mp3

bf2008 - or if you have a myspace? By the by, im often really impressed with the sound quality of music on myspace! Maybe thats not the best idea actually. Meh. sorry, if i think of owt else ill let you know.

Are you sure you'll be able to tell which compression I'm using in the file I'll send you just by listening to it through your equipment? I can't believe it, really! I struggle to tell 128 mp3 from lossless in my equipment, having both sources, so I can't really see how you'll be able to tell with only one of them! Remember I will send only one, not both files!
Anyway, looking forward to this test!

Just to hedge my bets, im fairly sure. Not 100%, but close. What will the files be and how will they be encoded...?

Hi. I've uploaded in to www.megaupload.com. Sorry the site is not very serious, at least better than rapidshare. I'm sending you quite a nice piece I think too! It was imported in Windows Media Player at 320kbps, or in iTunes as lossless, that's what you have to guess, and then finally obviously converted to apple lossless, so that it gives the same output. It'd be great if you could listen to it now. Also, for copyright reasons, can I ask you to delete the file once the test is over? I believe sharing the file only for this test is legal since it's just for "research purposes on the effect of different compression levels in music".
Also, it'd be great if anyone else who sees this post does the test too, and posts their conclusion here. When we get many replies I'll say which format it was originally. Hope you'll play fair and not use any "tricks". Looking forward to the results!

The link is http://www.megaupload.com/?d=RZQQVFO0.

Sorry, im not getting results when i google the link. I'm not sure how this works if im not allowed to hear both rips...?

Hi. Just copy and paste the link. It works for me, and if it gives an error try again. Sometimes that happened to me, but then I try again and it works. I've just tried too.

Well, that was the point of the experiment! I know people can tell one apart from the other having both, I'm not interested in that comparison. But as you said it sounded to you like radio (let's forget about the sea thing), I challenged you to tell me whether the file I'd send you is "radio like" or "cd like".

Well I'm confused! You're asking someone to be able to tell, just by listening, at what rate a file is encoded? I think there's some crosswires going on here as, as far as I'm aware, no one here has claimed to be able to do that. The very fact that in his post, al7478 stated that not all 320kbs encoded files sound similar depending on which program encoded them suggests this wouldn't be possible...

There is a serious flaw in your test. It is impossible for someone to tell the difference, if they do not have access to the original. A well ripped 320 Kbps MP3 of a well recorded CD, will sound much better than a WAV rip of a slightly worse CD.

The best way to try to see if you can tell the difference is to use ABX software. If you download the Foobar2000 music player, and then look for the blind test ABX plugin, it enables direct comparison, and ABX testing.

I can pretty much guarantee that few here will pass the test to any degree.

In my experience a good HQ MP3 (not even 320, but say ~210 VBR), is indistiguishable from the original unless you're playing through decent amp and speakers.

I personally can't pass an ABX from 320 MP3 and WAV using my PC and headphones,

On the other hand the difference between 128 and 190 VBR is quite large.

Hi. Al7478 said

"When i rip a 320kbps mp3 in media player, it sounds like im listening to a radio at the bottom of the deep blue sea, compared to the same song ripped to the same format and bitrate ripped with EAC".

I can tell if I'm listening to a source in a radio at the bottom of the sea from a cd! But I can't tell different formats apart, hence I challenged him for this test. See my post,

"If it's as you say, then you could even be able to tell if a file is in 320 windows media player mp3 or lossless even if it's music you've never listened to (I can do this with the radio and a cd, let alone if they're playing the radio at the bottom of the sea!). Are you keen to do this challenge with me? I send you a well recorded song and you tell me whether it's that mp3 or lossless."

He accepted this challenge, maybe because he didn't realised I said I was going to send only ONE file. The file I uploaded is a well recorded classical music cd (as most classical music cds) of a piano piece (hence he can still have some degree of comparison with other recordings of piano music). If al7478 wants, he can give up to this test, and I'll consider this matter to be over (I'm anyway not interested in the format comparison). What I've always been asking to, is for a comparison of an iPod with a cd player as sources. And then yes, I mean ABX comparison.

Cheers,

(and to fr0g, when you mean the difference between 128 and 190vbr is quite large you mean to can abx them with your headphones and pc? Which set of headphones do you have?) Thanks.

Ah, okay, I interpreted that differently, but only the man in question can confirm!

Here's a good post someone's for formatting in the current forums.

Prof. I thought you weren't gonna get embroiled in this?!

Thanks.

Well, I just didn't want to get into a "that's impossible because... insert appropriate scientific theory here" argument. Fortunately, this hasn't turned into this so I'm still posting the odd comment! I do still think of course we should all just listen to the music rather than discuss which format is best...

Hi. I've just found out how to use the program and did an ABX test with 320kbps mp3 from windows media player and a .wav file and my score wasn't very good.

It's quite a nice program, but it's a pity it makes those pops each time I change the file. Do you know of any way to get away from this? For example, it'd be nice if it took longer to swith the file, but then did the mix perfectly well, and showed a light or some visual input when the change happens.

Am downloading the track as we speak. Im fairly sure ill get it, but if i could compare it with the other file id be 99.9999999999...% sure