quoted 3 lines The claim that mp3 quality sucks is bogus imo.> The claim that mp3 quality sucks is bogus imo.
> If the bitrate is at the maximum (320kbps), you won't hear the difference
> with the original CD.
there are a number of factors.
listen to "wish you were here" by pink floyd on a 320 kbps mp3 played
through a set of tannoys or kefs or other good quality speakers at a high
volume, coming from a high powered receiver and tell me it sounds the same
as a cd does, if the cd player has high quality DACs. i picked that record
because everybody knows what it's SUPPOSED to sound like, and because the
range is very wide.
you'll hear major differences in the low end and in the high end. even the
mix comes out funny.
you could do the experiment with lots of different stuff. i heard a major
difference in thom yorke's solo album, as well as the latest nine inch nails
record [which i was previewing as downloads before i picked them up, as i
was skeptical about the end quality of both of them]. even the last tool
album [which was a weak record] had major reproduction problems on the low
end.
however, if you're listening to the new spice girls record through a pair of
tinny headphones coming out of a portable device, i would agree that it's
unlikely to make much of a difference, but i personally can't stand to do
something like that. the last time i tried to listen to something coming out
of the headphone out on my cell phone was a john zorn record, and it sounded
so awful i haven't even bothered using the mp3 player in it since...
meaning the following: casual users will probably migrate to mp3s due to
convenience. cds didn't kill records because they were cheaper to make or
because the sound quality is "technically better" (let's not get into a cd
vs. record argument because unlike the cd vs. mp3 argument, the cd vs.
record argument is purely subjective and depends not on reproductive ability
but personal taste), it was because you can skip tracks on a cd and you
can't do that on a record. likewise, mp3s will prevail for casual users and
those who enjoy the convenience.
but, serious audio geeks can immediately tell the difference and will drop
cds in favour of dvds; they didn't drop thousands into their sound systems
to use compressed files as a sound source.
....meaning that, i guess, cds are pretty much dying. but the future is in
dvd audio, not mp3s.
reminds me of the cassette vs. cd wars in the 80s.
j
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