[TheMarchingMule]

I remember a few years back, I loaded an Elvis song onto my iPod in various bitrates (128/192/256/320/ALAC), and I stood in a parking lot (I was hit by the ADD bug, can you tell?

) while listening to the files.

First I listened to the lossless one, then I put the iPod on random, and within 30 seconds, I said outloud what bitrate it was, then when I looked down, that was the bitrate!

(I had the bitrate value tagged at the end of the song title)

I managed to do that five times in a row before I stopped. Crazy, no?

 

[mape00]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheMarchingMule /img/forum/go_quote.gif I managed to do that five times in a row before I stopped. Crazy, no?

Yeah, there's only a 1/120 = 0.83% chance of doing that by chance, so it's pretty good. Even if you want to be cynical and disregard the first correct choice (the assumption being that you wouldn't have continued testing unless the first answer happened to be right, otherwise you'd just have forgotten about it and tried again later the odds are 1/24 = 4.2%, which is still pretty good.

Do you think you could achieve this kind of accuracy one more time?

One time is anecdotal evidence. Two or three times, then I'd suspect your ears to be slightly golden.

 

[ILikeMusic]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mape00 /img/forum/go_quote.gif One time is anecdotal evidence. Two or three times, then I'd suspect your ears to be slightly golden.

Or the truth slightly stretched...

 

[shigzeo]

it is amazing how only headfi members can tell the differences when hydrogenaudio who are organised to spot differences on the most part, cannot.

 

[GreatDane]

I voted the blue bar.

I haven't critically tested myself but I can hear a difference between 320 mp3 and lossless maybe 20% of the time at best with very good quality recordings...and I wouldn't bet my life on that.

 

[Sonicpath]

It also depends on the earphone and the amp that you use.

 

[Earwax]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Navyblue /img/forum/go_quote.gif Can you tell lossless from lossy with your portable setup?

Nope, not even in quiet, well focused conditions, let alone "normal" portable conditions. I'm happy with ogg vorbis q5 or lame vbr -v2

 

[krmathis]

Also worth mentioning that the thread topic and poll topic don't match...

"Can you tell lossless from lossy with your portable setup?"
vs.
"Do you have lossless files in your DAPs?"

 

[m0ofassa]

I read somewhere that MP3 is lossless to the ear at 192kbps and oggenc is about 160kbps... But I can still tell the difference between flac and any bit rate below 440 kbps, particularly in the bass and the highs. A headphone like a 770/80 is hard to tell the difference between 128 and FLAC because of its tame highs, but I can still do it fairly easy, even when it's unamped from a porta setup... I've not really tested this on my whole selection, merely songs that I was under-impressed with on a lossy rip. IMO, the bass articulation is the first thing to go to ****.
Anyway, to answer the questions, yes I can, and no I dont.

 

[nvkid909]

hmmm.... not sure if it is placebo effect or not... i'm sure i tell the difference (slight) on some... but remember, if we're talking importing from CDs then the mastering on some recordings is much better than others. could have something to do with it. think it also depends on the music your ears are trying to assimilate

 

[DigitalDeviant]

For the most part i cant tell 320/FLAC appart but on some tracks i can and the difference is quite clear. Not sure what the lingo is, but i think sounds just seperate better the higher the bitrate. With trance music in particular having many different layers to the music, the seperation and subsequent clarity is quite apparent.
I second m0ofassa's comment on bass, its usually the first difference i make out.
All in all i reserve FLAC for my most favorite trance, just to be sure im hearing everything there is to be heard in them. 320 is fine for everything else

 

[Navyblue]

Quote:

Originally Posted by krmathis /img/forum/go_quote.gif Also worth mentioning that the thread topic and poll topic don't match... "Can you tell lossless from lossy with your portable setup?" vs. "Do you have lossless files in your DAPs?"

That's because I wanted to be concise.

I could include the poll question in the title. I also could include the title in the poll question, but I thought if it were me I would prefer not to read such a wordy a question thus I excluded the duplicate information. The poll options are about both questions. 1. Do you keep lossless on your DAP, and 2. Can you hear the difference.

I could also repeat myself in the original post, but anyone who has gone that far would have already read the title and the poll question.

 

[ILikeMusic]

Quote:

Originally Posted by shigzeo /img/forum/go_quote.gif it is amazing how only headfi members can tell the differences when hydrogenaudio who are organised to spot differences on the most part, cannot.

Yes, and the only two conclusions one can draw from that is that either the trained listeners on Hydrogenaudio (who spend a lot of time in blind tests trying to detect encoder artifacts and other problems) are somehow tone-deaf relative to all the golden ears on Head-Fi, or that the Hydrogenaudio results are simply a lot more objective and accurate. I'll leave it to the reader to figure out which...

 

[daglesj]

I use WMA Pro for my lossy and I have a hard time to nigh impossible to tell from lossless.

I nver try to analyse stuff like this too much. It spoils the enjoyment.

 

[DigitalDeviant]

Got me thinking so Ive gone back and listened to a few FLAC Vs 320s - i have to admit that there was a placebo effect going on, mostly theres no decernible difference so far as i can hear. Although there are definaltey some tracks i can hear differences in. Perhaps its just down to how they were encoded, i dont know.

Its intuitive to think, more bitrate=better sound, but then there is an upper limit to human hearing capability. Thats also ofcourse limited again by whatever your individual ears are capable of.

Meh, just enjoy the music