by oldtimer » Fri Jan 25, 2008 5:40 pm
I have asked this question on several different audio forums and never have gotten an answer. A wave file is lossless and is usually about 50 meg per 3 minutes, FLACs are also lossless and run about half the size of a wave, 320 br mp3s are about a tenth of a wave file and extreme VBRs can run as low as a 20th the size of a wave file both mp3s are lossy. However, what is lost in the high quality mp3s mentioned above can not be heard even with a young ear, let alone an adult who has listened to some loud R&R over the years. The extreme mp3s still keep some of the tones only dogs can hear. The high a 20,000 hz tone requires 2000 times the date as a 20 htz tone. Most humans can't hear either tone but might be able to feel the high pitch tone and we can surely feel the low pitched tone. Because the sample rate has to be much more to accurately preserve notes you can't even hear the data grows expedentially.
If you can't hear it the difference why worry? Movies only show something like 16 frames a second instead of an infinite number because we can only process 12 frames per second. Movies just give us a little more than what we can process. The same with the extreme quality mp3s they give you more than you can hear but are lossless. The digital CDs are lossy compared with analog vinyl but they are massive overkill for the human ear.
I will say not all the VBR MP3s may not be transparent to the human ear. That technology is both fairly new and extremely complex. In theroy, they can be transparent to the human ear and some encoders may have reached that stage. However, you need extremely excellent equipment and must be a trained listener to hear the difference.
Can anyone even claim that they can hear the difference between a wave or a FLAC file and a 320 BR mp3? Most persons can't even tell the difference between 125 BR and a wave file. I can, but I am not sure if I can tell the difference between a 160 BR and a wave file.
I don't expect an answer here either. I felt like I had to ask the question.
I have asked this question on several different audio forums and never have gotten an answer. A wave file is lossless and is usually about 50 meg per 3 minutes, FLACs are also lossless and run about half the size of a wave, 320 br mp3s are about a tenth of a wave file and extreme VBRs can run as low as a 20th the size of a wave file both mp3s are lossy. However, what is lost in the high quality mp3s mentioned above can not be heard even with a young ear, let alone an adult who has listened to some loud R&R over the years. The extreme mp3s still keep some of the tones only dogs can hear. The high a 20,000 hz tone requires 2000 times the date as a 20 htz tone. Most humans can't hear either tone but might be able to feel the high pitch tone and we can surely feel the low pitched tone. Because the sample rate has to be much more to accurately preserve notes you can't even hear the data grows expedentially.
If you can't hear it the difference why worry? Movies only show something like 16 frames a second instead of an infinite number because we can only process 12 frames per second. Movies just give us a little more than what we can process. The same with the extreme quality mp3s they give you more than you can hear but are lossless. The digital CDs are lossy compared with analog vinyl but they are massive overkill for the human ear.
I will say not all the VBR MP3s may not be transparent to the human ear. That technology is both fairly new and extremely complex. In theroy, they can be transparent to the human ear and some encoders may have reached that stage. However, you need extremely excellent equipment and must be a trained listener to hear the difference.
Can anyone even claim that they can hear the difference between a wave or a FLAC file and a 320 BR mp3? Most persons can't even tell the difference between 125 BR and a wave file. I can, but I am not sure if I can tell the difference between a 160 BR and a wave file.
I don't expect an answer here either. I felt like I had to ask the question.