CD vs. mp3 ... a professional test

Whilst, in the main, I accept it - I have one problem - now you've sucked me in. Whilst MP3 has improved, it still does not approach Hi-Fi quality, in my experience. Mp3s are all compressed yes? This, in itself, creates a compromise.

Theoretically: yes. But does it really matter if you can't hear a difference? IMO it's something like a negative placebo effect ... audiophiles reject mp3 because they are convinced that it can't sound good because it's compressed without even trying for themselves. And trying in this case means: double blind tests.

It's fine for listening on PCs or in mobile environments, but the compression means that it's not up to the standard of CD.

^ See?

And, as yet, there is no high end equipment option for inytegrating into a Hi-Fi.

Of course - there are many sound cards that are fully acceptable from an audiophile standpoint. I have a Creative X-Fi sound card - it has been tested by countless websites and magazines. And if you simply need to have an expensive solution (some people are convinced that cheap hardware can't be good) then you're free to use professional studio equipment.

That's my problem with it. I have no desire to listen to music on a mobile device or a PC - why would I ? 

Why listen to music on a mobile device? Well, do we need a reason ... I think not. Why listen to music on a PC? Again I can't think of any reason why I should be required to name a reason ... in my case it's simply because I use the PC for everything, and it's nice to have all my music available in my media library. That doesn't mean that I don't play records or CDs anymore ... far from it.

I have a really good home system that enables me to hear every nuance and creates a soundstage that no small, enclosed system is capable of delivering.

We need to keep in focus here. Some folks are happy to listen to music - whatever the medium. Others demand the highest quality possible.

Absolutely no objection here. All I'm saying is that mp3s come close to the highest quality - of course because of the compression they'll always be inferior, but if - as shown by the test - you usually can't tell the sources apart, the "inferiority" cannot be nearly as bad as people like Olivier suggest.

 

Another point I'd like to make - with no inferences to anyone, living or dead. Just as an aside - some folks like to have a good system and show off the sound - "How good is this kit?", they will put on pieces of music to display the impressive capabilities of their kit. Others like to have a good system to enjoy the music that much more.

We must all make our own decisions as to which camp we fall into - and respect the opinions of others who either disagree, or who just like to do their own thing.

 

I'm done!

 

Another thing that needs putting into perspetive. One component, when viewed as a separate entity, has certain characteristics - accepted. However, all that changes when that component is in a system Every item in the chain has an effect on the overall sound - some negative, some positive  and some neutral. There are, literally, millions of possible combinations, some will work well and some sound like a crock or crap. Synergy is all important. It's important to realise. that just because a particular component is well respected, it will sound very different in different setups.

 

I know.

 

Yep.

 

Let's assume you sit in the "sweet spot" between the loudspeakers. The sound should, logically, appear to emanate from the two sets of speakers. On smaller setups and low end kit this will happen (and ceratinly on PC setups). On better kit (and I won't get into what defines "better" - it's certainly not a cost factor - as I said earlier - it's one of synergy), the sound will have a greater depth and width. It  fools the brain and the sound appears to be coming from positions wider than the physical left and right speaker boundaries and also farther away than the wall behind the speakers. Poor soundstaging can be described as "flat" or "narrow".

Now when listening via a PC this will not be experienced because of the physical limitations of the speakers and their relative position.

Not true. Of course most "PC setups" will have this limitation, but there are some very good PC speaker sets.

 

Soundstaging opens up the music to the listener. To me, It is an essential factor to enjoying music. You simply hear more of what is going on.

No objection here.

 

I have heard it argued that if you can only listen to music through top quality equipment then you don't enjoy the music but just the sound. That's baloney, I'm afraid, because music is more than important to me and when I listen to it, I want to hear it at it's best.

If you can't enjoy music on a lo-fi setup then you *are* a sound freak. Of course we all try to listen to our favorite music on the best system we can afford ... but why shouldn't I enjoy music on my €20 PC speakers at work?

After all, anything else is a compromise. And why compromise when there is no need? I don't use music as a background, other than in the car, I listen attentively rather in the way I read a book. Someone has gone to the trouble of writing the book - I owe it to them (and to myself) to do it justice and concentrate fully on the experience. The same applies to my music.

You're welcome to not use mp3 - but the topic is whether there is an audible difference to the CD, and I don't see the relevance of your soundstage argument ... do you think that in the listening test of c't their system wasn't capable of achieving this effect, with the Nautilus speakers, the perfect room?

 

 

At the time of this article's printing (seven years ago), there was simply no MP3 equipment (stand-alone or computer-derived) able to rival with proper hi-fi system.

Nonsense. What does equipment have to do with it? The software was available, as were the computer CD drives and burners. They simply extracted the digital content of the audio CD to the computer (back then you had to be careful to do it correctly, but if you had a "sane" drive it was absolutely no problem) ... then they applied mp3 compression. And finally they used burner software to re-recreate a burned audio CD from the mp3s. I've been doing that myself in 2000, no problem. And the burned CD can be played in any hi-fi CD player.

 

I admit no problems that the sound quality gap etween Hifi and MP3  has been diminishhing of late, as even Bose (I speak of it because I saw an add in yesterday's newspaper) and other big brand names are putting out MP3 equipment. This equipment is just being brought out now, because of those MP3 "walkman's" incredible success.

 

Hope I'm clearer this time around (true enough y sentence was not really that clear)

Absolutely!