MP3 bit rates debate - can YOU tell?

Soldato
Joined
1 Oct 2004
Posts
10,772
Location
Cambs/Herts
I have done an entire CD much the same as what you seem to have done, but I did the very same song,one that had a good wide range ofsounds from a good range of various sources, and I exported the original WAV ( 96K 16Bit ) into a number of various MP3 formats, 320,240,192,160,128,96, 64 and sure, many machines didnt seem to make much difference between any 2 perhaps, and all seemed to show a fairly large drop off from 128k and down, but all the good gear that I played them back on, could tell the difference even between 320 and 240.

Do you mean that you struggled to tell the difference, or the difference was noticeable?
 
Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
10,383
Location
Behind you... Naked!
No, as the bit you have highlighted, I said that

"many machines didnt seem to make much difference between any 2 perhaps"

so I actually meant to say

"many machines didnt seem to make much difference between any 2 perhaps"

LOL

No, ok, seriously though...

most basic home music centers did not really seem to sound all that different when say comparing 64 and 96 or 96 to 128... You could tell there was definitely a small difference, but if you were not looking for it, you would probably by-pass it.
However, the difference between 64 and 128 was definitely noticeable.

Yes, on any half decent Music center ( Again, I am avoiding the use of the term Hi-Fi ) the differences are much more obvious.
 
Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
10,383
Location
Behind you... Naked!
No, when you go from one to another there is very very little difference at all...

64 to 96 you cannot really tell
96 to 128 you cannot really tell

and so on.

But 128 to 320 is a world of difference.

You can however get away with many things, the type of music for example will help hide low quality tracks, and also using naff equipment to play your MP3s too!

Its no good having your collection at 320 if you are using a Matsui MP3 player and £1.29 market special headphones is it, but at the same time, you would not want to play back 128K MP3s on your Top of the range player either.
 
Back
Top Bottom