On Sun, 25 Jan 2004 14:26:53 +0000
Laurence Payne wrote:

A compressed format isn't going to sound *better*.

Not wishing to incur the attentions of two individuals here, but...

define better ;-)

Now, to be clear, I *totally* agree that mp3 will never be better in terms of faithfullness to the original.

But one interesting point is this.

My hearing is not 'usual', in that I dont seem to filter what I hear the same way as other people.

This can cause me a lot of problems and makes it very very hard for me to follow a conversation if more than 2 people are talking, for example, as I hear *everything* - my brain doesnt seperate out the streams from different people properly.

The same applies to music, which in many cases I think allows me to get more out of a track, however it can also make a track sound VERY stressfull, as I have to really concentrate in order to hear it properly.

I have found that lower bitrate CBR mp3 (128, 160, 192) tends to 'throw away' some of what is distracting me, and makes some tracks far more enjoyable to listen to.

Again, this falls entirely into the same category as using tone controls to make things 'better', and is not the more accurate kind of 'better'.

Just thought it was an interestng point.

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