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I picked the correct one but possibly only because I knew they would not put the higher quality sample on the bottom.

I can barely notice a difference.
 
I got it wrong. I noticed a slight difference but honestly couldn't tell which one was better. I can tell that my higher bitrate songs sound better than my lower bitrate ones, though. Probably because I'm not used to classical music.

Nice post though.
 
ironically, it was a lot easier differentiating on my MBP speakers then it was with my headphones :p regardless, it was pretty close, definitely not the "zomg, it's like, so obvious with my xxx brand gear!" :rolleyes:

something else i found that was weird was after i went for round 2 of listening test, it was even harder to tell the difference. after about the 4th time it just all sounded the same to me.

really though, if i had this on as background music while i was working i don't think i would have been able to distinguish the difference even if someone held a gun to my head :D
 
With the Pavarotti excerpt, I can clearly hear a difference between the two encodings. It is just that I prefer the low bitrate version, it sounds "softer" to me...
 
the sound test

I ve always had my music in 128 in order to save space and being that I did not hear a difference it did not matter. but guess what I did hear a difference, I got 6 out of 6 correct. I heard the 320 much crispier, brighter and clearer than the 128. I said wow, big difference there. I don't know what to do, should I convert all my music to 320? I mean it is probably the double or more in space usage, right? Maybe there will be some cds I will have to have in 320 others won't matter I guess. but guys n gals there is a difference.
 
I ve always had my music in 128 in order to save space and being that I did not hear a difference it did not matter. but guess what I did hear a difference, I got 6 out of 6 correct. I heard the 320 much crispier, brighter and clearer than the 128. I said wow, big difference there. I don't know what to do, should I convert all my music to 320? I mean it is probably the double or more in space usage, right? Maybe there will be some cds I will have to have in 320 others won't matter I guess. but guys n gals there is a difference.

you can't upconvert to increase quality
 
Easy. I got it first try.
Even 320 isn't that great of a digital quality. Honestly, it's the lowest I can stand.
I rip all my cd's in .wav
 

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I could tell. Everything sounds a little watery in the 128kbps version. God bless my 320kbps MP3 collection and its near perfect audio quality (although I'm sure with some of you people out there its lossless or nothing).


Wow... just realized, necro-thread. :)
 
I could tell the difference... barely.

However, I feel the disparity between the two bit rates becomes much more pronounced if it were to be a piece of music I knew very well. I've done tests like these on my own with my own music, and yeah; there is a massive difference between the two when it's a song you've heard 1000 times. :p
 
Very small difference I noticed probably because I was straining for it.

Can it be broken down further? Can two 128kbps tracks have some variation? I could swear that some of the 128kbps songs worse.

Perhaps it's mostly in my head :confused:
 
I ve always had my music in 128 in order to save space and being that I did not hear a difference it did not matter. but guess what I did hear a difference, I got 6 out of 6 correct. I heard the 320 much crispier, brighter and clearer than the 128. I said wow, big difference there. I don't know what to do, should I convert all my music to 320? I mean it is probably the double or more in space usage, right? Maybe there will be some cds I will have to have in 320 others won't matter I guess. but guys n gals there is a difference.

Pay $25 or so for iTunes Match, let it match all your music, and download all the matches in 256KBit AAC format. Should be better than 320KBit MP3. The rest you have to rip again from your CDs; converting 128KBit to 320KBit with any software doesn't actually improve it.
 
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