Comment on Why do I think music sounds better on my old MP3 player?
HerbalGamer@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks ago
Is it a.bitrate thing?
Comment on Why do I think music sounds better on my old MP3 player?
HerbalGamer@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks ago
Is it a.bitrate thing?
manuremy@sopuli.xyz 3 weeks ago
Thank you! I did some searching and it could be because of this. I have used YouTube music most recently and it has, depending a bit on the source and the app and the settings, “only” 256 kbps at best so I guess that could be it. Weird if 64 bits make that big difference! Maybe I am an audiophile, or at least turning into one.
sgh@lemmy.ml 3 weeks ago
That’s 64 kbits, or about a 25% boost in bitrate.
prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 weeks ago
If you’re ripping the music yourself, you’re going to be hard pressed to be able to tell the difference between 256kbps and 320kbps. Both are essentially indistinguishable from lossless.
If the streaming service is actually using 256kbps, then they must be transcoding them or using a really shitty method for encoding.
manuremy@sopuli.xyz 3 weeks ago
… Welp, that’s a whole lot more! Thanks for this correction!
sgh@lemmy.ml 3 weeks ago
Just to not sound like a complete asshole… ofc the 25% boost does not depend on bits/kbits, the difference is still 256 vs 320, but I just wanted to emphasize that the expected result is 25% bigger in all terms.
If it helps to imagine, the space needed to store a 256k 5 minutes song will store a 320k 4 minutes song. Then, you are already relying on a quite decent quality beforehand so it’s all extra quality and details.
I usually hear the difference in the high frequency sounds, which is exactly what is otherwise sacrificed in low bitrate compression formats.
FLAC will produce an even better sound, as it’s lossless, but for most songs I couldn’t justify the file size difference.
kabe@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
In reality, the bitrate doesn’t make all that much difference past a certain point. If you blind test it, you’re not going to be able to actually hear any difference between a 160, 256, 320, or even a 1,000 kbps MP3/FLAC whatever. That’s just not how it works.
What does have a big, noticeable effect are primarily:
different master recordings – this is often what people mistake for “better quality” when comparing digital copies versus streams, or this streaming platform versus that streaming platform. In fact, it’s because version A is based on a different remaster than verison B.
psychology. The placebo effect cannot be understated stated in terms of its impact on audio enjoyment. If your brain is expecting, either consciously or unconsciously, that would be a difference, then you will most likely hear one.
The long and the short of it is, just enjoy the music in the way that feels most enjoyable! Once you start fussing over audio formats and bitrates, the whole thing can easily descend into silliness very quickly.
Shellofbiomatter@lemmus.org 3 weeks ago
As you already noticed.
Same effect is even more noticable in video streaming services. Amazon/Netflix/etc full HD(1080p) video, even downloaded is visibly of worse quality than same video and same quality from lets say pirates sources. Difference is noticable even on something as small as a phone screen.
Cornflake@pawb.social 3 weeks ago
It’s important to note that bit rate is only part of the story. Spotify uses the Ogg Vorbis file format which is a lossy compression algorithm (just like MP3). 256 kb/s .ogg vs 320 kb/s .mp3 both offer about the same sound quality, it’s not likely one could differentiate between them in a blind test.