[tienbasse]

So to me that's pretty clear that I can differentiate between 128 mp3s vs 320 mp3s but not as easily 320 to uncompressed wav's with the basic built in sound equipment in the laptop. I would have to assume that it would be easier to differentiate with a higher end external dac and higher end headphones than the Meze's.

Not necessarily.
What you mention is quite the typical result when AB-ing stuff.
Properly encoded MP3 files are already nice-sounding (which hereby excludes 128kbps), so hearing clear differences between 320kbps MP3 and FLAC is fairly difficult for most people (including myself).
My reason for choosing FLAC is more that it is a most efficient format to keep your library lossless in terms of size, should the market switch to something else than mp3 one day.

 

[buke9]

Oh geez....Well I started browsing the thread of people here posting their HiFi home systems. And i've realized I know nothing. I feel embarrassed even making this thread.

I want to learn more. When I see all these pictures it just doesn't even make sense to me. Where do I start?

You should never feel that way. Everyone starts somewhere. You like what you like and that can be the polar opposite of what someone else likes that is not a bad thing. Don't worry about what you see only what you hear that is what matters.

 

[Brahmsian]

I did the quiz using these headphones, and I failed. I wasn't able to distinguish between FLAC files compared to even 128 kbps mp3 files. I was a little surprised.

I then found that the HIFIman HE400i headphones had dropped to $250 on Amazon, so I picked these up.

When I received them I was excited, and thought they were good. However after doing some tests I am unable to tell a huge difference between these and my ATH-AD900x. I mean I THINK thy HE400i's are better, but not a huge improvement.

My question for you all is this: is my ASUS xonar sound car just not 'good' enough to provide the high quality experience to tell the difference? Or am I just not quite there as an audiophile?

I think you're partly mixing up two different issues. Whether or not you you can hear the higher resolution, the HE400i has a distinctive sound that you should be able to distinguish from other headphones. I've never heard the ATH-AD900x though. Could be that these headphones just sound alike. They're also in a similar price bracket.

 

[zazex]

Part of distinguishing between bitrates in this context is learning how to do so,
and practice (as with so many things...) The quality of
the equipment in use affects the results as well, of course.

 

[HBen]

Hello there...

First I just want to say that I love music and high quality listening. But I am second guessing myself.

A few years ago I started collecting FLAC files for all my music. I don't have the money for super high-end gear, and invested in a sound card because I do all my listening via my PC. Here is the set up I've been using:

ASUS Xonar STX
Audio Technica ATH-AD900x

Well just recently I found this link i'm sure most are aware of: http://www.npr.org/sections/therecord/2015/06/02/411473508/how-well-can-you-hear-audio-quality

I did the quiz using these headphones, and I failed. I wasn't able to distinguish between FLAC files compared to even 128 kbps mp3 files. I was a little surprised.

I then found that the HIFIman HE400i headphones had dropped to $250 on Amazon, so I picked these up.

When I received them I was excited, and thought they were good. However after doing some tests I am unable to tell a huge difference between these and my ATH-AD900x. I mean I THINK thy HE400i's are better, but not a huge improvement.

My question for you all is this: is my ASUS xonar sound car just not 'good' enough to provide the high quality experience to tell the difference? Or am I just not quite there as an audiophile?

I'm debating returning the HE400i, but I would love your opinions.

If you think it's my system, can you recommend a good budget DAC/AMP to replace my current set up?

THanks

welcome to the world of hifi audio, where diminishing returns hit extremely hefty and "better" is often more a matter of personal taste than objective improvement.

Looks like you caught up with reality

(PS: and thats from a guy who invested a higher 5 figure sum in audio stuff himself )

 

[Whazzzup]

Just dig that rabbit hole a wee bit deeper. Your close, I can feel it, to the other side, just a few more shovels will do it.

 

[ostewart]

Just dig that rabbit hole a wee bit deeper. Your close, I can feel it, to the other side, just a few more shovels will do it.

That's what I told a customer with Shure SE215, I told him not to go down the rabbit hole, about a week later he was back and buying a pair of full size open back headphones...

To be honest with the test, with 64 Audio U6 and Noble Sage, I picked either 320 or WAV everytime apart from the Jay Z song with the Noble Sage which I picked 128.

The song I could hear the difference with clearly every time was the Neil Young one, not the classical one which is interesting.

People forget recording quality has a lot to do with it, for example Katy Perry is a good example of badly recorded music, sounded pretty much the same in every format as it is heavily compressed pop music.

Whereas Neil Young is real instruments recorded properly.