Wave File Question

RoyalBishop

Member
Oct 16, 2006
68
0
61
I burned 2 cds last night. The first one was mp3 to wav then the second was flac to wav. Now both are in the wav format but how do I tell the difference? I have played both on winamp and they both say 1440kbs but I dont know anyway to tell which was mp3 or flac converted to wav.
 

jagec

Lifer
Apr 30, 2004
24,442
6
81
Originally posted by: RoyalBishop
Originally posted by: uhohs
use the ears

I have a disorder with my ears that wont let me tell the difference between cds that are mp3 to wav and flac to wav. :p

Then why does it matter? If you're not enough of an audiophile to tell the difference between mp3 and flac, you might as well not waste HD space on the latter.
 

RoyalBishop

Member
Oct 16, 2006
68
0
61
Read my post carefully, I believe your not grasping the concept. I would like to know a way, most like a program or past file extension that would enable me to know the difference between two non marked cds that sound the same but I know are different qualities. Thank you
 

QED

Diamond Member
Dec 16, 2005
3,428
3
0
Originally posted by: RoyalBishop
Read my post carefully, I believe your not grasping the concept. I would like to know a way, most like a program or past file extension that would enable me to know the difference between two non marked cds that sound the same but I know are different qualities. Thank you


No, we grasp the concept.

Unfortunately, there's no handly little utility that will magically tell us the history of every file on our system-- what extensions they've had in the past, what formats that used to be in, or anything else.

The only thing you can go on now is to look for hints or clues in the sound quality of the existing files and compare those to how flac and mp3 files typically sound. Unfortunately, I'm going to guess it isn't as easy as looking at the graph...
 

0roo0roo

No Lifer
Sep 21, 2002
64,795
84
91
audacity..compare to original is only way
encspot can tell you encoder of compressed files. but once you expand it to wav it basically strips it of info:p
 

A Casual Fitz

Diamond Member
May 16, 2005
4,649
1,018
136
Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
audacity..compare to original is only way
encspot can tell you encoder of compressed files. but once you expand it to wav it basically strips it of info:p

It's not the only way. I could open the two tracks up in Pro Tools, invert the MP3, and be left with exactly what you're losing from the WAV.
 

frostedflakes

Diamond Member
Mar 1, 2005
7,925
1
81
As others have suggested analyze the waveforms using a spectral frequency display. Most CDs are mastered up to about 22kHz, and FLAC is lossless (i.e. no data is lost), so for the FLAC-sourced WAV file the frequencies should extend all the way up to 22kHz. MP3 compression uses a low-pass filter to remove higher frequencies that are less perceptible with human hearing and cannot be encoded as efficiently as low frequencies. This means that the MP3-sourced WAV file will not go up to 22kHz. For example the low-pass filter for a 192kbps LAME MP3 file is about 18kHz. For 320kbps LAME I think the cutoff is about 20kHz.
 

Goosemaster

Lifer
Apr 10, 2001
48,775
3
81
Originally posted by: A Casual Fitz
Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
audacity..compare to original is only way
encspot can tell you encoder of compressed files. but once you expand it to wav it basically strips it of info:p

It's not the only way. I could open the two tracks up in Pro Tools, invert the MP3, and be left with exactly what you're losing from the WAV.

I am poor though...audacity and wave-analysis is my only avenue in such a situation:(