320 kbps vs apple lossless?

Quote:

Originally Posted by dacherne 

I just re-ripped a tiesto CD that I have in 320 kbps, but this time i selected lossless. playing the tracks of the different bit rates side by side, I dont really notice a difference in SQ, any suggestions why?

 

I am using a macbook pro as a source, pico amp/dac, and ultimate ears 700.

 

With MP3 which seems to me to have similar qualities to apples lossy formats there is an extremely subtle deadening of the sound. This degree of deadening is not as bad as what you get with lower end DACs & onboard sound chips. It becomes noticable on higher end equipment but at 320Kb/s just barely. At lower bitrate lossy compression you get more deadening of the sound & at or below 128Kb/s you start to hear other artifacts on a somewhat consistant bases. Lossy WMA remains more open sounding than MP3 at lower bitrates but at the expense of more artifacts that show up at higher bit rates than they do on MP3. Do not use variable bit rate lossy WMA as I found that it does very poorly  with low level sounds even at very high bit rates (over400Kb/s). Constant bit rate MP3 much better in this regard as is constant bitrate WMA even at 192Kb/s for WMA. Lossless WMA is indestinguishable from the original to me.
 

It's not unusual for people to find MP3@320 indistinguishable from lossless... especially for the sort of music Tiesto is known for.  See if you can detect differences in other genres of music.

Quote:

Originally Posted by dacherne 

so from what i understand i shouldnt notice a difference between 320 and lossless until i get higher end equipment? Im starting to wonder why i got the pico in the first place

You will only notice a very subtle difference between the tracks with high end gear. I am pretty sure in you setup pico is doing just fine but its your earphones, they are not exactly top tier. To hear those differences you will need to try some decent full-size headphones or an expensive pair of customs.

Either ways the difference is not night and day.

not sure you will tell the difference with grade 225 too, i do notice it when i use jh13 or um3x when i use the pico.  the difference between 320kbps and lossless is very subtle and can only tell if the recording are very good.  most of the recording today are crappy to begin with.

using full size headphone with pico, i can tell when i use hf-2.  the pico dac will gets you more details and slightly wider soundstage but if you are looking for night and day, it is not happening.

I read an interview with some golden-eared audiophile who claimed that there were 'disastrous' artefacts evident in MP3 versions of his library, rendering his music unlistenable, but most of us simply wouldnt have the kit to make it the kind of soul-destroying issue it was for this fellow. Again, its something which needs independent testing, but we all know how fondly any results from such testing would be greeted. My main beef with MP3 is that most download services seem to have settled on 256K as 'premium quality', audiophile sites notwithstanding.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jc9394 

I wouldn't worry too much about 320kbps vs lossless, most of my collection are 320kbps on my Nano or iPhone. With public transportation noise, no way I can tell the difference even using jh13. At home, all my music on NAS are flac or aiff. I do rip my CD twice, it is a pain but I think it is worth it.

apparently buses are so quiet in germany...you can hear a person's stock apple earbud playing...nothing fellow bostonian's would know now would we?

Quote:

Originally Posted by dacherne 

Yes this is especially true as native downloads from itunes come as 256. I had the intention of trying to re rip my music collection to lossless but since I dont hear any distinct differences between 320 and lossless I will settle having 320 which will also save me some disc space.

 

and JC, I wish i could afford the JH13 :P

Apple downloads are AAC format not mp3. AAC at 256kbps is already very high quality and easily the same or better than mp3 320kbps.

Quote:

Originally Posted by buffalowings 

apparently buses are so quiet in germany...you can hear a person's stock apple earbud playing...nothing fellow bostonian's would know now would we?

are you talking about the super quiet, super fast, and super clean line that i take everyday to cambridge?  it is so fast it cause a sonic boom and it has to slow down when crossing the longfellow bridge and try not to disturb the unknown species that living under the water surface of charles river basin?