Seriously, there is a clear difference between 128kbps MP3s and CDs.

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Fritzo

Lifer
Jan 3, 2001
41,920
2,161
126
Originally posted by: Dopefiend
Originally posted by: virtualgames0
Originally posted by: Gurck
Compare them on high quality speakers or phones, and you'll probably notice a difference. That said, electronica seems to compress really well, much better than other genres, at least in my experience. I can definitely tell between cd, mp3, and ogg with most music, and I'm no audiophile nor do I have a prolific sound setup (Gigaworks system & Senn hd280s).

OK, so provide an example of a song that would expose the vast differences between 128kbps mp3s, and original cds...

Something by Nickelback- rock music with lyrics over the top always tends to "warble" when compressed.

Or listen to a live recording (my favorite type of music). BIG difference there. Especially at loud volumes.
 

imported_Phil

Diamond Member
Feb 10, 2001
9,837
0
0
Originally posted by: Fritzo
Originally posted by: Dopefiend
Originally posted by: virtualgames0
Originally posted by: Gurck
Compare them on high quality speakers or phones, and you'll probably notice a difference. That said, electronica seems to compress really well, much better than other genres, at least in my experience. I can definitely tell between cd, mp3, and ogg with most music, and I'm no audiophile nor do I have a prolific sound setup (Gigaworks system & Senn hd280s).

OK, so provide an example of a song that would expose the vast differences between 128kbps mp3s, and original cds...

Something by Nickelback- rock music with lyrics over the top always tends to "warble" when compressed.

Or listen to a live recording (my favorite type of music). BIG difference there. Especially at loud volumes.

Mmm, Dire Straits - Alchemy Live two-disc set is another good one.
 

0roo0roo

No Lifer
Sep 21, 2002
64,795
84
91
Originally posted by: rh71
is a gold-plated CD supposed to sound better than the original CD ? They claim it was re-mixed from the master... and (in my terms) they did some voodoo on it to make it sound better.

Without immediately thinking "gimmick" ... can you tell me if it is actually a better sound ? I'm not an audiophile so I just pop the gold cd (Master Of Puppets) into my CD player and it sounds like the same quality as the regular MetallicA albums.

EDIT>>> Found this review talking about the diff with gold.

no, the golds bs. at best it prevents disk rot. a while back some nicer cd's had backwards compatible 20bit enhancement, but more or less no one had players that took advantage of them.
 

Fritzo

Lifer
Jan 3, 2001
41,920
2,161
126
Originally posted by: virtualgames0
OK tell me if you can hear the difference in the beginning of Beware! Criminal! by incubus in
192kbps
and
128kbps

I've been listening to both, playing them over and over, for a few times now, on my Chaintech AV710 hi-res output(card burned in for over 100hrs), using foobar w/kernel streaming and 24bit mode, and my hd497 headphones, and I hear ABSOLUTELY NO DIFFERENCE. I'd be hard pressed if you claim you can hear the difference on your computer speakers.
:roll:


not sure what kind of macintosh you have there, while most vintage amps have pretty robust headphone output (fisher 400, marantz 2260 comes to mind), post 80 stuff aint that great. hd-497 is definitely the bottleneck there, upgrade to something decent... say, at least hd-580 check my rig for my setup, i can definitely tell difference between bitrates on mp3s up to 320bps. even then flac/cds sound quite a bit better...
Nope, HD497 sound very nice on that setup, and sound LEAPS AND BOUNDS better than my $800 onkyo amp's headphone output.
I later tried my neighbor's quasar headphones(oldschool, but costed him $400), and they didn't sound much better than my HD497, besides the fact that the midrange were a tad more pronounced, and the highs were a tad bit smoother, nowhere near the sound quality gains I've gotten through the amps.

128kbps the drums sound dull. Also, the 192 recording doesn't sound all that great...what was the original source? (Oh, I'm using Cabridge Soundworks Newtons).
 

CraigRT

Lifer
Jun 16, 2000
31,440
5
0
I cannot tell the difference between high quality mp3 and CD quality, on a GOOD SOUND SETUP... but 128 -> 192+ is noticeable on a good sound setup no question.
 

DT4K

Diamond Member
Jan 21, 2002
6,944
3
81
Originally posted by: welst10
Listen, just encode your music at 128kpbs and STFU already. I'll continue to encode at 192kbps VBR. Can't believe this troll made this thread 8 pages long.

It's not 8 pages, it's 3 pages. If I only see 3 pages, than it's only 3 pages gahhhdddaammmittt.

Wait, wait, what I meant was that the majority of people only see 3 pages.

Wait, no, what I meant was that some guy who created the page numbering display told me it's only 3 pages.
Wait, wait, you misinterpreted what I said and what I really meant was .... awww, fvck it, I'm running away now to go change my username and hope nobody will remember what a complete and utter dumbfvck I am.
;)

EDIT: But thanks for the entertainment OP. Watching everyone bitchslap you was hilarious. I'm really still stunned that people this stupid exist.

