[gyx11]

Not sure if this is in the correct forum subsection but...

With all the gear that I have at my disposal, I did the following:
Muse - Big Freeze (Flac 24/96 rip from the 24/96 CD) --> Laptop --> Foobar Wasapi Event --> Fiio E07K --> IEM
 
However, when playing the exact same song from youtube using:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTzRv6YUYyA
Laptop --> Youtube --> Fiio E07K --> IEM

I found that the sound quality, particularly the soundstage, was A LOT cleaner and better than my 'optimal setup'. I understand that the youtube file might have been the highest quality possible. But since the 24/96 CD I ripped from is the best quality available from Muse, how can a youtube file possibly produce sound of a higher quality?!

Could anyone share some possible explanation or advise?

Thanks!

 

[thievesarmy]

well I don't think it applies in this case, but if a video is from an official source, like a band or their label, they may use a higher quality audio file that they have access to that isn't available to the public. I know a lot of bands that are sensitive to that and want to use highest quality audio on their videos master - but obviously, export compression and formats can completely nullify that. As I said though, I don't think that is what's going on here.

 

[averageaudio]

What could be possible is different masters. After the track is recorded, it is possible that the HD CD was mastered differently than the video, leading to the observed differences. Another, less likely cause if you have a trained ear, would be that the Youtube version had DR compression and caused the perceived differences just by the quieter parts of the song being louder and the inverse.