xD

 

[Flaming Ninja]

Re: Can You Tell The Difference Between an MP3 and a WAV/AIFF file?

i like 192k mp3, anything below that is yuk

I notice the lack of quality at 192kbps. Once it starts going past 256kbps up to 320kbps, it's harder to notice. I used to rip/'acquire' at 192kbps, but I've recently been going for 320kbps. Also, I have a Creative X-Fi, which features a 24-bit Crystallizer that 'enhances' the sound quality. I know it sounds dodgy, but it does improve the sound quality of MP3s a lot, and it's especially noticeable on higher bitrates (like 256kbps and 320kbps), but it's useless at anything below 192kbps.

 

[Gilbert1]

Re: Can You Tell The Difference Between an MP3 and a WAV/AIFF file?

Can't tell the difference between CD and MP3 but I can tell the difference between ripped and real CD's

 

[+Po1ntDeXt3r+]

Re: Can You Tell The Difference Between an MP3 and a WAV/AIFF file?

It becomes psychological when you hit high-end stuff, not this, if you can't tell the difference its either equipment or your ear which can't tell it.

Pseudo-acoustics is when the mind starts 'filling in' the sound depending on how much extra data there is.

its also hard to tell in certain rock tracks at 160kbps... otherwise.. at 128 kbps u can hear the dulling in the drum crash cymbals in the back..

classical.. u need a good system... so i just stopped listening to classical pieces saves money..

vinyl is still fun in terms of sampling and unique sound quality.. but then its an academic task after a while..

i think as long as ure happy ...u dun really have to worry about being a pretencious prick.. im on the Sony w810i with remote headphones.. sound is ok at best.. sp i just stopped obsessing.. otherwise its v. expensive..