TranceAddict Forums (www.tranceaddict.com/forums)
- Chill Out Room
-- Can you hear the difference between 320 Kpbs MP3 and a WAV?
Pages (4): [1] 2 3 4 »

Can you hear the difference between 320 Kpbs MP3 and a WAV?

I can't, but some people claim to be able. And if you can, how do you tell them apart?

I may devise something to put people's claims about this to the test.

Re: Can you hear the difference between 320 Kpbs MP3 and a WAV?

Gogogadgetoear

abx testing

I can, but only if one 320 mp3 and one wav were played right after each other. I can't just hear one song and go "that's a wav"

And the only way I can explain it... is that there is more depth. Like the sounds are much clearer, and spread apart.

quote:

Originally posted by iammesol I can, but only if one 320 mp3 and one wav were played right after each other. I can't just hear one song and go "that's a wav" And the only way I can explain it... is that there is more depth. Like the sounds are much clearer, and spread apart.

That's exactly how I feel, it's really hard to put to words. It just sounds richer to me. Mind you, it's only on some monitors I can tell the difference. With regular speakers, no chance at all.

yah i can.

256mp3-320mp3, can't tell the difference. 320mp3 to 128aac, yes. 320mp3 to WAV, yes.

but i agree with the ^^^ about seeing the difference between formats when intently looking for richer sound.

Okay, here's a 320 Kpbs MP3:

http://www.philosophaster.com/music/test/MP3.mp3

And here's a WAV sample made from the original (uncompressed) song:

http://www.philosophaster.com/music/test/WAV.wav

Now here are twenty different WAV files. Ten of them were made from the original song, and ten of them were made from the MP3 file linked above. Your goal, if you want to prove you can hear the difference, is to correctly identify the sound of each numbered file as either "MP3" or "WAV." Here you go:

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20

And no cheating by looking at spectrum analyzers, visualizers, or file sizes.

quote:

Originally posted by MrJiveBoJingles Okay, here's a 320 Kpbs MP3: http://www.philosophaster.com/music/test/MP3.mp3 And here's a WAV sample made from the original (uncompressed) song: http://www.philosophaster.com/music/test/WAV.wav Now here are twenty different WAV files. Ten of them were made from the original song, and ten of them were made from the MP3 file linked above. Your goal, if you want to prove you can hear the difference, is to correctly identify the sound of each numbered file as either "MP3" or "WAV." Here you go: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 And no cheating by looking at spectrum analyzers, visualizers, or file sizes.

Good challenge

I can't tell shit all difference between any of those on the speakers I'm using right now (Logitech X-530) but I'll have a go later on on my Alesis Monitor 2's and my Yamaha HS80M's and see if I can hear a difference then.

Here we go. This is a WAV file made from a CD and various bitrates of MP3:

http://www.philosophaster.com/music/test/Gabriel.wav

1411 Kbps (WAV) -- 320 MP3 -- 256 -- 192 -- 128 -- 64 -- 32

The same four bars play seven times at seven different descending bitrates. At what point can you tell the difference?

Oh dear, another one of these.

Needless to say, I'm of the persuasion that people who claim to be able to objectively tell the difference between a 320kbps MP3 and WAV are full of shit - and further, I'm fairly confident I could fool most people into thinking a 192KBPS MP3 was a 320.

quote:

Originally posted by RJT I'm fairly confident I could fool most people into thinking a 192KBPS MP3 was a 320.

