I work at the highest sample rate/bit depth that my equipment will allow which is currently 44.1/24bit.

When I get home from this tour I’m going to build a faster PC and move up to 96/24 and also a 64 bit environment as I’m sick of running out of RAM. As a final medium 44.1/16 is perfectly adequate and I’m 100% positive that nobody on this planet could discern 44.1/16 from 44.1/24 in a blind listening test.

96khz, on the other hand, is glorious and will hopefully become a standard in the future.

flavius - 17 March 2011 04:30 AM

ok, so i tried the ALAC version last night on my hi fi, and compared it back and forth with the MP3 320 version.

i’m really sad to say that i can’t tell the difference :(

i tried, i really did, and i consider myself to have an above-average ear for music. maybe i wasn’t playing it loud enough, i don’t know.

maybe i need to listen to just ALACs for a while, and then try going back to MP3s. maybe then i’ll be able to spot the difference.

  In my opinion, MP3 is hugely underrated and has an undeserved bad rep. As long the music was encoded using the LAME codec, I believe it’s going to be very difficult to notice differences between it and LAME or WAV, UNLESS you have a high-end sound system, AND good ears.

  I tried to find differences as well with Last Days of Gravity, and I couldn’t even distinguish between original CD WAV and MP3 @ 128kb/s!!! This was with standard apple ipod headphones btw, so who knows.

btw i’ve begun the experiment and since yesterday i’ve been listening to lossless audio only. i’m gonna give it a week. i like experiments

@ ott: it’s really hard to focus on the sound when the music itself is so good

(actually, the alan watts sample tells me to do exactly that, so it doesn’t help with my experiment!)

TryptamineDream - 18 March 2011 01:05 AM

flavius - 17 March 2011 04:30 AM

This was with standard apple ipod headphones btw, so who knows.

I thought those were part of the packaging… threw them out…

flavius - 18 March 2011 01:21 AM

btw i’ve begun the experiment and since yesterday i’ve been listening to lossless audio only. i’m gonna give it a week. i like experiments

(actually, the alan watts sample tells me to do exactly that, so it doesn’t help with my experiment!)

  Interesting. If I may suggest, listen to a particular song a few times in WAV or FLAC until you are somewhat familiar with it. After this, you can do the same repetition with MP3, or you can blindly switch between MP3 and FLAC/WAV. For the latter method you could place a bunch of the same song—though in different formats—in a playlist and do a random shuffle on the list.

  Keep in mind though, this would wear out a song, which sucks because Twisted releases (I know not technically) are rare, so you’d want to maximize the ‘life’ of each song. But I guess there’s no other way to do the test than familiarizing first with FLAC/WAV so you know whether certain sounds go missing when you switch formats. (Also quite ironic about that Alan Watts quote huh

  Any way you do it though, I’d be interested in the results.

It is possible to overthink these things you know…

:0)

Ott - 18 March 2011 08:44 AM

It is possible to overthink these things you know…

:0)

different people spend their weekend time doing different things, hey…

TryptamineDream - 18 March 2011 01:05 AM

flavius - 17 March 2011 04:30 AM

This was with standard apple ipod headphones btw, so who knows.

I’m not a big audiophile or hifist, but you’ve got to buy a pair you can even call headphones. Seriously.

Qoshovius - 18 March 2011 03:28 PM

I’m not a big audiophile or hifist, but you’ve got to buy a pair you can even call headphones. Seriously.

On that note:
http://www.amazon.com/AKG-Acoustics-K-240-Studio-Headphones/dp/B0001ARCFA

I don’t want this to turn into a “headphone wars” thread…
but that is probably the best $100 you can spend on listening equipment.

Ooh gold trim-like a pack of Benson and Hedges!

The ALACs are sounding great to me btw, that Mir is something special for sure. It’s like when I first was getting into electronic music and I heard Shpongle and Hallucinogen, I assumed there would be tons of stuff out there that sounded like that. But there isn’t! It’s completely unique, similarly, Ott is residing in his own little musical country.

Cloudwalker - 18 March 2011 08:11 PM

I don’t want this to turn into a “headphone wars” thread…
but that is probably the best $100 you can spend on listening equipment.

I have some and I concur.

Ott - 19 March 2011 03:20 AM

Cloudwalker - 18 March 2011 08:11 PM

I don’t want this to turn into a “headphone wars” thread…
but that is probably the best $100 you can spend on listening equipment.

I have some and I concur.

I also agree. I have some but unfortunately the left ear has come off so I have to invest in a new pair. They are really good though.

With sound quality and different formats. If you have for example a lousy soundcard on your computer and sub standard speakers you won’t hear the intricate details of better format files. So an ipod with standard headphones will have the same effect. You probably won’t hear much difference because it is designed for mp3’s. When I first made music I had my computer soundcard hooked up to my yamaha amp and speakers. I bought a Juli@ soundcard and ESI monitors and instanly heard the difference with not only how my poorly mixed tracks sounded but also how quality productions such as Ott and Shpongle sounded. I heard things that I hadn’t heard before.

dimutech - 19 March 2011 04:49 PM

I heard things that I hadn’t heard before.

that’s quite poetic

Cloudwalker - 18 March 2011 08:11 PM

On that note:
http://www.amazon.com/AKG-Acoustics-K-240-Studio-Headphones/dp/B0001ARCFA

I don’t want this to turn into a “headphone wars” thread…
but that is probably the best $100 you can spend on listening equipment.

How do they compare with these? http://www.amazon.com/Sennheiser-HD555-Professional-Headphones-Channeling/dp/B0001FTVDQ

I have the Sennheisers, only complaint is they are a little weak on the bass end, though a little EQ tweak fixes that just fine. Cheers.

Astrognomix - 20 March 2011 02:15 AM

How do they compare with these? http://www.amazon.com/Sennheiser-HD555-Professional-Headphones-Channeling/dp/B0001FTVDQ

Well…you just had 3 forum members (including Ott) recommend the AKGs…
I think that says enough.

As for EQing, I personally wouldn’t, unless the sound system was shitty.
If you’re hearing a loud pronounced bass in headphones, it’s probably unnatural, and NOT as it was intended to be heard.
(especially on ‘higher end’ headphones)

btw: listening to Ott’s LSD remix on them as I type.  Whole lotta love going on in here….