[Subatomic]

Ok. I have a few songs (about 8cds) that are lossless. Today was a particularly dreary morning in what is a sunny city (but hey, we need the rain) so I was sitting on the bus with my cx300's in, listening to some tunes beating out at 192kbit aac. Changed it to one of the lossless albums... and holy **** this sounds insane... I got bloody goosebumps....

 

[sant430]

Interesting thread to say the least!

I'm sure that a difference COULD be heard between lossless and lossy with the right gears and ears.

I also have to admit that I am a little curious myself since I use EAC/lame 3.90.3 aps setting (I know it's an older version, I need to find out if the latest version is significant enough of an an improvement to justify me upgrading). I'm very happy with my setup since it makes the most out of my battery life on my DAPs, sound quality works great with my gear, overall a best of both worlds - acceptable sound quality and file size. If I want to hear something OTHER than my mp3s, I'll just break out my CDs. If I 'really' want lossless, I'll go Compact Disc!

 

[Jeffreybar]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cotdt /img/forum/go_quote.gif You guys will have to pass this test in order to add the [Team Audiobile] tag into your sig.

If that's a typo, it's one of the funniest ones I've ever seen. If not, I love it anyway. Cmon folks, pass the test, prove you're better than the rest, enter the exclusive folds of TEAM AUDIOBILE.

 

[animaal]

A question from somebody who honestly can't tell the difference between the lossless and 192 clips...

Do you think tha A/B test would be easier or more difficult with "proper" speakers? I imagine the ears being so close to the headphone drivers must make it easier than a pair of speakers six feet away.

Thanks.

 

[trose49]

Quote:

Originally Posted by animaal /img/forum/go_quote.gif A question from somebody who honestly can't tell the difference between the lossless and 192 clips... Do you think tha A/B test would be easier or more difficult with "proper" speakers? I imagine the ears being so close to the headphone drivers must make it easier than a pair of speakers six feet away. Thanks.

I def think it would be harder with speakers vs Headphones

 

[TheDarkTrumpet]

I still wish someone would give the bitrates of the individual test files for those of us who don't use macs.

My last request for this was promptly ignored, or I'm just blind. It makes me a sad panda

 

[ILikeMusic]

Todd, could you please post the results of your first A-B-X test a few more times? I don't think we've gotten the idea yet...

And while you're at it, since you enjoy the tests so much could you please perform the rest of them? And like hugz I'm also curious to see if you can discern above 192, like 256 or 320 vs. lossless. That would be pretty interesting.

 

[lipidicman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Febs /img/forum/go_quote.gif You're either doing something wrong in your encoding or using a bad encoder. A VBR file should *always* be a higher quality than a comparable size CBR file.

It should because it uses the data where it is needed. However if the algorithm gets it wrong and uses insufficient data for a given part then the result could be worse than the CBR if I am not mistaken. I recall early VBR implementations were awful so I am not sure about the use of *always* above

 

[Davesrose]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheDarkTrumpet /img/forum/go_quote.gif I still wish someone would give the bitrates of the individual test files for those of us who don't use macs.

I wish this thread wouldn't be clogging up the headphone section of this site, but hey, what can you do?

Seriously, what is a thread bloviating about how lossless is so much better then lossy doing in the headphone section? Or am I missing a review of the UE10 in this never ending thread??

 

[Mercuttio]

Honestly, I don't think it's incredibly tricky to tell the difference between certain types of files in a home closed environment, or one where IEMs that block a great deal of noise.

That's not the point to me, really. In my experience, I've been able to tell format differences on pretty crappy gear... that doesn't make lossless on an iPod a pleasure to listen to though. And, even still, I need a quiet environment or my Etymotics. No, I'd STILL rather hear a 192 AAC file on a dedicated computer rig or my Zune than a lossless file on an iPod. There are just too many other important factors involved in dynamic involving audio that aren't determined by the lossy / lossless compression. And, keep in mind, I'm talking about DECENT lossy compression here, not a 128 mp3 or something.

 

[deviationer]

My music collection is at least 192k, if not 320k mp3 (I always try and get 320k or find a APE/FLAC and encode it to 320k). I like APE and FLAC but it takes up to much space and my zen xtra doesn't support either format.

CDex, using latest LAME, 320Kb CBR, Stereo, "Very High Quality=0" setting for LAME.

 

[Gurra1980]

Quote:

Originally Posted by trose49 /img/forum/go_quote.gif HI MY NAME IS TODD! NICE TO MEET YOU! foo_abx 1.3.1 report foobar2000 v0.9.4.2 2007/02/13 21:37:40 File A: C:\Documents and Settings\Sales1\Desktop\test\chrysalis_clip2a.flac File B: C:\Documents and Settings\Sales1\Desktop\test\chrysalis_clip2b.flac 21:37:40 : Test started. 21:47:23 : 01/01 50.0% 21:47:45 : 02/02 25.0% 21:48:04 : 03/03 12.5% 21:48:46 : 04/04 6.3% 21:49:28 : 04/05 18.8% 21:50:44 : 05/06 10.9% 21:51:31 : 06/07 6.3% 21:52:36 : 07/08 3.5% 21:52:55 : 08/09 2.0% 21:54:01 : 09/10 1.1% 21:55:05 : 10/11 0.6% 21:55:46 : 11/12 0.3% 21:56:52 : 12/13 0.2% 21:57:58 : 12/14 0.6% 21:59:37 : 13/15 0.4% 22:01:10 : 14/16 0.2% 22:04:36 : Test finished.

Honestly, am I the only one that doesn't understand how to read this. Can someone please explain?

 

[LFC_SL]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Davesrose /img/forum/go_quote.gif ISeriously, what is a thread bloviating about how lossless is so much better then lossy doing in the headphone section? Or am I missing a review of the UE10 in this never ending thread??

Forget that! I'm still waiting for how a a/b test not done blind works! Given the thread title, I was presuming that is the least we could expect

Unless I am missing something? Sure you can still do a listening test, but surely knowing the file size difference will affect your judgement, even if unintentional?

 

[Pete7]

I agree with the previous poster that suggested that Trose should do the honorable thing and eat his UE-10's. 10/10 means PERFECT...Good thing you didn't place this bet with your local bookie.

 

[krmathis]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gurra1980 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Honestly, am I the only one that doesn't understand how to read this. Can someone please explain?

Out of 16 tests he have picked the right one (A or B = X) 14 times. Resulting in a 0.2% chance that he is guessing!