MP3 failings

mr-mac

320 vbr on good quality hi-fi isn't really much different to WAV I'm impressed files.  Even things like Spotify and deeper on high quality sound very good on high end gear.  Badly encoded and lower bit rate I agree is shite...

what you can conclude though is if you download there are a hell of a lot of badly encoded mp3's out there... If you encode yourself they should be very good if you take time to find good encoders

UnclePsychosis

I cannot believe that people are still falling for this schtick from Rocker (myself included).

Rocker

I am trying to learn the bass. Online bass instruction videos are fine sound wise as in most cases there is nothing but bass on the recording. But it is difficult or impossible to hear or make out the bass on recordings of bands playing songs. I am not comparing my ripped version with my CD version but in the case of the Tom Waits recording, it appears to be the same recording as the embedded picture is the same as the CD cover. My point is why the hell don't they put the WAV file with the video on the Internet. Now that good broadband is everywhere and file storage is very cheap. I am not listening to these MP3 or whatever files for enjoyment but to learn how the music is played. @RobDavis I play the FLAC files on my computer using Foobar2000, the audio output (mini stereo jack) into an old Musical Fidelity amp and a pair of Mordant Short speakers. The online output plays when I click on the arrow, the audio output path is exactly the same. Nothing very fancy equipment wise - equipment most hi-fi enthusiasists would have consigned to the recycling depot years ago. It works for me, I have my Pignose and Blackstar Fly Bass amps beside the MS speakers as that is where I go to practice guitar and bass and where I hope to learn something new every time I switch on. And @UnclePsychosis, I am not trying to wind up people or annoy anyone. I am just trying to be as good a musician as I can be, using technology when it might be a help and commenting when same technology lets me down.

fretmeister

If you can hear the pitch of the note and the duration of it then the tech has done everything it needs for you to learn the part.

Any problem you are having beyond that is you.

RobDavies

Rocker said:

 @RobDavis I play the FLAC files on my computer using Foobar2000, the audio output (mini stereo jack) into an old Musical Fidelity amp and a pair of Mordant Short speakers. The online output plays when I click on the arrow, the audio output path is exactly the same. Nothing very fancy equipment wise

If you're going to play FLAC files (particularly when testing them against CD's) you really should invest in a DAC.

Rocker

I have always played by ear @fretmeister.  If I can hear the note, it's pitch and duration as you say, I can find it on the fretboard.  Hearing the note is the problem.  Especially if it is not 'there'.

fretmeister

Time to start learning to read music as well.

I really got stuck into that about 4 years ago when my eldest took up the clarinet. Learning by ear is great - but also useless if you know a recorded version of a tune only to turn up to a rehearsal to discover it will be played in a different key.

Rocker

RobDavies said:

Rocker said:

 @RobDavis I play the FLAC files on my computer using Foobar2000, the audio output (mini stereo jack) into an old Musical Fidelity amp and a pair of Mordant Short speakers. The online output plays when I click on the arrow, the audio output path is exactly the same. Nothing very fancy equipment wise

If you're going to play FLAC files (particularly when testing them against CD's) you really should invest in a DAC.

I have one, an Audio Alchemy with audiophile cred reclocking and beefed up PSU etc., but I never got round to connecting it up!  For learning guitar and bass, I find the existing system 'good enough'.  It is, of course, a great deal less revealing a system than our main hi-fi which is in a different room.  I am comparing the sound of online videos against that of CD or FLAC and commenting, negatively, at the loss of data on the online videos.

darthed1981

Rocker said:

MP3 is fine for portable music listened to through in ear buds. Perfectly fine. But play a YouTube or similar video through even a middling hi-fi and it sounds poor.

MP3 has some inherent limitations, but the newer versions of LAME for example work around these so well that very few people can (really, in a blind test) tell the difference between even a lower quality (lame v5 for example) MP3 and the original.  Use the v1 or v0 setting and almost no-one can tell. Those who can typically do so because they have trained their ears for the artefacts you sometimes get with cymbals etc.  The overall perception of "quality" is almost all down to the placebo effect.

It is worth remembering this has not always been the case, early MP3 converters were buggy and lousy, so many people's experiences of MP3 back then (downloading thousands of badly encoded songs off Pirate Bay) were pretty bad.

The streaming services all provide excellent quality, and if you really, really believe lossless is better, then several have that pricing tier as well.

Vinyl is a different thing altogether and is as much to do with feel and character of the medium as it is quality, vinyl is better because it's "worse", long may it be so...

PolarityMan

Rocker said:

robinbowes said:

Got a link to the video? On what were you listening to it?

No problem, it is Dale Watson;

https://youtu.be/Gl0ZaGuzNgg

BTW, what does SCM50 mean?

I can hear the bass ok

Sporky

This reminds me of an interesting conversation I had for work.

Speccing a DSP system for a seminar room. Professor of music waves spec sheet for some shitty piece of prosumer kit, saying "Whatever you specify must match or exceed every number that this does". Turns out the speakers he's using don't reproduce anything over 22kHz, but he still wants 192kHz sampling. Shitty quality 192kHz sampling with 190ms latency (for voice reinforcement). Over a Dante link that tops out at 48kHz. Into a room with no acoustic treatment and some of the worst reverberation I've ever heard - it's almost exactly 6m x 6m x 3m.

Twat.

robinbowes

I hope you told him?

Sporky

He said something about future proofing, so I asked him if he was anticipating teaching bats in the near future.

He calmed down a lot when he realised I had some idea what I was talking about, and stopped playing Top Trumps.

ICBM

I know I've posted this before and it's old now, but it's still worth reading if you haven't already…

https://people.xiph.org/~xiphmont/demo/neil-young.html

(Don't worry, it's not by Neil Young .)

SimonC

I've been intrigued by MrYoungs PonoPlayer since reading Waging Heavy Peace.

Anyone tried one?

Rocker

PolarityMan said:

Rocker said:

robinbowes said:

Got a link to the video? On what were you listening to it?

No problem, it is Dale Watson;

https://youtu.be/Gl0ZaGuzNgg

BTW, what does SCM50 mean?

I can hear the bass ok

No idea what SCM50 means. As for hearing the bass, I too can hear bass but not bass with the definition I need to hear each bass note so that I can attempt to play it. I am on the lookout for a CD with that song on it - no luck in Dublin recently - but am confident I will get one soon. My point is that now that the videos are in HD, it is about time the audio part caught up.  CD quality is perfectly adequate in that regard.  

Sporky

Rocker said:

No idea what SCM50 means. 

Have you tried googling it?

robinbowes

Rocker said:

. My point is that now that the videos are in HD, it is about time the audio part caught up.  CD quality is perfectly adequate in that regard.  

The bit you seem to be missing is that the problem isn't in the technology, but in the mix.

R.

ICBM

SimonC said:

I've been intrigued by MrYoungs PonoPlayer since reading Waging Heavy Peace.

Anyone tried one?

Same here, but no. I have been vaguely interested though… but (shhh, don't tell Neil!) the reason I would be is that it can be expanded to 256GB, which means that I could keep my entire iTunes mp3 library on it when it outgrows my 160GB iPod Classic .

Sporky

ICBM said:

I know I've posted this before and it's old now, but it's still worth reading if you haven't already…

https://people.xiph.org/~xiphmont/demo/neil-young.html

(Don't worry, it's not by Neil Young .)

I like that.

Not anything I don't know, but very well put. All this 192kHz stuff is like insisting your telly puts out infra red and ultra violet.