Re: I'm paranoid. Help.
Posted: Mon Aug 05, 2013 7:18 pm
Lossy compression can be tricky... It's all about human perception...
The only way to compare is by listening. Hydrogen audio has information and links to software for doing Scientific Blind ABX Listening Tests yourself on your computer.
The most important things are:
- The bitrate/quality seting
- The musical content (Some sounds are easier to compress than others.)
- Your ability ot hear compression artifacts.
It turns-out that the playback equipment is not that important. If you can hear compression artifacts on a super high-end system, you can hear them them on an average system.
At high-bitrate/high-quality settings, most music will sound identical to the uncompressed original, and it usually won't matter what format or what encoder you use. At lower bitrates (more compression = smaller files) you may find that one format or one encoder is better than another. Or, with some some music you may get better sound quality with AAC than MP3, etc.
The only way to compare is by listening. Hydrogen audio has information and links to software for doing Scientific Blind ABX Listening Tests yourself on your computer.
The most important things are:
- The bitrate/quality seting
- The musical content (Some sounds are easier to compress than others.)
- Your ability ot hear compression artifacts.
It turns-out that the playback equipment is not that important. If you can hear compression artifacts on a super high-end system, you can hear them them on an average system.
At high-bitrate/high-quality settings, most music will sound identical to the uncompressed original, and it usually won't matter what format or what encoder you use. At lower bitrates (more compression = smaller files) you may find that one format or one encoder is better than another. Or, with some some music you may get better sound quality with AAC than MP3, etc.