Comments on: Do 320kbps mp3 files really sound better? Take the test!

By: Sam

Sam — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 16:06:46 +0000

Got it right, it’s funny that the lower bitrate one had more votes, Although I did hear little difference, and had to go with my “gut-feeling”, the type of music is supposed to be relaxing so my guess is it should be less punchy than say a metal recording, the lower bitrate one sometimes has a punchier feel to it.

By: aron

aron — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 14:12:36 +0000

I picked the 2nd clip because the i thought the clicking noises from the drums were sound atifacts, otherwise i would not have been able to tell the difference!

By: Richard

Richard — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 04:36:47 +0000

Nice to see a blind test. In the past I’ve looked for trials of blindd listerners, and I can’t find any.

So, happy to believe others can hear the difference, but for my phone with only 16GB of memeory it reassures me I can reload them at 128 rather than 196 and save some space. With my good setup for the home theatre PC at home with a terrabyte I’m happy to leave at 320. Space not an issue there.

Thanks.

By: Horus

Horus — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 02:40:17 +0000

The difference is small, but I think it varies from the type of music and your sound system.
In my case I’ve tried both with 128Kbps and 320Kbps and I notice a huge difference with my music (metal)

By: FlowPhille

FlowPhille — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 23:20:09 +0000

Hi, I used Pioneer HDJ-500 headphones, this is good headphones but i didn’t heard difference first, it took me some time to listen to all the instruments, i could hear a difference in the maraca, it has better quality in #1 then #2. #1 is more crisp but i could only hear a small difference in the voice tho. #1 have better sound quality then #2 but i don’t hear any big difference.

By: Dean R

Dean R — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 14:41:29 +0000

I listened with my dre beats tour in earphones, the voice is much more crisp on CLIP 1#
if your listening using rubish earphones, you will pick up more treble instead of a overall balanced sound….this is why i believe CLIP2# got more votes, even though its the 192kbps

By: ddos411

ddos411 — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 01:12:07 +0000

Yeah, you need a high-end headphones + amplifier to feel the differences.

By: Paul

Paul — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 07:54:24 +0000

Spot on dude! I would have to say as someone who has spent the last decade “playing” wiht audio, video, IT, and Comms that you are 100% correct. 320kbps should be the standard. However, believe it or not, 33′s and 45′s sound better in many instances. (My father has proved it to me. lol)

Great overview dude. Kudos.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 08:35:52 +0000

I think its randomized, which makes sense, because it was #1 for me.

By: JackB

JackB — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 13:31:32 +0000

This depends on the type of music. Some music will sound a lot lousier at lower bit rates Even at 320kbps – which is the highest bit rate for mp3′s – I can sometimes hear loss of sound, and my ears do not hear well in the high frequency range at all.

So sometimes a 128k track will sound like a 320k track and other times you can easily tell. It also sometimes depends on what software you use to rip the mp3 from the cd. If it’s ripped using high quality encoders and proper settings it is going to sound better than if it’s ripped on Windows Media Player, for example. Again, though, it depends on the track.

In this case I could not hear the difference but sometimes I can hear that even a 320kbps bit rate is an mp3 vs. a cd.