[Brando]

Just wondering if there's a person in the world with any equipment that can distinguish 400kbps AAC from lossless.  I'm going for the smallest possible file size that would be impossible to tell a difference even on high end systems.  Is there a killer sound sample out there that would make it obvious so I can test it myself?  So far I can't tell with the stuff I've converted but I need to be sure I won't regret it one day. 

 

[ffdpmaggot]

400 kbps is more than enough. For some time, I thought I could hear the difference between a 256 and a lossless, but the tracks I was using came from a CD and an itunes download, the CD was mastered differently than the itunes download apparently, and that's what I was hearing. I still rip lossless because I have enough space for it, and if I have enough storage capacity, why deliberately rip to a format that will degrade the audio quality, whether in an audible way or not? Anyway, google search "mp3ornot" and click the first link. If you score a full 100% over the course of say, 30 tests, then I suppose your golden ears might be able to hear the difference between a 400 and a 256, anyway, there aren't many places to go beyond your AH-D7000s except for a handful of other headphones which should sound pretty close in quality. 

 

[anetode]

On an advanced codec like Nero AAC, the jump from ~250 to ~400kbps would not offer much of an increase in quality. I'm saying something like less than 10% benefit for 60% extra cost.