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#1 John

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Posted 26 February 2014 - 06:51 PM

I recently bought a pair of rather nice headphones, Bose AE2 to be precise and despite having heard of FLAC/Apple Losses before i'd never tried either of them. Mainly because i didn't think it would  make a difference but also owing to the fact that  FLAC album can be 4x+ the size of an MP3.
Anyway, i went to Bandcamp which offers FLAC downloads and bought a few albums to try out.
 
HOLY FUCK. 
 
Songs sounds exponentially more full, making me feel far more immersed in the sound compared to MP3. It's not so much that there's actual sound that i was missing before, its just the general tone of the audio that sounds absolutely mind blowing.

So, anybody else had experience with non-mp3 formats? I tried listening through my old headphones and you can still hear a serious difference so i suggest you try it out if you're interested.


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#2 Joshua

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Posted 26 February 2014 - 08:58 PM

why did you buy buy other sound equipment man

 

at that low price range you'd have been better off with some AD700's or ATH M50's -- i run AD900's atm. //rant

 

FLAC is fucking awesome. Hard to buy most music in lossless formats, though. 


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#3 Momo

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Posted 27 February 2014 - 07:36 AM

I think the only song I have in FLAC atm is Gotye's Somebody That I Used To Know, during a phase where Lily and I would listen to it all the time. So bloody good.

Edited by Momo786, 27 February 2014 - 07:37 AM.

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#4 Bowsie

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Posted 27 February 2014 - 08:07 AM

I think the only song I have in FLAC atm is Gotye's Somebody That I Used To Know, during a phase where Lily and I would listen to it all the time. So bloody good.

Soommmebodddddyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!

 

On topic: How are those headphones?  What made you choose those headphones over other high end headphones such as Beats?

 

Also, FLAC is amazing. I buy/download FLAC whenever I can. If not I get 320 kbps MP3, but FLAC sounds soooooooo much better.



#5 axin d

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Posted 27 February 2014 - 11:06 AM

Only a few select individuals have ears good enough to tell the difference between high quality MP3s (v0/320) and lossless/CD quality audio, and these differences are in dynamic range and noise floor, you're not even listening to the music at that point, but in technical features of the recording in order to tell the difference.

 

You can easily do a test by downloading the same album in 320 and in FLAC, and have a friend play each pair of tracks, randomly choosing FLAC or MP3 first.  Do a couple of passes through both albums for statistical purposes, and have your friend write down which one he played and which one you guessed. It's better if your friend doesn't know which one he picked until after he picked the first one, this is called a double-blind test, and it removes both your and your friend's bias. I gurantee that your correct rate will be near 50%, meaning you're basically guessing. A really high percentage, say 90%+ after multiple passes might mean you have ears good enough to tell, but again, from people I talked to that can, you're not listening to the music at that point but to technical features.

 

There are other really good reasons for keeping music in FLAC, most importantly, transcodability. Space is cheap so it's worth it for me to be able to convert music into any format someone might want, without sacrificing quality. For myself I transcode everything into v0 quality MP3s, but some of my friends might want smaller files, or 320 quality. Converting from one lossy format to another creates extra loss, but converting from FLAC I don't have to worry about that.

 

Not tryna knock you or anything, but BOSE are a popular consumer brand, kinda like Beats. You're paying extra for the name, there's significantly better headphones out there for the same price range, like Joshua mentioned.


Edited by axin d, 27 February 2014 - 11:08 AM.

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#6 John

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Posted 27 February 2014 - 01:59 PM

Not tryna knock you or anything, but BOSE are a popular consumer brand, kinda like Beats. You're paying extra for the name, there's significantly better headphones out there for the same price range, like Joshua mentioned.

Bose are a consumer brand and I'm a consumer. I payed £100 for a pair of headphones that performed on par or better with similar options and also had a nice compact design. I'm well aware that audio technica might be better but I commute with these things for 3 hours a day, the AT model I tried was just too big. Its the same reason I buy applw.
Bose are also not on the level on Beata for label cost, they're like sennheiser or klipsch for me.

To be honest I've bought bose for years. My home speaker system is bose and my TV speakers are bose; I've always found them to be very satisfactory and their risk free trial is a big factor for me too.

@bowsie
I'm very happy with them, they block a lot of noise which is good and generally they sound pretty sharp. I did some fiddling with EQs to fix the slightly muddy bass but other than that they're perfect.

Edited by John, 27 February 2014 - 02:04 PM.

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#7 axin d

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Posted 27 February 2014 - 02:07 PM

As long as you're happy with them that's what really counts.
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#8 John

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Posted 27 February 2014 - 02:13 PM

As long as you're happy with them that's what really counts.


I had a guy at work spend the day trying to convince me I'm a twat for buying Bose, kind of got a bit riled up. Sorry about that :P
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#9 axin d

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Posted 27 February 2014 - 03:06 PM

I personally own a pair of audio technoca m50s and a pair of skullcandy aviators. They're the same price, and while the audiotechnicas are overall better soundwise, the aviators are more comfortable and they look way cooler too, so if I wear phones out it'd be the aviators. Probably the best consumer grade phones I've ever listened to. Comfort is a huge thing with picking headphones, so I understand.

I'd still say that sennheisers and AKGs offer equivalent comfort and superior performance overall while Sony and audio technica excell at audio quality even more, but suffer in comfort. All the non-consumer brands suffer in portability and style though, and you're right that bose isn't nearly as bad as beats as far as the price of the label goes. The right headphones depend on how you value all the above factors.

But as far as the flac thing, I've done a lot of research into the subject cause I was a music recording tech and computer science double major, and this applied to both of them and my personal interests, and I can confidently tell you that there is no discernable difference between high quality mp3 and flac.

Edited by axin d, 27 February 2014 - 05:54 PM.

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#10 John

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Posted 27 February 2014 - 05:47 PM

But as far as the flac thing, I've done a lot of research into the subject cause I was a music recording tech and computer science double major, and this applied to both of them and my interests, and I can confidently tell you that there is no discernable difference between high quality mp3 and flac.

Well all i can say is my experience, from variable bit rate mp3 to FLAC i noticed a considerable bump in fidelity. Not so much quality as i said but the general sound itself felt more well rounded. I did a few blind tests and came out with flac each one, either that or VLC just plays FLAC's much better then MP3.


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#11 axin d

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Posted 27 February 2014 - 05:57 PM

I guess it depends on what VBR settings were used. Many more people can tell apart V2 and 320, than 320 and FLAC.

Generally V0, 320 and FLAC are nearly impossible to tell apart, unless you know specific technical details to listen for.

Or you might have golden ears and should become a mastering engineer, which would be pretty cool, but exceedingly rare.

You should do some double blind tests with v0, 320, and flac :o

Edited by axin d, 27 February 2014 - 06:01 PM.

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#12 John

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Posted 27 February 2014 - 06:42 PM

I guess it depends on what VBR settings were used. Many more people can tell apart V2 and 320, than 320 and FLAC.

Generally V0, 320 and FLAC are nearly impossible to tell apart, unless you know specific technical details to listen for.

Or you might have golden ears and should become a mastering engineer, which would be pretty cool, but exceedingly rare.

You should do some double blind tests with v0, 320, and flac :o

I might well do, though i did spend a few months trying to master my own tracks and couldn't hear the difference with half the stuff i did. It's all a rich tapestry!


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