AAC vs Vorbis vs FLAC blind test (can you hear the difference)

[mr moose]

Africa No 1 320Kbps, no 2 224Kbps and no 3 original flac or 1000 Kbps or the best one. I cant remember what you said.  I really am guessing because they are so close, I can barely hear a difference and at that I can't tell which it should sound like.

 

boom box  number one sounds the best,  the other 2 sound the same to me.

[TheProfosist]

Africa No 1 320Kbps, no 2 224Kbps and no 3 original flac or 1000 Kbps or the best one. I cant remember what you said.  I really am guessing because they are so close, I can barely hear a difference and at that I can't tell which it should sound like.

 

boom box  number one sounds the best,  the other 2 sound the same to me.

 

Im going with you on the last one for Africa being FLAC and/or the best one. I think I noticed something on the high end.

 

Note: This was done on my desktop using Corsair's SP2500 speakers for now but id still like to know if I was right maybe pm me?

[TheProfosist]

I should also mention thats the only file ive been able to DL the rest tell be unable to download or something like that.

[mr moose]

Im going with you on the last one for Africa being FLAC and/or the best one. I think I noticed something on the high end.

 

Note: This was done on my desktop using Corsair's SP2500 speakers for now but id still like to know if I was right maybe pm me?

Yeah, usually the high freq. notes are first to get mangled when compressed.  Lawlz will release the password for the answers soon.

[codytappen]

I've done these test's myself, in the past, but I've never tried AAC vs FLAC. I've always done MP3 at varying bit rates and I have always been 100% correct. Let's see how this goes.

 

Edit: It says D Rock City is temporarily unavailable and it's the only one I recognized as having in my own library. It' much easier to tell the difference if you're familiar with how it sounds in one format or another.

 

Edit 2: No matter what I click it tell me they are unavailable for download. What should I do?

 

Edit 3: Wolf finally worked. I have the song on my phone as a FLAC file so I think I will be able to distinguish it. Also the 3rd one is the largest and thus is most likely the FLAC.

 

Edit 4: You have good taste.

[codytappen]

Okay for Wolf based on the info I have the 1 is AAC, 2 is OGG, and 3 is FLAC. I'll add more as I listen. Perfect World is a fantastic song isn't it?

 

Edit: For Squid I've realized that there's a lot of interference going in my onboard sound so it's hard to distinguish what's what. Thanks to this thread I have to buy a nice sound card. Is this and Ika-Musume song per chance, possibly one of the endings? Also, is all your music from anime? I see D Rock City and Haruhi on there as well.

 

Edit 2: In island I can't tell the difference much at all, the 2nd and the 3rd sound the best to me so I think I'll keep the same order I put for Wolf. Also since these are the top tiers of all these formats I think it would be cool to see if people can tell the difference in different bit rates of MP3, would you mind me making a thread like this one to test that?

[Kuzma]

Just did Intro, 3 is the FLAC, 2 is the OGG and 1 is the AAC I think, I know 3 is definitely the FLAC.

 

Dango

3 is OGG, 2 is FLAC , 1 is AAC

 

Platinum was too obvious on compression O.o sounded like crap:

1 and 3 are OGG and AAC, 2 is flac.

[LAwLz]

Edit 3: Wolf finally worked. I have the song on my phone as a FLAC file so I think I will be able to distinguish it. Also the 3rd one is the largest and thus is most likely the FLAC.

 

Edit 4: You have good taste.

Thanks about the kind comment on my taste.

You might want to look into what I wrote in the OP:

I have also fiddled with the file sizes, so don't try to cheat by looking at which one is biggest or smallest, and try to figure it out that way because it won't work.

 

 

Also, to the people who are answered different on different songs:

The number and codec are the same on all by the way, so if you for example say that 1 is FLAC, then 1 is FLAC on all songs.

[LAwLz]

Edit: For Squid I've realized that there's a lot of interference going in my onboard sound so it's hard to distinguish what's what. Thanks to this thread I have to buy a nice sound card. Is this and Ika-Musume song per chance, possibly one of the endings? Also, is all your music from anime? I see D Rock City and Haruhi on there as well.

Yes it is from Ika Musume. It's the ending of season 2. Not all of it is from anime. About half of it is though, since that's what most of my music collection is.

Get an external one and you don't have to worry about interference ever again. I am kind of tempted to get the Asus Xonar Essence One, but I am also tempted to get the Dell U2713HM. Decisions, decisions...

 

 

Also since these are the top tiers of all these formats I think it would be cool to see if people can tell the difference in different bit rates of MP3, would you mind me making a thread like this one to test that?

Just different MP3 bitrates? I don't really see the point of using MP3 since AAC and Vorbis are better at the same size. There is quite a bit of work in transcoding and uploading as well, and honestly I am too lazy to do it right now.

[eshbop]

I've tested myself before and can say with the set up I currently have (onboard audio, Sennheiser HD439) I can't tell the difference between even 128kbps MP3 and FLAC. Maybe this would be different with better gear but even then I'm not sure if I could say one is definitely, consistently better than the other. 

