i think 320k mp3s are all the resolution you need for most recordings. really. it sounds plenty good.
but there are those rare, extremely well recorded albums where you *will* hear a difference. like others said, it is the "air" in the upper range, mp3s will tend to muddy up the cymbals and such when the recording is crystal clear. it will be slightly so with 320k mp3, but on a good system you will still hear it. space resolution also suffers with mp3s, on prisintely recorded classical recordings you will hear the orchestra stage collapse somewhat. i can provide recording references for either case. i follow a dual strategy in my collection: for convenience i rip *everything* as a high quality mp3 (which to some in this forum is an oxymoron :) at 320k or 256k - the latter when i think the recording's quality is mediocre anyhow. my favorite, well recorded albums are *also* ripped as flacs. and i did the tests early on, and on several recordings i can hear the difference between the mp3 and flac. and i think i can hear a difference between the original cd and the flac, but the convenience of the digital system is so unbeatable that i don't care about the potential .01% compromise... but to sum this up - 320k mp3s do sound very good on a good system. you'll have a damn hard time telling them from the original CD with the vast majority of recordings. -- pablolie ------------------------------------------------------------------------ pablolie's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=3816 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=51021 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