Yeah, I feel the same way.. I don't really notice much of a difference. But maybe it has more to do with my crappy earphones and a mediocre soundcard

edit: or maybe my ears just suck

quote:

Originally posted by spc Yeah, I feel the same way.. I don't really notice much of a difference. But maybe it has more to do with my crappy earphones and a mediocre soundcard edit: or maybe my ears just suck

The absolute worst is when people try to tell me they can tell the difference in a club - they just can't, and they're fooling themselves thinking they can.

the flac/lossless formats are killer in a club, the androids will praise you for your pristine sound quality.

anyway, i'm going thru diff quality mp3s right now and i can hardly tell the difference. i would say vinyl rips (mainly thanks to skips in dodgy vinyl rips), some 128 kbps rips, and anything at or below 96 kbps is what i can tell apart from the other music formats.

i once "obtained" a sasha & digweed northern exposure in FLAC and could barely tell any audible difference from the 320 kbps version. 700+ mbs? no thank you. maybe i'll give flac/lossless a go when 10 TB drives are a standard in computer technology

I can't. But, even if I could, I grew up listening to cassette tapes, so I don't really mind these �ber-leet frequencies

quote:

Originally posted by RJT Oh dear, another one of these. Needless to say, I'm of the persuasion that people who claim to be able to objectively tell the difference between a 320kbps MP3 and WAV are full of shit - and further, I'm fairly confident I could fool most people into thinking a 192KBPS MP3 was a 320.

Bullshit. I can easily tell the difference between a WAV and a 320MP3 off Beatport.

i cant.

Easily?

Another test: pick an mp3 out of a lineup. Four different "lineup" files are used, and each comes with a CD-quality WAV file that you can use as a reference. Each sample is repeated five times within each lineup file. One of those five repetitions comes from a 320 Kbps MP3, and the other four come from the original CD-quality WAV. See if you can tell which of the five repetitions is the MP3:

Round one -- Peter Gabriel - "In Your Eyes":

Reference WAV 1
Lineup 1

Round Two -- Underworld - "Push Upstairs"

Reference WAV 2
Lineup 2

Round Three -- Hybrid - "True to Form"

Reference WAV 3
Lineup 3

Round Four -- Underworld - "Bruce Lee"

Reference WAV 4
Lineup 4

quote:

Originally posted by MrJiveBoJingles Here we go. This is a WAV file made from a CD and various bitrates of MP3: http://www.philosophaster.com/music/test/Gabriel.wav 1411 Kbps (WAV) -- 320 MP3 -- 256 -- 192 -- 128 -- 64 -- 32 The same four bars play seven times at seven different descending bitrates. At what point can you tell the difference?

I'm sorry, but it sounds like its from one bitrate until 40 seconds where you hear an extreme decrease in quality.

quote:

Originally posted by Akridrot I'm sorry, but it sounds like its from one bitrate until 40 seconds where you hear an extreme decrease in quality.

That's when it jumps from 128 down to 64 (halving the bitrate). Many people can't tell a difference at all before that. Some can tell a difference between 128 and higher bitrates.

I'm willing to bet that most people who say they can tell a difference between 320 and a WAV are mistaken, and even that most people can't tell a difference between 192 and a WAV (we can test that out as well if anyone wants to).

quote:

Originally posted by MrJiveBoJingles That's when it jumps from 128 down to 64 (halving the bitrate). Many people can't tell a difference at all before that. Some can tell a difference between 128 and higher bitrates. I'm willing to bet that most people who say they can tell a difference between 320 and a WAV are mistaken, and even that most people can't tell a difference between 192 and a WAV (we can test that out as well if anyone wants to).

U can only tell a difference between 320/wav on bass heavy tracks and on a good system with subs..no way u can tell with mids and highs unless u get into 192's and lower..then it gets really tinny and distorted...

quote:

Originally posted by RJT Oh dear, another one of these. Needless to say, I'm of the persuasion that people who claim to be able to objectively tell the difference between a 320kbps MP3 and WAV are full of shit - and further, I'm fairly confident I could fool most people into thinking a 192KBPS MP3 was a 320.

Heh, we'll see whether they're full of crap if one of them steps up and tries one of the tests.

only if the track has Mandy Moore vocals.

quote:

Originally posted by l�cid only if the track has Mandy Moore vocals.

What's so special about Mandy Moore?

Powered by: vBulletin
Copyright © 2000-2021, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.