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What should I look for when comparing lossless vs. lossy?

post #1 of 6
2/16/13 at 7:57am
Thread Starter 

Hi guys, I had been a "normal" or "casual" listener most of my life, but now I have taken an interest in the "audiophile world". With that said, what are the things I should look for when trying to differentiate say, a 128 kbps MP3 file from the FLAC file it was originated from? Because currently I can't do that very effectively, when converting with Audacity using LAME 3.99.3. I use unamped Sennheiser HD 598s, which should have sufficient definition\clarity\resolution\transparency (I don't understand the difference between these terms) to allow for differentiation, do please do not turn this into a "your equipment is improper" debate.

 

If you really need more details (such as the songs used) I have another topic: http://www.head-fi.org/t/651413/are-my-ears-really-this-bad

 

Thank you!

 

P.S: I realize this has probably been asked around alot, but a with a quick search on Google I could not find it :P

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post #2 of 6
2/16/13 at 12:01pm

Maybe the test tracks you are using just don't show nasty artifacts?

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post #3 of 6
2/16/13 at 12:11pm

Live recordings with audience applause will artifact every time at low bitrates. But believe it or not, the most difficult thing I ever found to compress was a CD of Sammy Davis Jr Decca sides from the early 50s. The texture of the massed strings in the arrangements is very complex, and it artifacts all the way up to 192.

 

 

http://www.amazon.com/The-Decca-Years-Sammy-Davis/dp/B000002OF2/


Edited by bigshot - 2/16/13 at 12:13pm
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post #4 of 6
2/16/13 at 1:19pm

hydrogenaudio forum is much stronger on codec testing - to the point that you're mostly wasting your time seeking out the info here

 

http://www.google.com/cse?cx=partner-pub-4544327213918729%3Aeg2ypbddpax&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=killer+samples&sa=Search&siteurl=www.hydrogenaudio.org%2Fforums%2Findex.php%3Fs%3D592af677deb95ccda2962d91e1f0cb6f%26showtopic%3D98132&ref=www.hydrogenaudio.org%2Fforums%2F&ss=3120j991666j14#gsc.tab=0&gsc.q=killer%20samples&gsc.page=1

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post #5 of 6
2/17/13 at 6:56am

Hydrogen Audio is the right forum, but this article might be even better as a fast start:

 

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/apr12/articles/lost-in-translation.htm

 

...It doesn't just list the major artefact types but links to downloads of examples.

 

Bonus article on 24/192 that explains a lot about sampling well:

 

http://people.xiph.org/~xiphmont/demo/neil-young.html


Edited by scuttle - 2/17/13 at 7:05am
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post #6 of 6
2/17/13 at 10:08am
Thread Starter 

Thanks for the answers so far guys, that soundonsound article seems very complete, I'll check it out! :)
 

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