Digital Download Question

Fintomiginto

Evening Lads and ladettes.

I finally made my switch to digital today and got meself a set of CDJ400s.

I was just wondering is there much difference in the quality between MP3 files and WAV files. Is the sound quality noticeably different?

Cheers in advance.

SteveDon

yeah its a very noticeable difference, wav files are much bigger than mp3s, but 320kpbs mp3s are decent quality, not quite a wav but meh

Fintomiginto

Are 320s good enough to play in a club?

SteveDon

yeah they are pretty much perfect for playing out, wavs are just that bit better

Fintomiginto

Cheers steve appreciate the info.;)

Jev/N

SteveDon wrote: »

yeah its a very noticeable difference, wav files are much bigger than mp3s, but 320kpbs mp3s are decent quality, not quite a wav but meh

To be honest I've found very little difference, both on good quality headphones and on a big system.

There is obviously differences in the lower bitrates but these days algorithms are much better than they used to be and I've found many 192kbps tracks to be almost indistinguishable unless you're playing it on a Funktion 1 or equivalent

seannash

Jev/N wrote: »

To be honest I've found very little difference, both on good quality headphones and on a big system.

There is obviously differences in the lower bitrates but these days algorithms are much better than they used to be and I've found many 192kbps tracks to be almost indistinguishable unless you're playing it on a Funktion 1 or equivalent

true,its not a noticeable difference at all to most people.audiophile will say it is but ill hold my hands up and say on my genelec monitors i dont hear a difference.science will tell you theres a difference but it wont be heard to most especially in a club.
the file size differenc is fecking huge though so id stick with mp3s.
id only ever buy wavs if i was going to remix a track or cut out some drum elements from it.i never do this so i never buy em:)

acman

I agree, 320kpbs MP3's are the way to go.

WAVs are technically superior but it's not really an audible difference. Unless you have an extremely acute sense of hearing in a perfect audio environment, you are not going to tell the difference.

Welcome to the digital world of music :-)

Zascar

God this topic used to do my head in - over the years it has always been a subject of debate but you don't hear much about it these days. Kinda like the Vinyl vs mp3 debate.

Honestly very very few people can hear the differnce between 320kbs and wav. Just try to avoid lower quality mp3's.

Fintomiginto

Thanks very much lads, appreciate the advice.
I just needed more choice with tunes, not enough vinyl being pressed now.

I am now very proud and happy with my set up. :cool:

jonny68

I've played 192kbps MP3's in a club and they sounded fine although 320kbps and WAV's would probabky sound a little better.