RockStar2005
Headphoneus Supremus
It's 2017, and Hi-Res albums are getting more and more popular all the time. I've compared them to my mp3s and CDs, and I can say that like 90-95% of the time I can tell a difference (esp vs. mp3). Over the last few years I've accumulated a pretty extensive collection of Hi-Res albums, which has made listening to music (both old and new) a lot more exciting than it ever was before (although having much nicer HPs and amp/DACs has made a significant impact on the sound as well!). 24/96, 24/192, even DSD albums..........I've bought them all!
But I keep noticing this "Mastered for iTunes" thing coming up, so I did some reading on it. It sounds really interesting, but my purpose in starting this thread is to try and get people who have purchased albums (especially the SAME album or singles) in BOTH formats to come forward with their thoughts on the matter. I want to hear which version of that album sounded better to you, or if they perhaps sounded the same??! Mastered for iTunes albums are less expensive than their Hi-Res counterparts, so if they do sound the same or "as good" as Hi-Res, then perhaps I should look into them more?
Before replying, please understand that I DO NOT believe that a 24/96 or 24/192 Hi-Res albums sounds ANY different if you downsample it (the same album) down to something like 320 kbps AAC. Statistics have shown that people can't tell the difference, and my own experience with doing ABX Tests brought me to the same conclusion. So whether you downsample your Hi-Res albums as I do (usually to 320-512 kbps AAC) or not is irrelevant to me. I just want to know how the MFiT albums sound vs. the SAME album released in Hi-Res to you.
But I keep noticing this "Mastered for iTunes" thing coming up, so I did some reading on it. It sounds really interesting, but my purpose in starting this thread is to try and get people who have purchased albums (especially the SAME album or singles) in BOTH formats to come forward with their thoughts on the matter. I want to hear which version of that album sounded better to you, or if they perhaps sounded the same??! Mastered for iTunes albums are less expensive than their Hi-Res counterparts, so if they do sound the same or "as good" as Hi-Res, then perhaps I should look into them more?
Before replying, please understand that I DO NOT believe that a 24/96 or 24/192 Hi-Res albums sounds ANY different if you downsample it (the same album) down to something like 320 kbps AAC. Statistics have shown that people can't tell the difference, and my own experience with doing ABX Tests brought me to the same conclusion. So whether you downsample your Hi-Res albums as I do (usually to 320-512 kbps AAC) or not is irrelevant to me. I just want to know how the MFiT albums sound vs. the SAME album released in Hi-Res to you.