Cant hear the difference between: Mp3 128k and WAV 1411k

actually metallica hasn't a good quality recording, yet you should hear the diference. btw which dac or soundcard are you using?

and you should try some really great recorded songs like diana krall

Hi!

Make sure the WAV file was not generated from the mp3 file (common mistake). Once a song is compressed to e.g. 128kbit mp3 some information is gone. Converting it to wav does not do anything to the quality.

Ideally take a CD, rip it yourself in WAV and mp3 128kbit and THEN listen to both files.

I must admit that I have some 128kbit files that somehow sound amazing. Generally though I prefer the 320kbit/s variety ;-)

Again:

you downloaded the Diana Krall album in mp3 and then you did what?

Please list what you did exactly and which tools you used.

If you converted the album from mp3 into WAV of course there is no difference. The WAV file will (and should) sound exactly like the mp3.

You have to start with a file that still has ALL audio information, the WAV file directly from CD. Converting a crappy file into a higher bitrate/better format will never have any quality improvements.

If you can't hear a difference consider yourself lucky! You just saved yourself a whole lot of money. Go ahead and rip all your music in that format and have plenty hard drive to spare.

If ever in the future you decide to update to more high end equipment though you might want to consider higher resolution copies. Small differences become more noticeable the more transparency a system has.

Hey,

you did everything right, that's good!!

Well, there is one thing you can do...

Listen to cymbals and high pitch sounds, do they sounds muddy or clear, do you hear every single instrument or a "carpet" of sound. I bet you that after some time you can hear the difference.

One thing I did was have a few versions of a song in a separate itunes playlist and shuffle it, so I didn't know which version was playing, then I checked if I was right. But I agree, in the beginning and especially with not so high resolving equipment it can be very hard to spot the difference.

Happy listening,

K

Quote:

Originally Posted by Koolpep 
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One thing I did was have a few versions of a song in a separate itunes playlist and shuffle it, so I didn't know which version was playing, then I checked if I was right. But I agree, in the beginning and especially with not so high resolving equipment it can be very hard to spot the difference.

 

You should try foobar2000 with the ABX Comparator and replay gain.

http://www.foobar2000.org/components/view/foo_abx

That is the best way to check if you really hear differences between two audio files.

Cartel, you should be happy to hear no differences..This fact avoids much problems :)

You're not alone. I can just, just tell the difference between a FLAC and a 64kBps mp3 encoded from that FLAC file. This was in a variety of different recordings in different styles. People talk about the 'vast difference' in bitrates and it's just not there. Realy LAME mp3 encoding is far better than it used to be, yet people are still taking cues from awful Limewire transcodes from 2001. I've since gone from using lossless to using V0 VBR mp3 files on my portable devices, so I now have a lot more space.

Quote:

Originally Posted by monoethylene 

Cartel, you should be happy to hear no differences..This fact avoids much problems :)

You are really lucky! Not being able to hear a difference with your preferred music selection makes your life much easier. 

But, likely, you will hear a big difference if you rip a Telarc classical music CD. Which is why I emphasise your music preferences!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chromako 

You are really lucky! Not being able to hear a difference with your preferred music selection makes your life much easier. 

 

But, likely, you will hear a big difference if you rip a Telarc classical music CD. Which is why I emphasise your music preferences!

There are other things to make my life much easier..and I wouldnt kill myself to have such problems..

You know, I was three times in Rehab and there Ive seen all. I am 31 have a girlfriend and I am happy and sorry to make life much easier depends not on this forum..there are a lot of other factors, at least health..

Wow. This is rather interesting... I myself have successfully DBT'd 225 kbit vs FLAC (I have the test results to prove it) so I find it rather surprising that someone would have trouble with 128 kbit... but true, if you really don't hear a difference, you can be happy with 3-4 megabytes per song instead of 30-40.

Metallica recordings are rubbish and are probably distorted as much, if not more during production than what ripping them to 128mp3 would do now anyway.  There's a thread where someone made two WAV files, one from a 128k LAME-encoded VBR mp3 and one from the original recording. People with iPods generally couldn't tell them apart.