Can you hear the difference between 320 kbps and 128 kbps?

[Jaytee]

Go to this site to test.

Be honest, did you get it right?

http://mp3ornot.com/

I personally can't hear the difference with my computer speakers.

But I chose the right answer.

Please don't spoil it and post which one you chose. Just say whether you got it right or not.

[CBG]

I got it right also. But I had my girlfriends shithouse speakers.

Bottom line is, mixing at home with crappy .mp3's is ok... but on high end speakers, or at a club/event you CAN tell the difference. In fact mixing with .mp3's at all is quite often frowned upon.

[Intell-I-Gence]

It's also about the type of music, most of that is within the regions that arn't clipped off when you reduce a 320kbps to a 128, whereas anything with a beat your more likely to have a range of frequencies and hear it more clearly.

[tramonte]

In fact mixing with .mp3's at all is quite often frowned upon.

Seriously mate? Majority of the scene at present mix using CDs correct? and majority of those cds are burnt from downloading mp3s, with the exception of those who buy wav files.

but back on topic, in a big system you can hear the difference and it's terrible. Want the best sound, get Vinyl

[Jaytee]

What's comparable to a 320kbps mp3? Like what's the normal wav one?

By the way you can also obtain 320kbps songs from torrents. Not saying I do.

[SourceRaver]

I got it right. The 320kbps had a bit more 'depth' to it. 128kbps tracks sometimes sound like theyve been recorded in a toilet and have a definate hollow sound.

I dont think I could tell the difference between a CD and 320kbps track though.

[Cupe]

You can tell when you're doing the encoding

also filesize but no one hears filesize except robots

[Jaytee]

What's encoding?

What do you mean by filezize? How big the file is?

[ChevChelios]

What do you mean by filezize? How big the file is?

Depends on track length, most 320s I have are 11 to 13 mb and 128 is like 5mb, wav files are huge can be like 100s of mb

[Cupe]

encoding is like, if you're ripping a CD you can choose what quality you want the rip to be

CD quality filesizes are pretty big (which is why there's only like 12-15 songs on a cd)

Ripping and encoding into a different filesize will reduce the overall size and quality of the audio file

..and what Chev said

[ChevChelios]

In iTunes you can create 320 mp3s of songs, I know there is slight difference in quality, mainly in the lower frequencies but does it make the track playable at a club?

[Cupe]

what do you mean it can create them?

ripped from a CD do you mean?

[ChevChelios]

Nah once you have the track in your library you can right click and it says create mp3 version, sometimes it says create aac but you just have to change the encoder type and then the bitrate to custom 320kbs

[Tomy]

Bottom line is, mixing at home with crappy .mp3's is ok... but on high end speakers, or at a club/event you CAN tell the difference. In fact mixing with .mp3's at all is quite often frowned upon.

been mixing in clubs with 320's for ages. most dj's use 320 and still know one cares. i would only use wav if i was playing alot of tech or minmal when you really need the crisp and clear sound.

[Cupe]

Nah once you have the track in your library you can right click and it says create mp3 version, sometimes it says create aac but you just have to change the encoder type and then the bitrate to custom 320kbs

maybe that's just for converting different filetypes? i duno shit about itunes it's a piece of crap

and yea what tomy said. CD quality may be hardcore, but 320 is just as good. no one will know the difference unless they're a hard out DJ. and even then if they DO notice, at least they came and listened to your gig lol

[ChevChelios]

Nah cause I convert all my <320 stuff to 320 and it makes a difference, even on comp speakers

[Cupe]

i duno

in the end it's important to note the sound on a good system as that's what it'll be playing out of live

[tramonte]

problem with filesize and encoding if you get them from unreliable sites is that the person could be stupid enough to have a 128Kb file and compress it to a 320 which would increase the filesize but not the quality, because you cannot add quality.

Best stick with purchasing from reliable sources, eg. beatport, juno etc. or buy vinyl

[CBG]

I program that could add quality would make a zillion dollars lol.

Allthough it is impossible...

[JonnyB]

yeah man i highly doubt its turning the track to actual 320kbs.

it may just clear it up.

but it would be impossible for it to make a 128 into 320 as it dosent have the files or memory of what the 320 looked like or whatever.

know what i mean?

if you could change 128 to 320 in itunes then fuck, there would be no point in saving your tracks as 320's, youd save as like 20kbs so you can distribute in seconds.

[ChevChelios]

Yeah like I said it doesn't make them true 320 quality but to my ears it seems to make a little improvement on it.

[Cupe]

there's plenty of shit it can do, flatten, take out hiss, level it out.

but yea it's like taking a fuzzy picture from 1770 and turning it into a crystal clear colour photoshop 4000x10000 image