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In Reply to: Today someone asked if MP3 could be considered Hi-Fi... posted by DevillEars on May 4, 2007 at 07:32:29:
For example if a specific recording on CD is cosidered hi-fi and one rips to a lossy file format and yet no one can tell the difference is the new file automatically lo-fi? I say no, if you can't tell the difference it is still hi-fi.
Follow Ups:
... exist across a spectrum - this is not a binary concept.In any case, the original post was a bit tongue-in-cheek and was based on the semantics of the two terms - lossy versus fidelity.
As to the statement that "no one can tell the difference" - I'm sorry, but I'd have to disagree, as my daughter cuts MP3 files for her car stereo and we've both sat down and compared the source CD to the burnt MP3 CD-R media and we both agreed that the MP3 version was lacking spatial information and sounded a bit wooly on complex passages.
Don't get me wrong! I'm not "panning" MP3 as being crap - just "not as good as..."
There is a very real and growing market out there for MP3 - and the rationale for purchase is very different for MP3 than it is for SACD, DVD-A, Vinyl and Red-Book CD.
The real drivers behind the growth of MP3 (and other compressed digital audio file formats) include:
a) Convenience (search the web, download and play)
b) Portability (iPOD's and the like permit "music as you go")For a large and growing group of buyers, these drivers take precedence over sound quality - I mean, who is going go jogging carrying a pair of Wilson Wamm speakers around?
I have no issue with these people - that's their preference and they're perfectly entitled to it.
DevillEars
Is it possible you may only be familiar with the low bitrate MP3's? If you haven't had the chance you ought to try some higher bitrate MP3's for yourself. The experience may suprise you.In my experience the 320K bitrate files are pretty decent, and I can generally live with 192Kbit and above until I start playing them on the big system or for long term listening.
To keep this in perspective. I don't even compress my files with lossless compression. I just rip them bit perfect to my drives.
...my teenage daughter with her cheap earbuds?Or me with my Shure E5c two-way earbuds?
In other words, your average listener versus an audiophile who knows the difference and has equipment which can differentiate it.
Pretty much any recording on CD is considered hi-fi today.
OK yes I see your point. Maybe I should have been a little more specific. If a golden ear listener not trained in identifying the compression artifacts by ear, listening through an "audiophile" quality system still cannot hear the difference.....I mean someone trained to focus on the artifacts would certainly notice the negatives, but personnaly I'm finding some of the high bitrate compression algorithms pretty darn good. Of course the 128Kbit garbage so popular is obviously bad even to me.
> If a golden ear listener not trained in identifying the compression artifacts by ear, listening through an "audiophile" quality system still cannot hear the difference....I mean someone trained to focus on the artifacts would certainly notice the negatives, but personnaly I'm finding some of the high bitrate compression algorithms pretty darn good.>Agreed - 'compression' is very different from 'lossy'.
But having said that, Todd Krieger and I have both posted here describing the deficiencies we sometimes hear in Apple Lossless - such as loss of high frequency air and detail, problems with vibratto, etc.
I don't think it takes any special training, just good critical listening skills. And music which shows the differences, since it isn't obvious on everything.
I have been told by an expert that the ALL encoder is not as good as the Microsoft one (WMA).
And there are other factors which may degrade the sound qulity such as my use of 'sound check', the volume averaging feature.
And I only listen through my iPod and Shure E5c earbuds - not through my home system, which is more revealing.
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