62 replies to this topic

[eugene]

I'm somewhat surprised that most digital buyers seem to buy FLAC/WAV only. I definitely expected to hear from more MP3 buyers.

what for ? you can compress a flac album into mp3 in 10 seconds.

[mcbpete]

I too have gone almost entirely digital - the only physical purchases I even consider nowadays is for deluxe editions, etc.

Yep, me too !

Anchio Arch io Son Pittore - Have you an allergy to the words 'too', 'are' and 'you ?!

[gmanyo]

I personally think that physical should die. A CD case/vinyl sleeve does nothing for me, and the quality difference of analogue seems useless to me as a listener. 256kbps minimum (not sure about bit depth yet, but obviously at least 16). Don't need it to be higher than that personally; I'd like it to be WAV format just because I like to sample things sometimes, but meh.

If I want "physical" copies of albums, I want it to be something I can USE. For example, buying a shirt that contained a flash drive slip with the album would be cool.

[mcglockers]

I personally think that physical should die.

Opt out, fine! Don't be a Nazi tho...

[jlobkob]

I too have gone almost entirely digital - the only physical purchases I even consider nowadays is for deluxe editions, etc.

Yep, me too !

Anchio Arch io Son Pittore - Have you an allergy to the words 'too', 'are' and 'you ?!

he is a big fan of prince, so he has to use "2", "R" and "U".
prince stopped using the normal words after his third studio album "dirty mind".

I only buy CD or VINYL because on the quality on the one hand and because of the beautiful packages, the feeling of putting on records on your turntable, etc.
also, i can't listen to digital music on my equipment unless i burn it on cd, so why not buy cds in the first place?
also, 320kbps really sounds shit compared to cd quality. (which is 1144kbps, thats almost 3 times the quality; as archio mentioned, in mp3s the high pitches are completely off, also the sounds lacks every brilliance and dynamics. to be honest, i cant get over the fact that some folks highly into complicated music is willing to listen to it in shit quality. listening to autechre for example in mp3 or in cd quality is like listening to completely different artists.)

[asymmetrical head]

Physical.

[Anchio Arch io Son Pittore]

I too have gone almost entirely digital - the only physical purchases I even consider nowadays is for deluxe editions, etc.

Yep, me too !

Anchio Arch io Son Pittore - Have you an allergy to the words 'too', 'are' and 'you ?!

he is a big fan of prince, so he has to use "2", "R" and "U".
prince stopped using the normal words after his third studio album "dirty mind".

HAAAOUAAAAA!

I can write phonetically, if u want...

[asymmetrical head]

But of course I have bought mp3s.

[Anchio Arch io Son Pittore]

[eugene]

I too have gone almost entirely digital - the only physical purchases I even consider nowadays is for deluxe editions, etc.

Yep, me too !

Anchio Arch io Son Pittore - Have you an allergy to the words 'too', 'are' and 'you ?!

he is a big fan of prince, so he has to use "2", "R" and "U".
prince stopped using the normal words after his third studio album "dirty mind".

I only buy CD or VINYL because on the quality on the one hand and because of the beautiful packages, the feeling of putting on records on your turntable, etc.
also, i can't listen to digital music on my equipment unless i burn it on cd, so why not buy cds in the first place?
also, 320kbps really sounds shit compared to cd quality. (which is 1144kbps, thats almost 3 times the quality; as archio mentioned, in mp3s the high pitches are completely off, also the sounds lacks every brilliance and dynamics. to be honest, i cant get over the fact that some folks highly into complicated music is willing to listen to it in shit quality. listening to autechre for example in mp3 or in cd quality is like listening to completely different artists.)

everything you say is wrong:
*the quality of CD or vinyl is not better than flac/wav, and cds and vinyl only get worse as time goes by
*fuck packages, print some shit on a mass manufactured carbon if you need it so much
*you can listen to digital music on any setup with a decent player+dac combo
*you cannot detect the difference between 320kbps mp3 and cd, plus there's no reason to buy mp3s anyway when there are flacs
*the mp3 LP filter depends on the mp3 bitrate and codec, in quality high bitrate mp3s no audible frequencies are cut off, and with that said, mp3 is a dying format.

Edited by eugene, 01 August 2012 - 07:58 AM.

[eugene]

*carton

[ThatSpanishGuy]

I only buy digital from bandcamp or semi-independent labels. I still buy tons of vinyl, CDs and cassettes. I love original and innovative packagings, so I find myself buying stuff that looks cool when I don't really like the music itself.

[jlobkob]

I too have gone almost entirely digital - the only physical purchases I even consider nowadays is for deluxe editions, etc.

Yep, me too !

Anchio Arch io Son Pittore - Have you an allergy to the words 'too', 'are' and 'you ?!

he is a big fan of prince, so he has to use "2", "R" and "U".
prince stopped using the normal words after his third studio album "dirty mind".

