Telling the difference between mp3 and CD quality Audio?

Blisterman

I often hear it repeated that MP3s only reproduce a fraction of the sound of a CD or Vinyl. So I was just wondering how many people here can actually tell the difference in sound through listening?

Personally I've never had any problem with MP3, but I am curious to know if I can tell the difference. Does anyone know if there's any way of testing this? Has anyone made an online test?

blastman

I think it would depend on the quality of the MP3 rip. Personally I always rip at the highest quality (320Kps) and there isn't that much difference on most equipment. At lower bitrates, there definitely is.

Sinfonia

Here's a nice little demonstration of the difference (primarly the added distortion) associated with Mp3 format, vs. WAV:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5gdwpPrv_8

mike65

Apart from the actual compression what you are listening on and the type of music being listened to makes big difference - try listening to a string section in at CD standard and at say 128 mp3 standard then do the same with say dance music.

the_syco

I find it depends on the music. Listening to heavy metal in 92 & 128kbps is noise. Listening to it at 256 can sometimes be okay, but 320 is how you should listen to it.

Some other music, such as rap, where there would be less instrumental music, and more vocals, the words would make a lot more sense.

Blisterman

When I said MP3, I meant a reasonably high quality 192kbps+ Mp3. Obviously if you lower the bit rate enough, you'll reach a point where the quality is unlistenable.

SilverScreen

Blisterman wrote: »

When I said MP3, I meant a reasonably high quality 192kbps+ Mp3. Obviously if you lower the bit rate enough, you'll reach a point where the quality is unlistenable.

Even with relatively high mp3 bit rates one way to tell the difference in sound quality between mp3 and CD is the bass and treble. When I listen to a song in mp3 form and then listen to the same song on CD the bass and treble sound a lot clearer and I also notice more detail in the music.

It depends a lot on your audio equipment as well. A CD is always going to sound a lot better than mp3 on more high-end speakers or headphones while with cheaper speakers or headphones it really wont make much of a difference.

the_syco wrote: »

I find it depends on the music. Listening to heavy metal in 92 & 128kbps is noise. Listening to it at 256 can sometimes be okay, but 320 is how you should listen to it.

Some other music, such as rap, where there would be less instrumental music, and more vocals, the words would make a lot more sense.

I don't really think it depends on the music that much. Any type of music will sound like noise at 92kbps, apart from pop music probably. But even rap/hip-hip requires good sound quality to get the most out of the backing beats and bass. The same with most electronic music.

RikkFlair

I rip all my CDs at 128kbps for my ipod and that does me fine. I can't really tell any difference between listening to that or listening to the CD. Anything below 128 however and the lack of audio quality becomes very noticeable (for me anyway)

Blisterman

Interesting article on the issue here, where it turns out the tested subjects couldn't distinguish 192kbps mp3 from FLAC, and in fact in some cases thought the Mp3 sounded better.

http://www.trustedreviews.com/opinions/sounds-good-to-me

I'm actually curious now to carry out my own test.

Sinfonia

Zero1986 wrote: »

Even with relatively high mp3 bit rates one way to tell the difference in sound quality between mp3 and CD is the bass and treble. When I listen to a song in mp3 form and then listen to the same song on CD the bass and treble sound a lot clearer and I also notice more detail in the music.

It depends a lot on your audio equipment as well. A CD is always going to sound a lot better than mp3 on more high-end speakers or headphones while with cheaper speakers or headphones it really wont make much of a difference.

The ear focuses first on the lowest and highest frequencies of a piece (which is why, traditionally, the principal melody is carried by the highest voice, and the principal harmonic function is given to the lowest), so the compression tends to take more out of the midrange frequencies, as they will be 'missed' less.

The audio equipment definitely makes a huge difference. There's also the quality of the mix: a professionally mixed recording should maintain fairly decent fidelity regardless of equipment, whereas an amateur mix can often sound great through certain equipment, and terrible through other equipment (regardless of file format).

rcaz

RikkFlair wrote: »

I rip all my CDs at 128kbps for my ipod and that does me fine. I can't really tell any difference between listening to that or listening to the CD. Anything below 128 however and the lack of audio quality becomes very noticeable (for me anyway)

I will never understand self-confessed 'audiophiles' who listen to FLACs through really expensive headphones on the way to work... Yeah, your tunes would sound unreal if you could listen properly, but you can't 'cause your on a noisey train full of people talking and coughing and shuffling and whatnot.

I also think so many of those 'audiophiles' aren't listening to music anymore, they're just listening to the quality of the sound. If the tune's good, I'll put up with a dodgy MP3 rip, the notes are still (mostly) there.

BetterCallSaul

If you're using good quality headphones they will accentuate the quality loss in your mp3s. You obviously won't tell the difference between 192kbps mp3 and FLAC on iPod ear buds.

The difference at 320kbps for me is minuscule though, but I'm sure if I bought even more expensive headphones it would become more apparent.

SilverScreen

Usually around 256 or 320 kbps suits me fine for mp3s. I'll rarely go lower than 192 and lossless formats like FLAC and Apple Lossless aren't really suitable for portable devices due to the space they take up and the drain on battery power. I have some of my favourite albums ripped to FLAC on my hard drive but I wouldn't go as far as to rip my entire CD collection to FLAC.

Capt'n Midnight

It's all academic given the way storage costs are constantly dropping.
Is there any real reason for lossy compression any more ?