I recommend to anyone who is doubtfull about the difference between .mp3 and .wav to go ahead and just purchase the same track in both formats and then listen themselves.

On a club system you won't notice the difference. At home on studio monitors you can hear a bit of a difference.

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I can here a difference, and for alittle bit more why not have a quality recording that does not take anything away from the original. Large hard drives are cheep now and downloading music is nothing compared to the cost of buying records. What ever happened to that animated graph that showed how as you go from wave though the verious levels of mp3 the loss? If you enjoy misic and are buying it why not treet you self and others to the best music experience you can?

Allen

c) flac
d) VBR mp3..

I like the analogy of watching a movie without wearing glasses.

Only after a few years of listening to a variety of music in a variety of settings was I able to differentiate between 192mp3, 320mp3 and wav.

mp3's below 320 generally sound like crap to my ears, and 320 is usually adequate. However, for a select portion of tracks (maybe 100 in my collection), I need to have them in wav format because they don't sound great as mp3s. "Angello & Ingrosso - Yeah" is a good example. More and more of my collection is in wav format these days though. As stated, downloading and digital storage is cheap, so why not?

Headphones aren't so bad, but in my car stereo (200W Harmon Kardon), low quality mp3s are USSSSSSSSSSSELESS.

In a club low quality mp3s are fine. There's so much reverb and other noise that you can't tell anyway. However, mp3s lack a bit of the bass that wavs do, so this might get noticed if someone with a good ear knows the track very well, but it's unlikely.

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quote:

Originally posted by Beat Blog so this might get noticed if someone with a good ear knows the track very well, but it's unlikely.

But then how would they tell that it's from the recording and not just the sound setup?

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Thanks for all the input. So basically the common person can't really tell the difference between a 320 mp3 and wav. It basically boils down to whether or not you want to pay the extra money (and for those that can tell whether you can tell on the system(s) you're playing on).

quote:

Originally posted by Project-K But then how would they tell that it's from the recording and not just the sound setup?

They can't tell I suppose. However, if someone notices the difference, regardless of what they think made it (the recording, the sound system, the guy next to them dropping his guts), then that's a rock solid argument against using mp3s.

Unless your point is that you can easily use shitty mp3s in a club and get away with it, and I agree (only recently).

quote:

Originally posted by saltytheseagull Thanks for all the input. So basically the common person can't really tell the difference between a 320 mp3 and wav. It basically boils down to whether or not you want to pay the extra money (and for those that can tell whether you can tell on the system(s) you're playing on).

Correct. Hell, the "common" person can't even tell the difference between a well encoded 192kpbs and a 320kpbs mp3.

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Mix archive | Melbourne club guide

for some strange reason, i can't imagine buying mp3's... i always buy .wav's. if i'm gonna put money down on a track, i want every little thing/detail the track has to offer. i want the best i can get, so i end up buying .wav's.

then, if really have to, i'll make my own mp3.

several times i have thought about just buying mp3's so i can do more w/the same amount of money... but i just can't do it. it feels cheap to me.

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Originally posted by RJT You could play a 192kbps MP3 in any club you'll ever play and nobody will be able to tell the difference. Anyone who says they can is either: A. Lying B. A Mutant

wow, i thought i was pretty normal. now i know that i'm a mutant. Are you fucking kidding me? you must go to clubs with really shitty sound systems.

Most sound systems are usually rubbish anyway from years of abuse, so you could probably even use 128. Even if you do use low bitrates in a good club they often have some sort of audio enhancement or amplifier that makes it sound better than it would normally.