I only buy CD or VINYL because on the quality on the one hand and because of the beautiful packages, the feeling of putting on records on your turntable, etc.
also, i can't listen to digital music on my equipment unless i burn it on cd, so why not buy cds in the first place?
also, 320kbps really sounds shit compared to cd quality. (which is 1144kbps, thats almost 3 times the quality; as archio mentioned, in mp3s the high pitches are completely off, also the sounds lacks every brilliance and dynamics. to be honest, i cant get over the fact that some folks highly into complicated music is willing to listen to it in shit quality. listening to autechre for example in mp3 or in cd quality is like listening to completely different artists.)

everything you say is wrong:
*the quality of CD or vinyl is not better than flac/wav, and cds and vinyl only get worse as time goes by
*fuck packages, print some shit on a mass manufactured carbon if you need it so much
*you can listen to digital music on any setup with a decent player+dac combo
*you cannot detect the difference between 320kbps mp3 and cd, plus there's no reason to buy mp3s anyway when there are flacs
*the mp3 LP filter depends on the mp3 bitrate and codec, in quality high bitrate mp3s no audible frequencies are cut off, and with that said, mp3 is a dying format.

okay, you need to read more carefully.
*the quality of CD is equal to quality of FLAC/WAV, the quality of vinyl is theoretically infinite. cds has the same problem of getting worse as digital music (as CD is digital). vinyl theoretically never gets worse. when i referred to downloading music is bad quality, i was referring to mp3, of course.
*if you dont like packages, well. liking/ not liking something cant be consideres as "being wrong"
*i said "I" cant listen to digital music on my equipment, as is am not willing to use the Line-In of my amplifier because the soundcard of my computer isnt the best. a DAC device will have a bad effect on the quality of your music, because it is a converting technique.
*if you cannot detect the difference betwenn 320 mp3s and cd, im very sorry for your ears. also, detecting the difference between mp3 and cds would take about 5 minutes with a spectrograph.
*the best mp3s on the market is 320kbps. a lot of audible high frequencies are cut off, even a CD cuts off high frequencies. (you could detect this either with your ears or a spectrograph, too). the only way to listen to loss-free music is theoretically vinyl (from the mentioned methods to listen to music).

tl;dr every YOU say is wrong.
go and buy some decent equipment, as being not able to hear the quality difference between mp3 and CD is issue you should be worried about. if purchasing a decent equipment doesn't help, you better consult a otolaryngologist.

Edited by jlobkob, 01 August 2012 - 08:38 AM.

[ThatSpanishGuy]

Also, some artists put a lot of effort when it comes to cover art, packaging, etc. and sometimes it is a part of the experience

[eugene]

I too have gone almost entirely digital - the only physical purchases I even consider nowadays is for deluxe editions, etc.

Yep, me too !

Anchio Arch io Son Pittore - Have you an allergy to the words 'too', 'are' and 'you ?!

he is a big fan of prince, so he has to use "2", "R" and "U".
prince stopped using the normal words after his third studio album "dirty mind".

I only buy CD or VINYL because on the quality on the one hand and because of the beautiful packages, the feeling of putting on records on your turntable, etc.
also, i can't listen to digital music on my equipment unless i burn it on cd, so why not buy cds in the first place?
also, 320kbps really sounds shit compared to cd quality. (which is 1144kbps, thats almost 3 times the quality; as archio mentioned, in mp3s the high pitches are completely off, also the sounds lacks every brilliance and dynamics. to be honest, i cant get over the fact that some folks highly into complicated music is willing to listen to it in shit quality. listening to autechre for example in mp3 or in cd quality is like listening to completely different artists.)

everything you say is wrong:
*the quality of CD or vinyl is not better than flac/wav, and cds and vinyl only get worse as time goes by
*fuck packages, print some shit on a mass manufactured carbon if you need it so much
*you can listen to digital music on any setup with a decent player+dac combo
*you cannot detect the difference between 320kbps mp3 and cd, plus there's no reason to buy mp3s anyway when there are flacs
*the mp3 LP filter depends on the mp3 bitrate and codec, in quality high bitrate mp3s no audible frequencies are cut off, and with that said, mp3 is a dying format.

okay, you need to read more carefully.
*the quality of CD is equal to quality of FLAC/WAV, the quality of vinyl is theoretically infinite. cds has the same problem of getting worse as digital music (as CD is digital). vinyl theoretically never gets worse. when i referred to downloading music is bad quality, i was referring to mp3, of course.
*if you dont like packages, well. liking/ not liking something cant be consideres as "being wrong"
*i said "I" cant listen to digital music on my equipment, as is am not willing to use the Line-In of my amplifier because the soundcard of my computer isnt the best. a DAC device will have a bad effect on the quality of your music, because it is a converting technique.
*if you cannot detect the difference betwenn 320 mp3s and cd, im very sorry for your ears. also, detecting the difference between mp3 and cds would take about 5 minutes with a spectrograph.
*the best mp3s on the market is 320kbps. a lot of audible high frequencies are cut off, even a CD cuts off high frequencies. (you could detect this either with your ears or a spectrograph, too). the only way to listen to loss-free music is theoretically vinyl (from the mentioned methods to listen to music).

