MP3s & the quality of music

[tot_Ou_tard]

http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/...cle5847674.ece

This is something that I discuss with my 26 year-old son all the time. He was not aware of the degradation of dynamic range.

Here's a youtube video discussing this, I haven't listened to it yet.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SY5hI98HEi0

[R_of_G]

Very interesting article Tot. Nothing I didn't really know, but still an interesting area for discussion. I actually always felt the same about CD's compared to vinyl. CD's were certainly more convenient for taking in the car and such, but I will always prefer the dynamic range of vinyl. Hisses and pops don't bother me a bit. It's part of the warmth and authenticity of vinyl. For me, music is most enjoyable on vinyl through a good pair of headphones. Not earbuds, but honest real stereo headphones. I figure if the artists and engineers went through the trouble of getting all of the nuances down on record, the least I can do is actually hear them.

FYI, the video isn't playing though I was able to find it myself on YouTube. I plan to watch it later. Thanks for posting Tot.

[Suhnton]

Although, I don't necessarily entirely agree with the sentiment in the statement above.
I think people's priorities have changed in recent years, and there's been a shift in focus to versatility and portability, especially with the advancement of digital technology. People prefer digital cameras (or even their cellphone camera) over film cameras, and they have no qualms about watching TV on their tiny cellphone screen.

[Geraint Jones]

I heard recently, a lot of new release LP`s are being designed for use thru an ipod with very 'flat' volume levels . Those days where you could 'hear' the silence on vinyl are probably on their way out

[pie_man_25]

I agree with both points, but with such mobile culture, cell phones, blackberries, iPods, cars with DVD players, the peaking popularity of travel by flight, etc... people are spending more time moving than they are sitting down and actually LISTENING to music, discussing things, etc. We discuss this in philosophy class all the time, and I certainly don't want this to become philosophical debate, but perhaps people don't notice the degradation of quality because they're always BUSY.

[Tibernius]

That does explain why I had to set the EQ on my phone/mp3 player before I could get it to sound right.

I have my HiFi set up as a set of speakers for my PC so I only ever play MP3s through it now. To me, at least, they don't sound any different to CDs through it. But I set them to the highest quality compression so they end up taking up more room but sound much better. I used to have them set to the highest compression level and they sounded awful.

I think the stock headphones/earphones you get with MP3 players also play a role in this though. Everything sounds awful through them.

[markb]

With the current trend in production for "everything louder than everything else" I doubt you'd miss much listening to an mp3 copy. I detect a little flatness from my iPod vs my CD player but not enough to worry about. Soundstaging suffers most, you never quite get that "instruments in space" thing from a really well produced album. OTOH, I listen to a lot of prewar material remastered from 78rpm records. Audio quality is not really an issue with those.

[tot_Ou_tard]

OTOH, I listen to a lot of prewar material remastered from 78rpm records.

Do say? Tell us more.

I can see why you are too busy Pieman

[Robert****]

How do you guys encode your mp3 files?

I use 256 kbps. 128 is too low - even I with bad hearing can hear the loss of audio quality. With 256 however, it sounds the same to me as the real thing.

[Tibernius]

I use Windows Media Player, mainly because it's there and I can't be bothered to change it. Just click on "rip" and it'll copy and convert the CD into MP3.
I currently have it set to 320kbps.