[Woody[_7_]]

On Tue 07/01/2020 13:58, John Williamson wrote:
On 06/01/2020 15:26, Jim Lesurf wrote:
In article , John Williamson
wrote:

High bit rate mp3 files are almost indistinguishable from PCM audio of
the same bit depth and sample rate, even by professionals on decent
playback systems.

Yes and no. :-)

e.g. Some years ago I got some 'AVRO' issued 256k mp3 files made using a
decent pro encoder. These were for one of the celebration events for the
Concergebauw or Haitink IIRC. In general, they sound quite good, albeit
that I have no source LPCM to compare with.

I did a few experiments with recordings I had made, starting with 24 bit
PCM, and working down the quality range, and most listeners didn't
notice until I got down to 128 kbps mp3 files.

What did amuse me was an expressed preference by some listeners for the
128 kbs mp3 versions.

Admitted, the band concerned were playing 60s covers and I did take some
care with the settings, but still....

I did similar. I downloaded a recording from Linn Records in flac, m4a,
and mp3. Playing one after another on decent kit and also headphones
there was very little noticable difference between flac and m4a, but
there was a quite sharp drop in HF details with mp3.

--
Woody

harrogate three at ntlworld dot com