fredgoodman wrote: > The first track has a certain sonic richness to it, but it is > synthesized sound and the vocals near the end are intentionally > distorted. The last track is also intentionally distorted. (Why would > one try to tell the difference between uncompressed distortion and > compressed distortion?) > > So that leaves one track to work with. > > How about starting with natural instruments recorded as naturally as > possible.
Thanks for the comments Fred. I agree there are induced distortions in the tracks selected. The reason track 1 "Time" was selected was mainly to assess the high frequency effects of MP3 encoding. Time and again, it's the high frequency issues which are the tell-tale signs of lossy compression. The bells, chimes of "Time" may help exacerbate this effect between the 2 tracks. As for track 3 from Megaherz, this was suggested by an Audio Asylum member as a track he claims would differentiate the two. Here's what he writes: ----- "Posted by carcass93 (A) on December 13, 2012 at 08:55:58 In Reply to: ** High Bit-Rate MP3 Test Up! ** posted by Archimago on December 11, 2012 at 08:07:48: Just as I said before the test, the difference was easy to spot, and took only seconds, listening to the track I personally recommended for the test. One of the reasons, no doubt, is the fact that I'm very familiar with it. However, I think I better understand now why some people find it difficult, or even impossible, to hear a difference between CD and 320 Kbps MP3. Besides differences in audio system's resolution and hearing acuity, it has a lot to do with the material - i.e. music - people listen to. >From my perspective, meaning for my pair of ears and considering the things I listen for to spot the difference, the suitability of these 3 tracks for the test (meaning, highlighting the differences) ranks as follows: - "Keine Zeit" - highly suitable, all of it, but especially fragment from 0:43 to 1:04; - "Time" - largely unsuitable, except for the very end, from 2:18 to 2:28, where percussion finally makes an appearance, and the band starts rocking a little bit; - "Church" - absolutely unsuitable. In other words, if there was only "Church" track in the test, I would be hard-pressed to hear the difference. Finally, something that has no relation to the test itself, but what I feel pretty strongly about. I realize that with my tastes in music, critisizing anyone else's is akin to throwing stones while living in a glass house - but that Country track is simply horrible. I mean, it stands against everything I value in music, and I would definitely rather live in complete silence, than with the music like that. Yes, I also don't understand, and despise, rap - but at least it's created by people with different ethnical make-up and background. It's not the case with the country music, and that makes it for me even less understandable - and worse. Of course, I do not count bands like Rednex, whom I rather enjoy - but that, in all honesty, is Europop, disguised as Country. PS: FLAC files were converted to WAV, and listened in 2 ways: - (critically) burned to CD (Sony brand), on Simaudio Supernova CDP; - (just for fun) on laptop, which is NOT dedicated for audio, using Winamp with ASIO, via laptop's soundcard, connected to pre with 1/8-to-RCA adapter I have." ------ Notice his objections to using "Church"! The bottom line is I think different people will have different techniques in listening for MP3 distortions. IMO, the loud tracks like Megaherz will actually stress the bitrate more (sound becomes more plastered over and stereo separation even worse) than a relatively quiet one like "Church" BUT the more natural recordings may cause the MP3 version to lose out on microdynamics and 'finesse' (my subjective experience). I like responses like the one above because he actually identified segments he used to compare which I think helps others in helping develop listening skill... ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Archimago's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=2207 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=97530 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/audiophiles
