Noticing Lossless quality.

[metro.]

Notice how I said most?

Sadly, all of my money is sunk into this one investment, it's called school.

[Zalis116]

When it comes to audio coupled with video (as opposed to purely music files), I'll usually go for lossy where available. On my "better than default PC speakers but not great" headphones and sound system, I can tell a difference between lossless and poorly-encoded/bitrate-starved lossy, but not between lossless and well-encoded, high-bitrate lossy. And when it comes to the average anime title, most of the soundtrack outside of the OP/ED consists of talking, some occasional synth music (often just remixes of those OP/ED), and standard sound effects. Not all that demanding, really. I won't not download a release just because it used FLAC, but I find it hard to shake the notion that the disk space could be better used on something else. Especially if one's downloading SD releases, 3 GB can be a whole 13-episode series. And speaking of disk space...

3gb is nothing, especially given how little 1tb drives cost.

If 3 GB is nothing these days, why do people (not necessarily you) still get up in arms about ~350 MB of lossy English audio across a series? 

[Tiffanys]

I have a very nice pair of Sennheisers and I can't tell a difference. Even with HD 800's it's just not a sound range I can discern.

We can only hear about 15-20,000 Hz, so even some of the lesser quality audiophile headphones with 14-26,000 Hz ranges are more than we're capable of even hearing as humans. And it's the high ranges that drop off first. So most people that have at least some hearing loss are more likely to be only going up to the 18,000 Hz range.

There's actually a particular sound range people over 25 can't hear. It's actually used as an anti-loitering device: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zb1VH5P5fLY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=jKvd9UtZ4UY&NR=1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0ZsZSSSswo

[vuzedome]

That was the whole basis for proponents in arguments against high resolution audio, not lossless audio.

[Tiffanys]

Eh well, I still can't tell a difference regardless.

[mgz]

^ check these links, this headphone goes for under $80 and they were designed for pure accurate reproduction (flat and no flavor), the reason why its cheap is because it was entirely plastic which does feel cheap but still decent and you aren't paying for a name *cough*apple and sennheisers*cough*

Superlux HD668B:
http://www.head-fi.org/products/superlux-hd-668-b/reviews
Superlux HD668B manufacturer website

im not saying headphones need to be expensive to be good. And honestly as far as bang for your buck goes sennheiser is actually quite good in that department as their name isnt a household name. Its just a name known for quality audio products. I personally enjoy them because of the solid build quality and replaceable cords. As in the past i ruined so many headphones and headsets with the cord going bad once i found replaceable cords i will never go back

[kitamesume]

^well you do still pay a wee-bit for sennheiser's name, or else their R&D's investment scheme is seriously inefficient...
i should've put beats-by-dr.dre instead though, eitherway you did get my point.

superlux's cords are replaceable o.o

[Saras]

To be honest, if you are paying for headphones and are shelling >50$. Chances are, you want them to both sound good and feel like a quality item. And while you are paying for Sennheisers name, it's not too bad really.

[kitamesume]

well yeah, plus dat E-PEEN
although i'd want either an Audio Technica ATH-A700X or Shure SRH840 over most Sennheiser under $200, well reason is because i've heard these cans and they're quite what i prefer.

[mgz]

well yeah, plus dat E-PEEN
although i'd want either an Audio Technica ATH-A700X or Shure SRH840 over most Sennheiser under $200, well reason is because i've heard these cans and they're quite what i prefer.

yea most of them arent terribly different on paper if memory serves in the realm of frequency range response output and such
but it all ends up coming down to personal preference and i havent bought headphones in like 7 years.

[Tiffanys]

Sennheiser is really good about always having replacement parts available. I don't use mine as my main ones though since they don't have surround sound.

[vuzedome]

LOL to surround. Works brilliantly for gaming and movies, but unless recorded the right way it would sound terribly on music.

[Tiffanys]

LOL to surround. Works brilliantly for gaming and movies, but unless recorded the right way it would sound terribly on music.

Yeah. I rarely listen to music, but I'm always playing games and watching movies.

[bloody000]

Foobar ABX test results say I can't reliably tell them apart.

Beyer DT990 on Xonar ST

wait, with MP3 vs FLAC, or FLAC vs AC3/DTS?
MP3 vs FLAC has quite some obvious differences between them.

v0 vbr mp3 and/or q0.7 nero aac from flac
I can't tell them apart.
but then again I don't train my ears to spot artifacts in specific sounds. that would be fucking stupid. in the same vein I wished I had never learned to spot 3:2 pulldown judder or the 24fps motion judder. "film look" my ass.

[kitamesume]

Foobar ABX test results say I can't reliably tell them apart.

Beyer DT990 on Xonar ST

wait, with MP3 vs FLAC, or FLAC vs AC3/DTS?
MP3 vs FLAC has quite some obvious differences between them.

v0 vbr mp3 and/or q0.7 nero aac from flac
I can't tell them apart.
but then again I don't train my ears to spot artifacts in specific sounds. that would be fucking stupid. in the same vein I wished I had never learned to spot 3:2 pulldown judder or the 24fps motion judder. "film look" my ass.

simply do an ABX testing, which you can do in Foobar2000, for a fast comparison. if the difference is less than 5% then the difference is 99% indistinguishable, to most people at least.

[bloody000]

Foobar ABX test results say I can't reliably tell them apart.

Beyer DT990 on Xonar ST

wait, with MP3 vs FLAC, or FLAC vs AC3/DTS?
MP3 vs FLAC has quite some obvious differences between them.

v0 vbr mp3 and/or q0.7 nero aac from flac
I can't tell them apart.
but then again I don't train my ears to spot artifacts in specific sounds. that would be fucking stupid. in the same vein I wished I had never learned to spot 3:2 pulldown judder or the 24fps motion judder. "film look" my ass.

simply do an ABX testing, which you can do in Foobar2000, for a fast comparison. if the difference is less than 5% then the difference is 99% indistinguishable.

I did. see my first post.

[kitamesume]

ah right, XD

[bloody000]

Here's why you guys should not learn to spot these minor imperfections and just enjoy the music.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vN71uCbj-wc

America's Best judges welcome a round of singers, but can the judges get past all of the noisy breaths these singers take?

[bunalz]

[...]just enjoy the music.

But of course.

[mgz]

Foobar ABX test results say I can't reliably tell them apart.

Beyer DT990 on Xonar ST

wait, with MP3 vs FLAC, or FLAC vs AC3/DTS?
MP3 vs FLAC has quite some obvious differences between them.

v0 vbr mp3 and/or q0.7 nero aac from flac
I can't tell them apart.
but then again I don't train my ears to spot artifacts in specific sounds. that would be fucking stupid. in the same vein I wished I had never learned to spot 3:2 pulldown judder or the 24fps motion judder. "film look" my ass.

i dont know about other people but i didnt train my ears to listen to it, i simply grew up having physical copies of media and using headphones.
When shitty initial mp3s came out size was the big concern as internet progressed all my original mp3s from napster and kazaa became garbage because i could hear all the shittyness when it went from lower to higher quality music and back.

This because even more evident as the quality of my headphones and soundcards and speakers became better.

The noticing of the shittier quality starts to get on ones nerves after a while.
However in my vehicle because the quality of the speakers and head unit isnt amazing the quality doesnt matter to much. and vbr0 is fine