M4H for Elite !!!
 

faZZter

Golden Member
Feb 21, 2001
1,202
0
0
Originally posted by: Confused
I can easily tell the difference between even 128kbps and 192kbps MP3, and even between that and CD quality.

Confused

Same here. I don't see how you can't notice. While it is still listenable I much prefer at least 192 Kbps for MP3, but CD is still better.

I can usually tell very easily by the cymbal and hi hat sound, assuming those are playing.
 

sygyzy

Lifer
Oct 21, 2000
14,001
4
76
Do a ABX test with a properly ripped and encoded song versus a raw wav and let me know how you score.
 

KEV1N

Platinum Member
Jan 15, 2000
2,932
1
0
It depends on the type of music you're listening to. If there's a lot going on, you can easily hear the bitrate limitations of 128kbps MP3. There's nothing I hate more than compressed cymbals!
 

nan0bug

Banned
Apr 22, 2003
3,142
0
0
Originally posted by: SampSon
nanobug do you still "produce" awful electronic music?

Haha. Yeah, amongst other things. I'm involved in 3 different semi-serious projects and one not-so-serious one, plus what I do on my own. I've been so busy trying to get my guitar playing up to speed to incorporate it into my electronic music that I haven't even really been applying myself to the electronic side of things lately.


Just so you know, that song that I posted up here a while back was made while I was dusted out of my head. I've got more stuff that I've done since then, maybe later tonight after my daughter goes to bed I'll post something new up.
 

Gooberlx2

Lifer
May 4, 2001
15,381
6
91
Seriously, there's no audible difference between 128kbps MP3s and CDs.

My ears tell me otherwise when I listen to a copy of "Fanfare for the Common Man" or "Bugler's Dream" at 128kbps vs. CD
 

Originally posted by: nan0bug
Originally posted by: SampSon
nanobug do you still "produce" awful electronic music?

Haha. Yeah, amongst other things. I'm involved in 3 different semi-serious projects and one not-so-serious one, plus what I do on my own. I've been so busy trying to get my guitar playing up to speed to incorporate it into my electronic music that I haven't even really been applying myself to the electronic side of things lately.


Just so you know, that song that I posted up here a while back was made while I was dusted out of my head. I've got more stuff that I've done since then, maybe later tonight after my daughter goes to bed I'll post something new up.
No thanks, I have thousands of great records by professional musicians, I don't need to hear some amateur powerslop.

Good luck with it though. I suggest focusing on real music, so play the guitar and real instruments more.
 

silverpig

Lifer
Jul 29, 2001
27,703
12
81
Play something with a lot of high hat in it. I'm listening to Pink Floyd - Money right now and it's a great example. mp3 hacks off the high frequency sounds so things like the high-hat sound like ass.

There was a test someone posted a few years ago where a user had a small .wav clip and posted that along with .wav -> 128 kbps mp3 -> .wav, and similar files using 192 kbps vbr, 320 kbps cbr, and 2 other codecs. It took a lot of listening, but I was able to discern the 320 cbr from the original, but it was very very tough. Was only 60/40 sure, but the 128 kbps mp3 was the easiest one to pick out.
 

konakona

Diamond Member
May 6, 2004
6,285
1
0
the whole debate is quite moot. little or not there is an improvement in certain cases, and storage devices going for so cheap you better have some good reason not to encode your own stuff in FLAC/APE/WMA lossless. no need to keep lossy/lossless files redundantly just for the sake of DAPs, just use oggdrop and you are set. case closed.
 

nan0bug

Banned
Apr 22, 2003
3,142
0
0
Originally posted by: SampSon
Originally posted by: nan0bug
Originally posted by: SampSon
nanobug do you still "produce" awful electronic music?

Haha. Yeah, amongst other things. I'm involved in 3 different semi-serious projects and one not-so-serious one, plus what I do on my own. I've been so busy trying to get my guitar playing up to speed to incorporate it into my electronic music that I haven't even really been applying myself to the electronic side of things lately.


Just so you know, that song that I posted up here a while back was made while I was dusted out of my head. I've got more stuff that I've done since then, maybe later tonight after my daughter goes to bed I'll post something new up.
No thanks, I have thousands of great records by professional musicians, I don't need to hear some amateur powerslop.

Good luck with it though. I suggest focusing on real music, so play the guitar and real instruments more.

Electronic music isn't 'fake' just because you don't like it.
 

Originally posted by: nan0bug
Originally posted by: SampSon
Originally posted by: nan0bug
Originally posted by: SampSon
nanobug do you still "produce" awful electronic music?

Haha. Yeah, amongst other things. I'm involved in 3 different semi-serious projects and one not-so-serious one, plus what I do on my own. I've been so busy trying to get my guitar playing up to speed to incorporate it into my electronic music that I haven't even really been applying myself to the electronic side of things lately.


Just so you know, that song that I posted up here a while back was made while I was dusted out of my head. I've got more stuff that I've done since then, maybe later tonight after my daughter goes to bed I'll post something new up.
No thanks, I have thousands of great records by professional musicians, I don't need to hear some amateur powerslop.

