Anybody Out There Who Hears a Difference Between 320 kbps MP3 and Red Book CD? What Differences Do You Hear?

[Deleted member 48726]

I have set wiim mini as an airplay device in my iphone. Went to do the tidal test remake aac320 vs lossless (the middle one that lasts 10-15m) and the sound does not output to mini only to my phone speakers. Can I only do it on laptop with headphones or is there a way to my stereo?

I don't know what a Wiim mini is so I'm afraid I can't help you with that.

 

[Zensō]

I have set wiim mini as an airplay device in my iphone. Went to do the tidal test remake aac320 vs lossless (the middle one that lasts 10-15m) and the sound does not output to mini only to my phone speakers. Can I only do it on laptop with headphones or is there a way to my stereo?

You should be able to send the test to your Mini via Airplay from either your phone or laptop. The problem with that is knowing whether or not the signal is being altered in the process. It would be better to bypass the Mini and connect your laptop directly to your DAC via USB.

 

[ads_cft222]

You should be able to send the test to your Mini via Airplay from either your phone or laptop. The problem with that is knowing whether or not the signal is being altered in the process. It would be better to bypass the Mini and connect your laptop directly to your DAC via USB.

I am using the internal dac of my amp. No usb inputs. Just optical and coax in . Laptop and headphones are from work so when I will have time I will try to find a way with mini . If not the headphones are some cheap Logitech and not to be trusted .

 

[olieb]

I am using the internal dac of my amp. No usb inputs. Just optical and coax in . Laptop and headphones are from work so when I will have time I will try to find a way with mini . If not the headphones are some cheap Logitech and not to be trusted .

If your transmission is Airplay 1 (aka "old") it is 16bit/44.1kHz. Airplay 2 is AAC256, so it seems.

Apple AirPlay isn’t always lossless. Sometimes it’s lossy — but why? | Darko.Audio

According to the diligent work of Darko.Audio Patron Brother Thomas.

darko.audio

Does not make a lot of sense to test AAC320 vs "lossless" over a AAC256 connection.

I can consistently not hear a difference in the Tidal test (earphone and laptop), but I could not stand most of the test music and started to decide (commit) after a few seconds - still I got annoyed. If anything this test is not for me.

 

[ads_cft222]

If your transmission is Airplay 1 (aka "old") it is 16bit/44.1kHz. Airplay 2 is AAC256, so it seems.

Apple AirPlay isn’t always lossless. Sometimes it’s lossy — but why? | Darko.Audio

According to the diligent work of Darko.Audio Patron Brother Thomas.

darko.audio

Does not make a lot of sense to test AAC320 vs "lossless" over a AAC256 connection.

I can consistently not hear a difference in the Tidal test (earphone and laptop), but I could not stand most of the test music and started to decide (commit) after a few seconds - still I got annoyed. If anything this test is not for me.

Yes indeed I thought about it afterwards. If it was through tidal app it would be lossless if I was using a mac with airplay 1 ( I have windows laptop). The test music should be simple for the brain such as one or two instruments and well recorded . When you increase complexity the brain cannot focus so much.

 

[ronkdar]

I first heard the difference completely by accident. Until this point, I knew very little about lossless audio.

One of my favorite albums 10 years ago was Wish Upon a Blackstar by Celldweller. I had it on CD, and I had ripped the CD to mp3-320.

I usually listened to the CD in the car, but one day I used my iPod instead, which had the mp3s. And I was confused when it sounded a lot less alive.

Eventually I remembered that CDs are lossless. So I ripped the CD again as ALAC files and listened to both with headphones and tbe difference was still there. The mp3 sounded a little more dead and far away.

And that's how I eventually became a reluctant flac user. Anything high quality recording with lots of detail in the highs often sounds better in FLAC. Trentemoller (i.e. Snowflake) and A Perfect Circle (i.e. The Package) really stand out for me. Rock and metal are hit or miss. Digitally composed electronica is perfectly fine to me in mp3. Accoustic music almost always benefits.

[Edit] I *think* I can hear the difference between 16/44.1 and hi-res, but only on a few tracks, and it may just be confirmation bias. I could never tell the difference without A/B switching, so it's not worth the 2-4x storage space cost to me.

 

[Deleted member 48726]

I first heard the difference completely by accident. Until this point, I knew very little about lossless audio.

One of my favorite albums 10 years ago was Wish Upon a Blackstar by Celldweller. I had it on CD, and I had ripped the CD to mp3-320.

