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Not noticing a difference between 128 kbit/s Ogg and Flac

post #1 of 21
9/21/09 at 1:04am
Thread Starter 
I have my CDs ripped in Flac. This way I have the best quality and then I can convert it to whatever I wish.

For my music player [cowon d2+] I was converting it to 256kbit/s Ogg. Because I could afford the space and it seemed to sound the same as the original Flac files. Now I can no longer afford 256kbits/s Ogg so I decided to see how low I can go. I went to 128kbit/s and didn't find a difference to the original Flac files.

Now my question is; Is this normal? Is my equipment [grado sr60i] low-fi enough not to notice the difference? or did I miss something along the way?

Thanks for reading.
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post #2 of 21
9/21/09 at 1:37am
Bad ears?
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post #3 of 21
9/21/09 at 1:47am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by atothex View Post
Bad ears?
I hope that is true, this way I won't have to spend any more money on audiophile equipment . I never considered myself much of an audiphile, although I like noticing the difference between my sr60i and the Sony MDR-V300 even though it's not a fair fight.
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post #4 of 21
9/21/09 at 1:56am
Quote:
Originally Posted by 0947 View Post
I hope that is true, this way I won't have to spend any more money on audiophile equipment . I never considered myself much of an audiphile, although I like noticing the difference between my sr60i and the Sony MDR-V300 even though it's not a fair fight.
Man, I would never hope to have bad ears. Try more challenging music?
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post #5 of 21
9/21/09 at 1:56am
It's totally possible that you don't know what to listen for. If you're happy not knowing, I'm happy not telling. Do whatever makes you happy
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post #6 of 21
9/21/09 at 2:18am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by atothex View Post
Man, I would never hope to have bad ears. Try more challenging music?
I got all sorts of music. What would you call challenging music?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sherwood View Post
It's totally possible that you don't know what to listen for. If you're happy not knowing, I'm happy not telling. Do whatever makes you happy
Yeah it's making me happy being able to carry more music with me. But I love learning so if you would be so kind I would love to know what to listen for.
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post #7 of 21
9/21/09 at 2:34am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sherwood View Post
It's totally possible that you don't know what to listen for. If you're happy not knowing, I'm happy not telling. Do whatever makes you happy
Be happy, don't know and it will save you a lot of money, or you can be curious, and you know what that did to the cat, it will do the same to your wallet.
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post #8 of 21
9/21/09 at 9:20am
Try comparing 128 mp3 with lossless. The reason why you have difficulty hearing the difference is because vorbis gives a believable sound at low bitrates and you don't really hear cymbals that well with a portable setup. Maybe you'll hear the difference eventually with your setup, but I suggest you listen for a week or longer of only lossless, then try comparing again. But the difference will still be pretty small because of how well ogg does on an mp3 player.
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post #9 of 21
9/21/09 at 9:27am
I have to agree regarding lossless, I've got RS-1's and can't tell between flac and 165kps VBR vorbis either although I have not really done lengthy a/b tests, had a couple of tracks in flac, ogg 165kps, 256kps and 400kps and couldn't tell any apart. But I can with mp3.
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post #10 of 21
9/21/09 at 10:01am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by iriverdude View Post
I have to agree regarding lossless, I've got RS-1's and can't tell between flac and 165kps VBR vorbis either although I have not really done lengthy a/b tests, had a couple of tracks in flac, ogg 165kps, 256kps and 400kps and couldn't tell any apart. But I can with mp3.
Yeah when I tested before [maybe my hearing has changed], I noticed a difference between mp3 below 256kbps and flac.

noob question: Is it possible that this is the headphones fault [seen as you have grado rs1]? I've heard, as in people say, that some headphones are more forgiving than others about low bit-rate files, maybe grados are like that.
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post #11 of 21
9/21/09 at 10:38am
If you want headphones to tell between bitrates use something like Sony SA5000.
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post #12 of 21
9/21/09 at 12:57pm
Mp3 can be differentiated at 128 kbps, but it is not as easy as people think. Ogg is upposed to sound better than mp3, and it is not surprising you cannot tell it apart from lossless. You saved yourself big money in DAP storage!. Be happy!.
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post #13 of 21
9/21/09 at 1:04pm
It may have several reasons:
* The gear you use to play back the music.
* The complexity of the music.
* Your ears and your ability to hear artifacts.
* The encoder/codec.

All in all you might hear an audible difference if you for example used different gear for playback. One never know until you have given it a try..
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post #14 of 21
9/21/09 at 2:01pm
If any piece of gear is at fault, I'd probably be looking at the Cowon rather than the Grado...
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post #15 of 21
9/21/09 at 5:24pm
Go to a meet, hear an awesome setup, compare that to your current sound and you'll know what to look for
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