Can You Really Hear the Difference Between Lossless, Lossy Audio? 749
CWmike writes "Lossless audio formats that retain the sound quality of original recordings while also offering some compression for data storage are being championed by musicians like Neil Young and Dave Grohl, who say compressed formats like the MP3s being sold on iTunes rob listeners of the artist's intent. By Young's estimation, CDs can only offer about 15% of the data that was in a master sound track, and when you compress that CD into a lossy MP3 or AAC file format, you lose even more of the depth and quality of a recording. Audiophiles, who have long remained loyal to vinyl albums, are also adopting the lossless formats, some of the most popular of which are FLAC and AIFF, and in some cases can build up terabyte-sized album collections as the formats are still about five times the size of compressed audio files. Even so, digital music sites like HDtracks claim about three hundred thousand people visit each month to purchase hi-def music. And for music purists, some of whom are convinced there's a significant difference in sound quality, listening to lossy file formats in place of lossless is like settling for a Volkswagen instead of a Ferrari."
A lengthy, thorough, and well-explained discussion (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Audiophiles might. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:No (Score:2, Funny)
By my estimation... (Score:4, Funny)
By Young's estimation, CDs can only offer about 15% of the data that was in a master sound track...
[ -- insert appropriate Neil Young lyric for satirical effect here -- ]
Re:the answer is obvious, isn't it? (Score:5, Funny)
It's like asking "can you win a race against a Toyoda?" where do you even start with that....?
Since Akio Toyoda is 30 years older than me, I'm pretty sure I could beat him in a race.
Re:Better question (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Better question (Score:5, Funny)
Or not using Monster Cable
Re:I grew up listening to music on the radio (Score:5, Funny)
I listen in the truck with a blown exhaust and whilst getting high on the fumes, lossy or lossless? I have trouble noticing if the car radio is even turned on.
Re:A lengthy, thorough, and well-explained discuss (Score:5, Funny)
You jerk! I clicked on that link!
Re:No (Score:3, Funny)
Doesn't matter, the audiophile market is not rational (kind of like the wine market).
Show me a rational market, and I'll have to inquire as to the nature and evolutionary history of the species of aliens participating in it.
Re:Better question (Score:5, Funny)
Look, you want your 0's and 1's to look like stupid Comic Sans 0's and 1's or like high quality, stylish Zapfino 0's and 1's?
Re:Depends on the source (Score:5, Funny)
Yes! Someday, instead of having real dog whistles, we'll just play back mp3's of dog whistles for our dogs, and those will only work if recorded in 24bit/96kHz!
Also Monster Cable.
Re:Better question (Score:3, Funny)
That's a myth. Monster cables are no better than cheaper products from other vendors.
If you can hear a difference, then it's probably because you have your ethernet cable connected backwards [boingboing.net].
Re:A lengthy, thorough, and well-explained discuss (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Depends on the bitrate (Score:5, Funny)