Lossy vs lossless
A lot of people can always here differences when they are in charge of what is beeing played. As soon as it is ABX or random, basically unknown what is playing and you have to rely only on the ears... then usually things get a bit more hairy.
Your mix sounds like a good idea.
Your mix sounds like a good idea.
what I did is there was once a link I had discovered that was doing a test on who could tell the difference and would play songs in random order and you had to guess which was the 128 which was the higher bitrate.
Just out of curiosity and to test my hearing ability, i decided to mix the same track (at 112 kbps and lossless. The idea was to instantaneously switch back and forth between them so that i may have the best chance to hear the audible differences. I used a digital mixer, and all gains, eq's, etc. Were set flat, the tracks were perfectly synchronized, and the mixer allows for perfect switching with absolutely no noise in between. The 112 kbps track was ripped from the same lossless track to minimize any issues of source to source differences. The track is from Alpines speed of sound test cd.."how deep does it go".
Results: I can not tell its two separate tracks playing...even with very good head phones (sennheiser hd 650 and denon AHD 2000 ) late at night in my bed! I'd love to email the mixed track to anyone that want to listen and would love to know if they can hear the difference. I have documented the times at which i switched the tracks, so if you listen and can specify approximately the time the tracks changed...i'd be impressed!
Now based on this, i tried 96 kbps...noticeable but still very good and i doubt that i could hear it in a moving car, 64 kbps...noticeable immediately, and 32 kbps...bad.
Results: I can not tell its two separate tracks playing...even with very good head phones (sennheiser hd 650 and denon AHD 2000 ) late at night in my bed! I'd love to email the mixed track to anyone that want to listen and would love to know if they can hear the difference. I have documented the times at which i switched the tracks, so if you listen and can specify approximately the time the tracks changed...i'd be impressed!
Now based on this, i tried 96 kbps...noticeable but still very good and i doubt that i could hear it in a moving car, 64 kbps...noticeable immediately, and 32 kbps...bad.
Maybe your hearing is not that great! Everyone hears different.
here is the link:
RapidShare: Easy Filehosting
it might take a while to download since it's a wav file that's 47 mb. A couple of notes,
the first 33 seconds is the period where i'm synching the two tracks and they are summed, so the bass is noticeably boosted (the mixer is in the center position playing both tracks). At 33 seconds I switch to lossless...and from there...you have to tell me at what times I switch to the 112 kbs track. Post your times and I'll tell you if you're right. Simple!!
RapidShare: Easy Filehosting
it might take a while to download since it's a wav file that's 47 mb. A couple of notes,
the first 33 seconds is the period where i'm synching the two tracks and they are summed, so the bass is noticeably boosted (the mixer is in the center position playing both tracks). At 33 seconds I switch to lossless...and from there...you have to tell me at what times I switch to the 112 kbs track. Post your times and I'll tell you if you're right. Simple!!
here it is again:
here is the link:
RapidShare: Easy Filehosting
it might take a while to download since it's a wav file that's 47 mb. A couple of notes,
the first 33 seconds is the period where i'm synching the two tracks and they are summed, so the bass is noticeably boosted (the mixer is in the center position playing both tracks). At 33 seconds I switch to lossless...and from there...you have to tell me at what times I switch to the 112 kbs track. Post your times and I'll tell you if you're right. Simple!!
RapidShare: Easy Filehosting
it might take a while to download since it's a wav file that's 47 mb. A couple of notes,
the first 33 seconds is the period where i'm synching the two tracks and they are summed, so the bass is noticeably boosted (the mixer is in the center position playing both tracks). At 33 seconds I switch to lossless...and from there...you have to tell me at what times I switch to the 112 kbs track. Post your times and I'll tell you if you're right. Simple!!
Ok, then I will tell more. The quality goes up and down as the track progresses. I did not want to take more tome to record the exact times it flactuates. I could not tell a huge difference, cause I do not listen to music like that, and it is much much easier for me to tell the quality in my type of music. In that track there isnt enough "going on" to tell easily drastic changes are taking place. With my music I can easily distinguish between 192 and 320. 320 is actually very good, and close enough to lossless. Lossless still has more depth, even though the highs and bass are very decent at 320.
Last edited by Sasha; May 14, 2009 at 11:32 AM.
