Cordelia ,'Potential'
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Completely random first-world whine....
Remember back when 128 kbps was considered "CD-quality" for mp3s? Of course nowadays, stuff you get from iTunes and eMusic is usually 256 kbps, and I usually rip stuff at about 190 kbps with variable bit rate.
Anyway, now when one of my 128 kbps mp3s comes up in a random playlist, I can immediately tell by the inferior sound quality. And then I get sad.
I can't tell the difference between 128 kbps and anything higher, so I'm good. Ignorance is bliss!
Although now I want to actually do a real test and rip a song to 128 and 256 and see if, with the same song, I can actually tell which one is the higher bit rate.
Although now I want to actually do a real test and rip a song to 128 and 256 and see if, with the same song, I can actually tell which one is the higher bit rate.
Try it with good headphones or speakers.
Also, the more "complex" a song is, the more you might notice the difference. An mp3 of someone singing acapella would probably sound fine at 128 kbps, but the more instruments you add, the more you might notice a drop in quality.
eta: I think my hearing is more sensitive than most people's. Like I immediately notice if a cat walks in front of a speaker.
I can definitely tell. the 128 kbs seem lower in volume.
I have terrible hearing, so audio bitrates are pretty meaningless to me.
I've actually found the opposite to be true. Good acapella recordings, at least to my ears, are some of the first ones to reveal their poor source material. The human brain is very well suited to lo listening to the human voice.
Huh. Maybe my ears are more attuned to non-human sounds.
So maybe a better example would be that a single monophonic instrument (say, a trumpet) would sound better at 128 kbps than a song with lots of instruments.
Brass instrument another tricky one becuause it isn't just a single tone but really complex over tines going on. If they arennt done just right the. The sound is wrougng. It is on e of the reason that reasons that sampled brass libraries are so expensive when done right.
And (Drew has personally hammered this into my head) it REALLY helps to listen to a high fidelity recording. Using most rock songs is bad for this kind of test, because most rock songs use so much distortion and whatnot to create their "wall of sound".
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