thelizman wrote:

ec wrote:

if someone tells you
128K is, smack them )


Smack yourself. 128 kbps on a quality codec for certain pieces can
actually exceed CD quality. There's more that goes into coding an MP3
file than the bitrate.

Once you know what to listen for, it's plainly obvious which is which.
You can do this yourself, btw - encode a track and then play the CD
right after it. For instance, on a Steve Morse song, you couldn't
hear what type of drum heads or cymbals he was usin at anything
less that 192K, while on the CD - it was clear(as each majotr brand
has a different sound, just like synths/keyboards/pianos do)

The "syrupy" description is perfect, IMO - the syllabance and
ring and crispness slowly degrades until it sounds like very
clean FM or AM radio if you push it enough. By the time you get
to 128K, a CD to 128K side-by-side comparison is painfully
revealing.