Do 320kbps mp3 files really sound better? Take the test!

[drez]

 
I didn't fare much better, mostly because of the bluegrass or whatever song always gets me.  Seeing as that is 1 song out of 3 I could maybe do 10% better, if I get 50% correct on that blues song.
But, meh blind tests are tiring.  I might try again later.

 

[LegendaryLvl1]

 
Quote:

my hearing must not be golden then b/c i couldn't hear the difference on my AD700s,, but as others pointed it out its not a really complex arrangement I wonder if it would be easier to tell with a busier song. I'll still encode all rips at FLAC for home listening and 320kbps for mobile listening just in case however since DB poweramp can do dual encoding
 
of course i could just barely hear at 12K on their how high can you hear page as well

I got the answer right, took me about 30 seconds in total.
 
Of course when one listens to the song without paying attention the differences will be minimal, but if you analyse the finer points and concentrate on how each individual instrument is represented - discerning the two files become much easier.
 
Using a pair of ath-a700's I noticed that the most prominent (yet subtle) sound was the snare drum, which was being sent directly to the left driver.
 
On the 128kb file, the snare would stutter - a common attribute found in poorly encoded files (or just low bit rate files)
 
the 320kb however, would play just fine. 
 
EDIT:
 
Just took the test the other user posted on the front page. This is what I got:

I REALLY struggled to even get close to the -24 mark (though I was using my ATH-a700 on a crappy laptop inbuilt sound card...)

I am just boggled by how people can get to the -45dB mark 0_o

 

[Brooko]

 
Don't know if it's the recordings they were using - but I've tried this 1/2 dozen times or so - and I continually hover around 70%.  This is a lot harder than the test posted in the original post.  Again the url is www.mp3ornot.com - try it for yourself.

 

[LegendaryLvl1]

Quote:

 
Don't know if it's the recordings they were using - but I've tried this 1/2 dozen times or so - and I continually hover around 70%.  This is a lot harder than the test posted in the original post.  Again the url is www.mp3ornot.com - try it for yourself.

I have a headache right now so I wasn't able to do anything in detail, but that test is seriously hard. 

For my initial impression I wasn't able to tell the difference between most of the two files.

 

[Macius]

Quote:

I REALLY struggled to even get close to the -24 mark (though I was using my ATH-a700 on a crappy laptop inbuilt sound card...)

I am just boggled by how people can get to the -45dB mark 0_o

Maybe a delay from the new files loading or some sort of artifacting.
 
What is equally boggling is that huge bar that can't get beyond +12 dB

 

[TMRaven]

 
Barrio San Miguel 5/5
Beautiful Love 2/5
Hard Lovin' Woman 1/5
 
On Barrio San Miguel, it was very easy to tell the difference between the 128 and 320kbps file, because the snappiness of the drums and claps were oh so beautiful on the 320kbps. I could have probably taken that same file and got it right 20 times in a row, but that's excessive.
On Beautiful Love, at times it was easy to pinpoint the crispness of the hits on the cymbals, and that was what I was trying to discern, but at other times it was harder.
I was pretty much left guessing on Hard Lovin' Woman. Ideally I would have guessed at 50%, but I'm a bad guesser.
Average time spent on abx test was around 20 seconds.
 
 
I took that distortion one before and got down to -21db at first, then -30db second.
 

 

[deadlylover]

Posted this in another thread, didn't know it originated here =P. Brooke challenged us to do it 25 times with 100% accuracy.
 

 
yaaay a test I finally passed, (I crashed and burned FLAC v v0 many times, very frustrating because many claim it's a night and day difference

).
 
I was using the O2's for this, and yeah, the differences are bloody small.

 

[drez]

any hints for "Hard Lovin' Woman" that track is just ridiculously hard.

 

[deadlylover]

Use the Force.
 
For my gear, all the differences were mainly in the attack. Try focusing on the very first sound that hits you on that track, there's a compression artifact right there. The vocals seem more smoothed over in the 128kb one as well.
 
Yeah I've got the critical listening abilities akin to a bucket of rocks, so I didn't hear much at all, it was more of a feeling really.

 

[Brooko]

Probably as good as I'm likely to get.  Was a bit easier with IEM's.
 

 

[cjl]

I'm just about at the point where I think I could get 100% - I've still got a few more tests to do, but I believe I found what to listen for. On my IE8s, these are the biggest differences I can hear:
 
Barrio San Miguel: This one is the hardest for me. If I turn it up fairly loudly, the easiest to hear is right at the beginning, in the drum introduction. The 320 seems to be a bit more spacious, and have a better soundstage, while the 128 sounds a bit more like it's all coming from the same place. Aside from that, I can't find any differences that I can reliably use
 
Beautiful love: This one is the easiest for me. The cymbals are completely different between the 128 and 320
 
Hard lovin' woman: This one took some effort. After quite a bit of listening though, I believe that the difference is pretty easy to pick out if you listen to the vocals in the right channel. There's a pretty clear difference there for me.

 

[TMRaven]

That's interesting that you found Barrio San Miguel was the hardest while I found it was the easiest-- to the point of always guessing it right.  You suppose it's different type of headphones with different sound signatures that emphasize different things easier?

 

[JamesMcProgger]

 
Thanks for submitting your answer. The correct answer is Clip #1.

You selected Clip# 1 …Congratulations!

 Clip #1 is encoded at 320kbps (29269 votes)
Clip #2 is encoded at 128kbps (32649 votes) 

 
HD25 with my crappy onboard soundcard in a Dell Latitude

 

[cjl]

That's interesting that you found Barrio San Miguel was the hardest while I found it was the easiest-- to the point of always guessing it right.  You suppose it's different type of headphones with different sound signatures that emphasize different things easier?

Possibly. At the moment, my only decent-quality headphones (or speakers) I can use are my IE8s, so that's hard to say. Tonight though, I'll try it through some other devices to see if it makes a difference. I should have access to some Grado 225s and a fairly nice speaker setup (B&W 805 speakers with a Velodyne sub, via a DacMagic and a musical fidelity amp). I know the IE8s do tend to put some emphasis on midrange and bass, so perhaps that's why I have more trouble with Barrio San Miguel. If that's the case, the B&W or the Grados should be easier.

Out of curiosity, what headphones did you use for your tests?

 

[TMRaven]

I use the DT990s with a warm tube amp that reduces treble a bit and gives more emphasis to the mids.  It still has recessed mids though, so that might be the reason why I have trouble with with Hard Loving woman.