*THANKS TO THE ORIGINAL POSTER
I just noticed we have nothing posted by these guys. OK now here is where you come in. I have seen on a couple other blogs people complain about bit-rates. I saw one comment where the guy said "I won't download anything that's not Flac or 320.Seems to me that's rather snooty. I understand all that shit about compression and the like. But really is there a noticeable difference? Can someone give me an example of things I will notice between Flac and 320, 256, 192 ? I mean most of the stuff I'm playing on my computer through my little speakers doesn't sound that different to me. But maybe that's just me. See scans
Superb! Thanks very much!
ReplyDeleteThanks! I have some other shows I can share if you'd like
ReplyDeletePlease do
ReplyDeleteHere's four shows, two from the Shaboo Inn in rural CT, and two from the Bottom Line in NYC https://we.tl/t-BRCjBmDBhK
ReplyDeleteThanks Roz...We love when folks want to give back! Thanks You!!
DeleteI agree Brother Jobe. The difference is negligible and frankly the size taken up with FLAC files is really not worth it. I do try to get the maximum bit rate on MP3’s and 4’s etc but only really feel its snobbery though maybe just maybe the difference between 320 and 192 is noticeable. I listen to all my downloads on a Mac with state of the art headphones and really cannot tell usually. The quality of the source recording is what matter . . . . . . I’ll shut up now! All the best guys!
ReplyDeletethanks...great band saw them do a great show.....but the ears! it seems the childrens story with a lesson that the obsessives' in our world have fallen into..."The Emperors New Clothes". Gee if the music sounded different from flac to 320mp3 what the f! can they hear that I cant hear? I have a 5.1 listening space which includes a real movie theater middle speaker! & the 320s are lovely. Sadly their Emperor- The Great FLAC is wearing no clothes.
ReplyDeleteDepends on the source but I really can notice a loss of high end (bad symbol hiss) and distorted bass from my car stereo and really notice when playing on my amplified stereo system anything below 256kbps. You have to understand the only way to get a smaller file is by CUTTING OUT the low end and high end which they call "compression".
ReplyDeleteBoss, help me out here.... If I convert a 128 file to 256 I still get 128 sound right? However if I convert a FLAC file to 320 do I still get FLAC sound? My small pea-brain is hurting trying to sort this stuff out
Delete@Jobe...You can only REMOVE file info. You can't ADD what's not there. So if you take a 128 file and convert to 256 you have a file that is LARGER but only has the info that was in the 128 file. Wav to flac is a compressed file holding ALL of the wav info. Once expanded back to wav you can made an exact duplicate of the wav for making a cd. If you take a flac file and make a 320 mp3 you are basically doing the same thing as making a 320 mp3 into say a 192 mp3 file. You are removing information.
DeleteThanks, much appreciated! I can generally tell the diff, though under 256k doesn't bother me - I also don't have space to save all my music FLAC or WAV, and I definitely don't understand complaining about music someone's provided that I wouldn't otherwise hear - especially the Q!
ReplyDeleteI’d walk over you to see the’Q! Thanks!
ReplyDeleteOkay, I'm gonna grab the bull by the tail and look him straight in the eye: If you "upsample" you don't improve sound quality, you've increased the file size. The various formats have different amounts of "information" that go into what we hear, and the smaller the file size the less information you have.
ReplyDeleteWhether you hear a difference depends on dozens of factors: original recording, which master is the source, sterero/mono, dca converters, radio hiss, turntables, surface noise, rumble, tape head alignment, etc Plus, YOUR equipment: You may have audiophile home theater sound, I'm in a 20 year old car, someone else has on headphones...
Regardless of whether we can hear it, though, there's differences in the amount of musical information. A lossless format has the largest amount of information. When you convert to a lossy format, pieces of that information are removed to make the file smaller. The smaller the kbs (320, 256, 128...) the more information has been removed.
Why do we do this Well, storage costs money. Smaller file sizes mean more music without buying more storage.
But once information is deleted, it's gone. I just took my Eagles / Hotel California off the new MFSL release (33.7 MB) and converted it to mp3@320 (15.0 MB), and then converted back...and now it is 33.7 MB again. But it's lower quality, the information DELETED is not magically reconstituted out of the Internet ether, all I've done is pad the file with "bits" that make the file larger. If this worked, you could shrink a file to a single byte and then upsample it to full fidelity.
So I strongly urge you not to "upsample," you lose the benefit of taking up less storage space without getting more sonic information.
On a related issue...storage is becoming less expense, and with cloud storage, safer. Eventually, we'll get to a point where the "work" of taking the original lossless file and downsizing it will outweigh the benefit of the additional storage.
My take is that when I digitize a radio show, I want it to start circulating with the most information. What you do with it later? Hey, if you want to play it on a tin can telephone with a bit of string, that's none of my d*** business. That's why I don't put dire all-caps threats like DO NOT CONVERT TO MP3 UNDER PAIN OF DEATH warnings in my text files. (As if anyone pays any attention...)
Can I hear the difference between flac and mp3? Between lossless and @320, no. 256? Maybe. Not enough that I care. 128? Yeah, a bit on the highs and lows, but not always.
thank you
ReplyDeleteSo...can anyone tell me where the Red Pantry is (or was) located? Or have a specific date?
ReplyDeleteHi, La Piazza Gancio! I don't know....but a search on Newspapers.com produced The Sept 24, 1974 edition of the Holyoke, Massachusetts Transcript-Telegram "a fight...a near riot was quelled by the local Police Dept...at the Red Pantry owned by George Jackson on State St. in Belchertown."
ReplyDeleteAdding NRBQ didn't come up with anything, but that's a place to start the investigation, as the dates overlap.
Thank you. Perhaps I'm a bit anal retentive when it comes to this stuff!
DeleteNah....I'm the same way,but I think of it as "solving mysteries." We've got an ever-increasing amount of information available, so let's use it. :)
DeleteThe following article confirms the Red Pantry in Belchertown was a live music venue: https://www.gazettenet.com/Holidays-on-the-Road-21885068
ReplyDelete