Good luck with it though. I suggest focusing on real music, so play the guitar and real instruments more.

Electronic music isn't 'fake' just because you don't like it.
I've delved deeper into the scene than you can even imagine. I have more vinyl sitting here and in storage than you have ever seen. I don't need to start an argument.

I used to pay my bills with electronic music. I just don't want to hear another amateur "producers" tracks that they think are cutting edge or even different from the other billions of mediocre tracks out there.

Electronic music doesn't follow the conventions of any other types of music. It does not follow musical scale, it does not follow any rules of music. It is, in reality, a mix of sounds arranged in an arbitrary beat structure played very loud for kids on drugs.

Don't get me wrong, I have thousands of techno, techhouse, house, dnb and downbeat tracks that I still think are great. But I won't kid myself into thinking that it takes true talent to arrange electronic music, because it doesn't.
 

SludgeFactory

Platinum Member
Sep 14, 2001
2,969
2
81
Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
Originally posted by: rh71
is a gold-plated CD supposed to sound better than the original CD ? They claim it was re-mixed from the master... and (in my terms) they did some voodoo on it to make it sound better.

Without immediately thinking "gimmick" ... can you tell me if it is actually a better sound ? I'm not an audiophile so I just pop the gold cd (Master Of Puppets) into my CD player and it sounds like the same quality as the regular MetallicA albums.

EDIT>>> Found this review talking about the diff with gold.

no, the golds bs. at best it prevents disk rot. a while back some nicer cd's had backwards compatible 20bit enhancement, but more or less no one had players that took advantage of them.
Supposedly the gold has better reflectivity than the aluminum in regular CD's and IIRC if you hold them up to the light you don't see pinholes through the gold like you do with the aluminum (never really saw that with Al, but whatever). I couldn't tell you because I never spent the money for the gold, I tend to think that aspect is mostly marketing.

The major difference with most of the gold discs is not what they're made of, but that they were remastered for audiophiles. The Master of Puppets gold disc is one of those, done by DCC. However, I would guess it's a really poor example for doing a comparison to the regular CD issue, as that music doesn't have a lot of dynamic range or many different instruments/voices going on all at once. I don't see how the best mastering engineer can do much with that and I'm not surprised that it doesn't really sound different.

thread by the guy (Steve Hoffman) who remastered Metallica for DCC, yep he says the master mix was already heavily compressed. That's his personal website by the way, the messageboard has some good stuff and has grown a lot in the last couple years.
 

0roo0roo

No Lifer
Sep 21, 2002
64,795
84
91
Originally posted by: Fritzo
Originally posted by: virtualgames0
OK tell me if you can hear the difference in the beginning of Beware! Criminal! by incubus in
192kbps
and
128kbps

I've been listening to both, playing them over and over, for a few times now, on my Chaintech AV710 hi-res output(card burned in for over 100hrs), using foobar w/kernel streaming and 24bit mode, and my hd497 headphones, and I hear ABSOLUTELY NO DIFFERENCE. I'd be hard pressed if you claim you can hear the difference on your computer speakers.
:roll:


not sure what kind of macintosh you have there, while most vintage amps have pretty robust headphone output (fisher 400, marantz 2260 comes to mind), post 80 stuff aint that great. hd-497 is definitely the bottleneck there, upgrade to something decent... say, at least hd-580 check my rig for my setup, i can definitely tell difference between bitrates on mp3s up to 320bps. even then flac/cds sound quite a bit better...
Nope, HD497 sound very nice on that setup, and sound LEAPS AND BOUNDS better than my $800 onkyo amp's headphone output.
I later tried my neighbor's quasar headphones(oldschool, but costed him $400), and they didn't sound much better than my HD497, besides the fact that the midrange were a tad more pronounced, and the highs were a tad bit smoother, nowhere near the sound quality gains I've gotten through the amps.

128kbps the drums sound dull. Also, the 192 recording doesn't sound all that great...what was the original source? (Oh, I'm using Cabridge Soundworks Newtons).

and those were seriously poor examples. no real singing voice or complexity. theres a reason VBR mp3's work, not all segments require high bitrate for minimal transparence. but even if 5% of the song is below the real bitrate it needs, the entire thing is essentially ruined. its like me showing you a slow scene encoded at x bitrate on video and claiming it is perfect when the reality is that it turns to macroblock hell when theres action. humans are very sensitive to even small errors. i find it easiest to notice 128kbs artifacts in the singers voice, or very easily in orchestral music where stringed instruments get hints of synth quite often. its true that techno type music is less noticable. some artifacts can be overlooked as part of the artificial nature of the music. but when you hear artifical artifacts in natrual voices/instruments, it sticks out like a sore thumb.
 

McFuggin

Member
Aug 5, 2004
35
0
0
Originally posted by: Confused
I can easily tell the difference between even 128kbps and 192kbps MP3, and even between that and CD quality.

Confused


Quoted for truth. MP3's I listen to NEED to be at least 192 kbps.