Remove ads, unlock a dark mode theme, and get other perks by upgrading your account. Experience the website the way it's meant to be.

Spotify Is Testing Lossless Audio. Can You Hear the Difference?

Discussion in 'Article Discussion' started by Melody Bot, Apr 7, 2017.

  1. Melody Bot

    Your friendly little forum bot. Staff Member

    This article has been imported from chorus.fm for discussion. All of the forum rules still apply.

    The Verge has up a test to see if you can tell the difference between compressed and lossless audio:


    Below are three songs, each presented in three different versions: a lossless version at 1,411 kbps, a “premium” version at 320 kbps, and standard version at 160 kbps. Try and see if you can pick the lossless audio out of the three.

    No cheating.

     
  2. SuNDaYSTaR

    Regular Prestigious

    Only got one of the three songs correct with Apple earbuds. Considering this is the best sound I can get (my laptop speakers are pure shit), it's definitely not worth the price for me.
     
  3. Tim Fitzpatrick

    Newbie

    Only got one as well. Honestly was just guessing anyway.
     
  4. bmir14

    Trusted Supporter

    yeah i picked the wrong one for all 3
     
  5. jorbjorb

    7 rings

    damn. i failed too
     
  6. bodkins

    Trusted

    Gonna try this at home.
     
  7. bloodinthesand

    Regular

    Lossless vs. 320 is hard to hear...usually, you can only hear a small difference with really good headphones...in your car, I would say it's damn hard.....I guess it's cool that streaming will sound incredibly clear, and tight now with lossless

    Also, you can visually tell the lossless because more gaps are filled in the music spectrum
     
    pauljgreco and The Lucky Moose like this.
  8. tyramail

    Trusted Supporter

    I actually got all 3 correct. I really only noticed a fairly bigger difference with the first one. I can't really explain how I knew though haha.
     
  9. CyberInferno

    Line below my username Supporter

    I got the right one 2/3 times. Honestly, I still pick LAME VBR V0 or V2 for my music, and that satisfies me fine (of course, I keep the FLAC copies for archiving purposes).
     
  10. Sal Paradise

    Trusted

    0/3 didn't really surprise me though. I would be interested in doing a test like this with popular songs that I've heard many times to see if that would make a difference
     
    Damien Davies likes this.
  11. FTank

    Prestigious Prestigious

    Only got the first one right.
     
  12. CyberInferno

    Line below my username Supporter

    You can actually do this with a bit of work using Foobar2000. It has an A/B comparison tool that you can use with your own music. You'd have to provide the different compressed songs though.

    It's how I realized that I can tell the difference between 128 kbps and 192 kbps MP3 files. But between 192 kbps and higher, I'm hit or miss.
     
  13. johnnyferris

    Sic Parvis Magna Prestigious

    I missed all three lol
     
  14. palewhiteboy88

    Regular Supporter

    I got all three correct with just my shitty iPhone speaker. Not sure how I pulled that off
     
  15. LightWithoutHeat

    You're not a teammate on my team

    3/3

    Don't really know how to describe how I got them except to say that the lossless versions sounded more "full" to me.
     
  16. FTank

    Prestigious Prestigious

    I always think I can tell that lossless files sound fuller, but after not getting the majority of these I don't know if im just fooling myself.
     
  17. Malatesta

    i may get better but we won't ever get well Prestigious

    i like to keep it at least 192 kpbs, preferably 320, but past that it just doesn't factor for me and honestly i'm pretty sure for a lot of people lol
     
  18. carlosonthedrums

    Cooler than a polar bear's toenails Prestigious

    Nailed the first two, but there was no way I was gonna be able to tell with that third track sample. Still...proud of my drummer ears.
     
  19. bodkins

    Trusted

    My fiancee and I were able to get all 3, but we also are sitting in our little studio setup so the speakers probably made things quite a bit easier.
     
    The Lucky Moose likes this.
  20. ioev

    I'm a kid I'm a squid

    Their description between lossy/lossless algorithms is pretty much wrong. Nothing is thrown away with lossless compression algorithms, hence the name.
     
  21. JM95

    Trusted

    2/3. I knew the first one because of the hi hat and the second one because of the bass. The third one was pretty tricky, although I did notice the ending was more defined than the other two. Don't know why I didn't go for it.
     
  22. Lossless compression - Wikipedia

    Many lossless compressions do toss out silence.
     
  23. Got 1 and 3 right on the first go. Second one I was split between two and I just picked one, turned out it was the other one and I picked 320. Cool test!
     
  24. MexicanGuitars

    Chorus’ Expert on OTIP Track #8 Supporter

    Same haha.