Anecdotal, but… I’ve been a musician for 36 years and have fantastic hearing not just for my age but for any age. I know, I have to get it quantitatively tested twice a year!
I can’t tell the difference at all between FLAC and 320 kbps from the same source. I can tell a difference between FLAC and 128 kbps, but it’s not huge. It sounds a bit dull, but I have to be looking for the difference and comparing the two. If you just gave me one or the other with no reference, I might suspect the 128 if it was a simple recording of a single instrument or a song I’m intimately familiar with, and even then I wouldn’t be sure of it. It just sometimes “feels” weird.
So I converted over 4 terabytes of my music stash to 320 kbps and cut the total space into less than 2. Feels good.
Coworker found one of those website tests that does the blind tests of 30 seconds clips. I managed to get the high quality file better than 90%. Just like watching a poorly encoded video and seeing some of the blocky shadows the trick is finding out what audio compression artifacts sound like. Then it’s pretty easy to identify. I’ll also mention what you listen on makes a massive difference. If your collection is mostly for on the go listening it doesn’t need it.
I’m also one of those people with exceptional hearing though. To the point I have to wear earplugs in some daily activities. Like the grocery store is simply too loud for me.
Anecdotal, but… I’ve been a musician for 36 years and have fantastic hearing not just for my age but for any age. I know, I have to get it quantitatively tested twice a year!
I can’t tell the difference at all between FLAC and 320 kbps from the same source. I can tell a difference between FLAC and 128 kbps, but it’s not huge. It sounds a bit dull, but I have to be looking for the difference and comparing the two. If you just gave me one or the other with no reference, I might suspect the 128 if it was a simple recording of a single instrument or a song I’m intimately familiar with, and even then I wouldn’t be sure of it. It just sometimes “feels” weird.
So I converted over 4 terabytes of my music stash to 320 kbps and cut the total space into less than 2. Feels good.
Coworker found one of those website tests that does the blind tests of 30 seconds clips. I managed to get the high quality file better than 90%. Just like watching a poorly encoded video and seeing some of the blocky shadows the trick is finding out what audio compression artifacts sound like. Then it’s pretty easy to identify. I’ll also mention what you listen on makes a massive difference. If your collection is mostly for on the go listening it doesn’t need it.
I’m also one of those people with exceptional hearing though. To the point I have to wear earplugs in some daily activities. Like the grocery store is simply too loud for me.
Interesting. You’re saying you can tell the difference between 320 kbps and FLAC? How long ago was this?