article about engineer doing blind test of 128mp3 vs wav...?

cloutier · Post by **cloutier** » Mon Jan 24, 2011 9:56 pm

i was just having another discussion about the whole "mp3 vs. 320 vs. flac" thing with djing (be it cd, traktor scratch or ableton) with a friend, and he mentioned that someone we had booked for bunker told him about an article about some sound engineer, possibly from fabric, that was given a blind test on his rig between a 128kbps mp3 and a wav file, and he thought that the 128kbps mp3 sounded better.

anyone know what or where this article is? i'd love to read it.

ps. and for the record, i really don't see the point in the argument other than to make your dck seem that much larger than your peers'. i've only met a few people that can distinguish the difference, and they're super phenoms in the audible department, so i still find the whole discussion entirely pointless.

pps. lets not start another discussion about it... :-P

blizt · Post by **blizt** » Mon Jan 24, 2011 10:02 pm

If i remember correctly, someone on the forums said that article appeared on some djmag style magazine.

patrick bateman · Post by **patrick bateman** » Mon Jan 24, 2011 10:23 pm

If I remember correctly, it was an article on djdownload, but it's 2-3 years ago, at least.
It was an audio engineer from Fabric, some mastering guy from London and 2-3 other people.

They said they could easily spot the 128 mp3, but they couldn't spot the difference between wav and vinyl and they had hard times spotting the difference between 320/wav/vinyl.

At least, that's how I remember it. I can't find the article on the site now, but as far as I know, djdownload got new owners last year (?) and redesigned their site.

EDIT: I'm not sure if the test was actually carried out at Fabric.

Del · Post by **Del** » Tue Jan 25, 2011 8:43 am

ps. and for the record, i really don't see the point in the argument other than to make your dck seem that much larger than your peers'. i've only met a few people that can distinguish the difference, and they're super phenoms in the audible department, so i still find the whole discussion entirely pointless.

pps. lets not start another discussion about it... :-P

I vote we start another discussion about it

From my experience it all comes down to the mastering of the track. For sure it is possible that a 128 can sound better than a 320. Some people just make music that sounds better than others. Also your ears can decide to like listening to music one day and not so much the next.

ps - on second thoughts lets NOT start another discussion about it

roland · Post by **roland** » Tue Jan 25, 2011 8:49 am

where i come from kids now listen to their music through the speakers of their mobile phones.. when it has come so far the format of the file doesn't matter at all :/

patrick bateman · Post by **patrick bateman** » Tue Jan 25, 2011 9:34 am

roland wrote:where i come from kids now listen to their music through the speakers of their mobile phones.. when it has come so far the format of the file doesn't matter at all :/

true fact

Kiani · Post by **Kiani** » Tue Jan 25, 2011 10:04 am

The Lo-fi Relief pressing sound, that's where it's at

Ciaran_ · Post by **Ciaran_** » Tue Jan 25, 2011 10:46 am

http://www.djmag.com/news/detail/445

pretty sh!t article though