RE: [MLUG - DISCUSSION] Audio file quality tests

[Mike Miller <EMAIL:PROTECTED>]

On Tue, 8 Jan 2008, Hargus, Diana wrote:

> Would it be a feasible test to have a band perform and then compare an 
> analog recording to various bitrate samples?

Go for it.  It was a big issue back in the '80s -- was digital sound as 
good as analog?  Some people would claim that they could tell the 
difference and the digitized version was worse.  I know of no test of 
their claims.  I can tell the difference between a CD and a vinyl 
recording because the CD has no noise.  So to blind appropriately, one 
would have needed to digitize the noisy analog signal.


> Just curious, as I like "live" concerts" and have noticed that the cd's 
> never catch the sound quality of the show (Moody Blues -Live at red rock 
> is the only example I can give, sorry).

I'm not sure of what you are getting at here.  A live concert is played 
using a massive PA system and all kinds of speakers all over the place in 
some giant room.  Later you use a little stereo system in a little room. 
Of course they sound different.


> As to the argument that this bit rate is better than that bit rate, I 
> can only say 192 is fine for my car, as the road noise is working 
> against the sound of the mp3 file, and the same goes for any portable 
> listening device; that said, high bit rates would be a must for 
> archiving purposes.

Again, the question is "how do you know?"  You say that 192 is fine, but 
what does that mean?  You haven't compared it to other bit rates in any 
sort of controlled test.  Of course your main point is that the listening 
experience in the car is rather poor so that low bitrate will be less 
noticable, and that has to be true -- I'm confident enough that I wouldn't 
want to study it.  I'm mostly interested in optimal listening conditions, 
but I'd also be interested in, say, what is bitrate is detectable as 
imperfect on an iPod.

Mike

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