 

Sound is such a subjective thing, what one person likes another won't. Also, if you're not trained to hear slight differences in sounds you probably aren't going to pick it.

[ShearMe]

Just did a few songs of my own (converted them to 320Kbps Mp3s) and cbb to do 10 so only did 8 and I got 6/8; I can tell which is the FLAC due to the way the guitar sounds (and bear in mind I'm using speakers so with headphones it would be even more evident)

 

That's not a big enough test to prove without a doubt you can hear the difference

[smjpl]

I think the Flac = 3 but I can't tell the difference between the other two. To be honest I am struggling to find a difference between any of them. There is something about 3 that makes me think it sounds a bit fuller but again I find it very hard to tell.

[Kuzma]

That's not a big enough test to prove without a doubt you can hear the difference

I'll do it again later.

[codytappen]

Just different MP3 bitrates? I don't really see the point of using MP3 since AAC and Vorbis are better at the same size. There is quite a bit of work in transcoding and uploading as well, and honestly I am too lazy to do it right now.

It would be because many digital distribution platforms use MP3 (at varying bit-rates) as apposed to Vorbis or AAC, and converting from an already lossy format to a different one loses more data than leaving it be.

[LAwLz]

It would be because many digital distribution platforms use MP3 (at varying bit-rates) as apposed to Vorbis or AAC, and converting from an already lossy format to a different one loses more data than leaving it be.

Well yes but in that situation you don't really have much choice. Transcoding wouldn't be a good option since you would lose quality, and you can't really get a different format either. I think that MP3 at 320Kbps is good and I can't hear the difference between that and FLAC. I still don't see any reason to use it over AAC or Vorbis though since they provide the same quality at lower bitrates. I wish everyone would use Vorbis instead of MP3. I don't really see any reason not to do it.

 

Edit: I should probably add that I am nor arguing against you cody. I am just arguing against people who think it's a good idea to use MP3 even though we have better formats.

[TheProfosist]

Well yes but in that situation you don't really have much choice. Transcoding wouldn't be a good option since you would lose quality, and you can't really get a different format either. I think that MP3 at 320Kbps is good and I can't hear the difference between that and FLAC. I still don't see any reason to use it over AAC or Vorbis though since they provide the same quality at lower bitrates. I wish everyone would use Vorbis instead of MP3. I don't really see any reason not to do it.

 

Edit: I should probably add that I am nor arguing against you cody. I am just arguing against people who think it's a good idea to use MP3 even though we have better formats.

 

Agree with the not using mp3, its ancient. That would be like still using MPEG2 or DIVX/XVID.

[ShearMe]

Agree with the not using mp3, its ancient. That would be like still using MPEG2 or DIVX/XVID.

 

Or still having a MySpace account...

[TheProfosist]

Or still having a MySpace account...

 

but their trying to push that as a site for celebrities and band and stuff now so its cool right? lol I never really saw the point of myspace most of the spaces hurt my eyes too.

[ShearMe]

but their trying to push that as a site for celebrities and band and stuff now so its cool right? lol I never really saw the point of myspace most of the spaces hurt my eyes too.

 

SoundCloud pretty much demolishes anything MySpace could try to do for bands.

[TheProfosist]

SoundCloud pretty much demolishes anything MySpace could try to do for bands.

ok... i never though myspace was going to succeed anywau their image has taken too much of a hit.

[qwertywarrior]

i know a guy who has his stuff in vinyl

big ass collection too

[TheProfosist]

i know a guy who has his stuff in vinyl

big ass collection too

Good? I gues I dont know what to say about that... All I do know its that good hardware for vinyl is like really really expensive...

[LAwLz]

Agree with the not using mp3, its ancient. That would be like still using MPEG2 or DIVX/XVID.

A lot of people still use that, sadly. The Scene quite recently changed to H.264. They are like 5 years behind technology wise.

 

 

i know a guy who has his stuff in vinyl

big ass collection too

Well some people like vinyl. It's inferior to CD but some people like the preparation it takes to listen to it, makes it more of an event. Vinyl sometimes have a different master compared to the CD as well, since the master used for the CD version were much louder and thus had less dynamic range (and sometimes even had clipping).

[mr moose]

A lot of people still use that, sadly. The Scene quite recently changed to H.264. They are like 5 years behind technology wise.

 

 

Well some people like vinyl. It's inferior to CD but some people like the preparation it takes to listen to it, makes it more of an event. Vinyl sometimes have a different master compared to the CD as well, since the master used for the CD version were much louder and thus had less dynamic range (and sometimes even had clipping).

I have a small vinyl collection, 100 or so. Vinyl is mastered completely differently to cd.  mastering and even engineering for a vinyl press is an art form.   Due to the nature of vinyl there has to be a compromise between dynamic range, overall level and the duration of the record.  Listening to a vinyl is like looking at a painting, you have to be in the mood for it and appreciate the complexity of the recording to really enjoy it.

[MetEishYa]

My guess would be 1: AAC 2 is flac 3 Vorbis. But honestly thats just guessing.