MP3s vs CDs

[40footwolf]

Am I the only person who doesn't hear a difference between mp3s and CDs?

I guess maybe the drums sound a bit fuller and the quality is maybe slightly crisper on the whole but other than that a 256kbs mp3 and a CD are practically the exact same listening experience to me.
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I love all music. It makes you feel like living. Silence is death.

-John Cassavettes

[Applerill]

I dunno. I get what you're saying, CJ, but one thing that helps me notice the difference a lot more is that I practice "hi-fi abstinence".

Basically, I listen to most of my music in compressed format on my crappy iMac speakers (or, when I'm lucky, my nicer Sennheiser cans on my iPod Classic). But a few times a year per record, I'll play one of my all-time faves on my hi-fi setup on vinyl/CD (or occasionally DVD-A ). I'm able to make the most of those moments because they're few and far between for me. Yet I don't need to worry about being so snobbish about audio quality.

[Hayden]

Well, my Mp3's normally get listened to on headphones, and my CD's normally get listened to on my cd player, with larger, more impressive speakers

It also depends what quality the mp3 is of course. a 320kbps MP3 will probably sound better than a CD, and a CD will probably sound better than a 192kbps MP3.

It also depends on what genre you're listening to. Metal, Rock, Dance, Pop, etc.. should be more on the 'blasted' side. Whereas shoegaze and techno may sound better on headphones.

Personally, I prefer vinyl But I have very few of those
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[mooseboy101]

I only listen to FLAC. Fuck your mp3 bullshit
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[BlueNote]

What you are listening to you music on (i.e. the loudspeakers, mainly) will make a big difference. And, Moose is right. Use FLAC (or ALAC). Better yet, buy vinyl. It is good for your soul.

[RoundTheBend]

I do hate it when good music is set at a crappy quality. The high frequencies are missing and it makes the cymbals sound like crap. Sometimes singing and high frequency instruments suffer too. If all you care about is bass, then it is easier to get away with crappy quality 128 or less.

I do appreciate the warmness of a record, but a FLAC or apple lossless file works just fine for me. Sometimes I can't even tell the difference between a good VBR rip and FLAC or Apple lossless. I just recently got all FLAC for my R.E.M. rips and got rid of my CD rips at 320, and was dissapointed that I wasn't blown away. There is a depth that you can feel in FLAC that is noticeable. You can tell slightly.

I personally have the FLAC and vinyl for all of U2s work in the 80s. From Boy to Joshua Tree, I should say, and I like the warmness, and yet brighness of the vinyl, but the solid strong sound of the FLAC is equally pleasing.

[BlueNote]

There is debate amongst the audiophile community regarding the need for anything better than 44.1 kHz/16 bit. I tend to think not (even though I have a grip of SACDs) because what little science there is on the subject has shown that people can't tell the difference between Hi-Def audio and Redbook CDs under double blind conditions.

Some of my vinyl sounds better than my CDs, some doesn't. Despite being a fan of vinyl (see above), I don't think is is always superior. But chicks dig it, so there is that...

[purple]

[BlueNote]

[purple]