I usually listened to the CD in the car, but one day I used my iPod instead, which had the mp3s. And I was confused when it sounded a lot less alive.

Eventually I remembered that CDs are lossless. So I ripped the CD again as ALAC files and listened to both with headphones and tbe difference was still there. The mp3 sounded a little more dead and far away.

And that's how I eventually became a reluctant flac user. Anything high quality recording with lots of detail in the highs often sounds better in FLAC. Trentemoller (i.e. Snowflake) and A Perfect Circle (i.e. The Package) really stand out for me. Rock and metal are hit or miss. Digitally composed electronica is perfectly fine to me in mp3. Accoustic music almost always benefits.

[Edit] I *think* I can hear the difference between 16/44.1 and hi-res, but only on a few tracks, and it may just be confirmation bias. I could never tell the difference without A/B switching, so it's not worth the 2-4x storage space cost to me.

You should also do the tests in my signature.. Remove the doubt.

 

[olieb]

And I was confused when it sounded a lot less alive.

I really would like to know what do you mean by a lot less alive?
Do you hear the difference without A/B switching?
How many seconds does it take you to identify what is what?
Did you do this blind or only sighted?

 

[voodooless]

I really would like to know what do you mean by a lot less alive?
Do you hear the difference without A/B switching?
How many seconds does it take you to identify what is what?
Did you do this blind or only sighted?

Sighted in a car, without level matching, using a completely different source... You cannot conclude that the encoding of the song is the problem, it's just jumping to conclusions. Car audio AUX inputs are notoriously crappy. That alone could be the cause of the perceived difference, never mind any of the other factors.

 

[Zensō]

You should also do the tests in my signature.. Remove the doubt.

Here we go again. I can hardly catch my breath.

 

[Deleted member 48726]

Here we go again. I can hardly catch my breath.

Deja vu??

 

[Zensō]

Deja vu??

Or perhaps more like Groundhog Day (the movie).

 

[Ricardus]

A relentless onslaught of bogus accounts.

 

[Ricardus]

Eventually I remembered that CDs are lossless. So I ripped the CD again as ALAC files and listened to both with headphones and tbe difference was still there. The mp3 sounded a little more dead and far away.

Your own words explain the difference. Your brain knew which was which and was lying to you.

 

[AdrianusG]

I don't hear much, if any difference between 320 kbps MP3 streams and standard CDs. I consider myself blessed in this respect. I don't think there is an audible difference. And, I don't mind saying so. But, if you hear a difference, what is it?

Never really tried it, but i'm confident that 9 times out of 10 I won't hear a difference, not at my age (58) nevertheless I always rip CD's to FLAC, just to be sure, storage is not a problem anymore, so why rip to a lossy format?

 

[Zensō]

Never really tried it, but i'm confident that 9 times out of 10 I won't hear a difference, not at my age (58) nevertheless I always rip CD's to FLAC, just to be sure, storage is not a problem anymore, so why rip to a lossy format?

These questions are more related to streaming and wireless transmission than to ripping for local storage.

 

[somebodyelse]

I *think* I can hear the difference between 16/44.1 and hi-res, but only on a few tracks, and it may just be confirmation bias.

It could also be because the mix is different. I'll have to see if I still had the link to the paper. They were trying to see if 16/44 and higher resolutions were distinguishable using commercial releases, initially assuming they would be using the same high resolution master and just down-converted. It soon became apparent that this wasn't always true. IIRC the conclusion was that 16/44 was indistinguishable from higher resolutions to participants when they came from the same high resolution master via good quality down-conversion.

On bluetooth it's not unknown for manufacturers to use different EQ for different codecs, so again the difference might not actually be in the codec even if it is audible. Edit: found the link, section "But I can hear the difference between codecs in a headphones!"

 

[VMAT4]

These questions are more related to streaming and wireless transmission than to ripping for local storage.

Are you sure? When I asked the question I was thinking of MP3 quality and anything else sampled at 320 kbs.

Your remark may be on the petty side of things.

 

[Zensō]

Are you sure? When I asked the question I was thinking of MP3 quality and anything else sampled at 320 kbs.

Your remark may be on the petty side of things.

He wrote: “…storage is not a problem anymore, so why rip to a lossy format?” My point was that I agree, file size is only really a concern for streaming because local storage is now so cheap.

I have no idea what your “petty side of things” remark is in reference to. Just here sharing thoughts like you and everyone else…

 

[HarmonicTHD]

Here we go again. I can hardly catch my breath.

Yep.

@fpitas what to you think? Does that warrant a whac a mole?