[buzzy]

In a normal listening environment or with a normal (less than 100%) level of attention - which is 100% of most people's listening - the convenience and accessibility advantages are so much more important.

 

[buzzy]

Quote:

Someone posted this article describing lossy compression very well: http://arstechnica.com/features/2007/10/the-audiofile-understanding-mp3-compression/

That's not a helpful article, in that it obscures the key points with a lot of irrelevant technical info that the writer doesn't understand.  This is not great but at least it's short:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychoacoustics
 
There are two things going on.  One is compression, which is simply a mathematical exercise.  flac and mp3 use generally similar techniques - it just takes out the redundancy.  The best simple example is, suppose you were trying to record all the house numbers on a street.  Rather than write them all down (uncompressed), you just write down the first one and do +1 or + 2.  (lossless compression - you can always reconstruct the original data exactly).
 
The second part, in lossy compression, is perceptual modeling or psychoacoustics.  Here's the key idea: "Sound is Perceived. The auditory system doesn’t hear everything present."
 
You can remove data with zero perceived loss because not all of the data in the lossless stream is actually perceived by the human ear.  This is absolutely true, as there's no question that not everything in the audio file can be heard by the human ear.
 
At some point, though, there is perceived loss.  The question is at what point.  There's little practical value in worrying about or debating that point.   
 
And if you think you are discovering, or will discover, something new by debating this - let me dig up that article from 1995 that covers everything in here, and more.  You're wasting your time worrying about this.  Just do what works for you and enjoy the music.  Or make some music.
 
And if you think it makes you cool to be harsh about encoding, well, a clue - you're a complete tool.

 

[peterBj]

Quote:

depends on the recording IMHO. there are songs that even if you rip it from the CD as .wav still sounds bad because the way it was recorded.
 
on a good recording, convering it from .wav to 320k mp3 will still make a difference, but the difference is not that big for me. i still use lossless on good recordings though, but on not so good or average recordings, i just stick with 320k mp3.

I agree.
I just posted this on 2 other blogs,but it goes for this one too.
 

There is a big difference.
But the main advantage is gained in the recording process,recording and mixing.
The smooth and warm sound that our recordings are famous for,is to a great deal thanks to 24/96.
We have experimented with different formats at our studio and found that 24/96 was the best sounding format for our purposes.
But once we have finished recording,we found that you can down sample to even mp3 format and the sound quality is still pretty good,and that is not the case with a file recorded in 16 /44, in our experience.
I suggest you get hold of an originally recorded file of 24/96,not an up sample.
This is probably where the root of the misconception lies,in all these older recordings that have somehow magically been transformed to 24/96 or 24/192.
I have some horrible remasters in my CD collection.I.e."Ella and Louis,''is a great sounding LP, but the 24 bit CD remaster I have, is horrible.
(It now lives it's life in my 83 year old mothers car stereo,and there the added smile curve has a purpose,the car,and the stereo in it,is from '92)

 

[coryeeeee]

A lot of music I listen to (electronica/drum & bass/dubstep/house/etc.) are hard to find in other formats. Most artists I listen to don't make the other file formats. So I'm stuck with mp3. Plus, being on the go constantly, it's handier for my with my iPhone to have mp3 files wherever I'm at. It's more of a convenience factor for me.

 

[coryeeeee]

And also, to my ears, I can't discern a 320kbps mp3 file to a FLAC file. Sometimes I wonder if my ears are shot out...

 

[streetdragon]

Quote:

And also, to my ears, I can't discern a 320kbps mp3 file to a FLAC file. Sometimes I wonder if my ears are shot out...

In most cases electronic music is not processed with a high enough quality to be good subject material for these tests.
Also on the other hand it is pretty normal to not be able to tell them apart since the file formats are engineered to be that way.