tl;dr every YOU say is wrong.
go and buy some decent equipment, as being not able to hear the quality difference between mp3 and CD is issue you should be worried about. if purchasing a decent equipment doesn't help, you better consult a otolaryngologist.

there is no such thing as theoretically infinite as human hearing has limits.
vinyl degrades in quality with every spin, i don't think there's a need in elaboration.
every element between source and speakers will degrade quality, the question is whether it's perceivable (it's not, with quality equipment)
human ears are not a spectrographs, obviously. our hearing goes up to 20khz at the ultimate best and then the range only degrades with time. lame codec 320 kbps mp3s are cut off at exactly 20 khz so there's nothing audible cut off, obviously you'll see it on a spectrograph but your ears wont.

you mentioned autechre, they produce their music digitally, so transferring it to any other format is potentially losing quality.

while we have no way of setting up blind tests here i suggest that you google some of those test and see that there is absolutely consensus on high bitrate mp3s being inferior to cd.

i have a pretty high grade headphones (senn hd650) and a decent soundcardd which i also upgraded with higher quality op-amps (asus xonar stx).

Also, some artists put a lot of effort when it comes to cover art, packaging, etc. and sometimes it is a part of the experience

it's a part of an old habbit that will die out in the next couple of decades and it's only a result of inferior and outdated music media.

Edited by eugene, 01 August 2012 - 09:29 AM.

[gmanyo]

I just tried this and got it wrong:
http://www.noiseaddi...y-test-128-320/

I honestly couldn't tell the difference. I just guessed. I don't have great headphones and am using a MacBook Pro jack, so maybe that has something to do with it, but still, it was 320 vs 128.

I'm pretty sure there's a big difference between 360p and 480p on Youtube, though, so I'd like to know their audio quality numbers.

Also, some artists put a lot of effort when it comes to cover art, packaging, etc. and sometimes it is a part of the experience

it's a part of an old habbit that will die out in the next couple of decades and it's only a result of inferior and outdated music media.

This is why I think that t-shirts or other merch that come with album flash cards/download tokens would be cool.

Edited by gmanyo, 01 August 2012 - 09:35 AM.

[beerwolf]

I have an old school, awesome, turntable, amp and cd player, I also play albums a lot from beginning to end. So I buy physical in 80% of the time. Sometimes I just buy an mp3 release. It depends really, I am certainly not bothered either way but physical is good for me. Sometimes I get cd and vinyl copies of the same album.

Edited by beerwolf, 01 August 2012 - 09:48 AM.

[Zephyr_Nova]

I still can't bring myself to pay for mp3s. Any mp3s I have are pirated, but my CD collection is ever expanding (around 1000 at this point).

[eugene]

I still can't bring myself to pay for mp3s. Any mp3s I have are pirated, but my CD collection is ever expanding (around 1000 at this point).

but you're not paying FOR mp3s, you're paying the artist who made the music.

[jasondonervan]

*carton

[beerwolf]

*carton

lol, happy days

[Zephyr_Nova]

I still can't bring myself to pay for mp3s. Any mp3s I have are pirated, but my CD collection is ever expanding (around 1000 at this point).

but you're not paying FOR mp3s, you're paying the artist who made the music.

I'd mostly be paying whatever label they're on, but I do that by purchasing their CDs.

[eugene]

cds are not different in that regard, most of the share goes to the label, probably even more than with digital. the thing is that with digital you can at least get rid of this 20th century monstrosity called record label.

[jlobkob]

long posts with more quotes

im not here to tell you how to live your life and how you have to listen to music, so just listen to mp3, if its ok for you.
just a reminder: music is not only about frequency, but also about dynamics and brilliance. (which you can hear and see in spectrographs)
and this what goes away by compression the most.
every method of compression uses fourier algorithms, so the gibbs phenomenon changes the wave slightly.
compression cannot be lossfree, as information gets lost.
any headphones will compete bad when you listen to music from your pc, as soundcards are simply shit.

i dare you to just listen to your favourite track in 320mp3 and then in CD/Vinyl on some low-tier high end equipment.
it hasn't to be over the top, a stereo amp about 500€, vinyl/cd player about 300€ and speakers about 700€ will do it.
you will be blown away by the difference, as you will be easily able to hear it.
because when its goes to acoustics in your room, it goes to dynamics and brilliance, and this is were mp3 loses.

on the point of autechre: there is no conversion of "digital" music when pressing a cd, because a cd is a digital format.
on the point of vinyls: of course the human hearing is limited, but that doesnt affect the theoretically infinite quality of vinyls.
that the vinyls get worse with every spin is obvious. that the quality isn't "infinite" in practice should be obvious, too.

as i said, you may listen to FLAC/WAV as they are loss-free. you may NOT listen to mp3 whilst stating "you can't hear the difference".

[beerwolf]

There is home listening and there is mobile listening and I treat both completely different. Maybe I am lucky that I have the space and money to have both, either way I prefer the cd player or turntable. Unless I am doing the hoovering lol.