Newbie question, mp3 quality
 

Hi All, and thanks for any help for this newbie.

My new flat mate has a good quality stereo (~300 GBP amp, 450 GBP
speakers). I tried plugging my laptop in, and compared the one album we
both had (his on CD, mine in mp3 format). The difference was amazing,
with the CD sounding so much better I thought about getting rid of my
whole collection.

I did wonder if it may be the sound card making a difference however.
This was on a cheap dell laptop with the built in sound card. Is there
any point in getting a good sound card and using my desktop to play
them? Is there anything else I could do? It does not need to be
perfect, but somewhere close to CD quality would be good. I tried
playing the CD from the laptop, and that sounded fine.

The mp3 I used was Pink Floyd, Speak to me. Stats according to AVICodec
= Audio : 1.68 MB, 192 Kbps, 44100 Hz, 2 channels, 0x55 = Mpeg-1
audio Layer 3 (MP3), Supported

I noticed one of my mp3's had a much higher sampling rate. I guess 10
times the size is going to be alot better, but I was not convinced.
Audio : 149 MB, 1411 Kbps, 44100 Hz, 2 channels, 0x1 = MS PCM,
Supported.

Newbie question, mp3 quality
 

The difference was amazing,

It depends on why the difference was amazing: your mp3 may not be an
mp3 of the CD you compared against. A much better test is take the CD
and turn it into an mp3 and then compare that.

If you compare mp3 and CD on a good audio system you will hear
differences. On a typical computer audio system the difference is
usually less noticeable. Playing the CD and mp3 on your computer should
show this.

I tried playing the CD from the laptop, and that sounded fine.

This suggests the soundcard is good enough and that the major
difference lies with the mp3 encoding (but first make sure your
comparison is valid).

Newbie question, mp3 quality
 

David Jones wrote:

I noticed one of my mp3's had a much higher sampling rate. I guess 10
times the size is going to be alot better, but I was not convinced.
Audio : 149 MB, 1411 Kbps, 44100 Hz, 2 channels, 0x1 = MS PCM,
Supported.

That's not an MP3. That's a PCM copy of the CD data and should sound
identical if played through the same DAC.

--
Mark.
http://tranchant.plus.com/

Newbie question, mp3 quality
 

andy wrote:
The difference was amazing,


It depends on why the difference was amazing: your mp3 may not be an
mp3 of the CD you compared against. A much better test is take the CD
and turn it into an mp3 and then compare that.

I shall give that a try.

If you compare mp3 and CD on a good audio system you will hear
differences. On a typical computer audio system the difference is
usually less noticeable. Playing the CD and mp3 on your computer should
show this.


I tried playing the CD from the laptop, and that sounded fine.


This suggests the soundcard is good enough and that the major
difference lies with the mp3 encoding (but first make sure your
comparison is valid).

I have just asked at work, and my boss reakoned that when you play a CD
in a computer it has very little to do with the sound card. Are you sure?

Newbie question, mp3 quality
 

Mark Tranchant wrote:
David Jones wrote:

I noticed one of my mp3's had a much higher sampling rate. I guess 10
times the size is going to be alot better, but I was not convinced.
Audio : 149 MB, 1411 Kbps, 44100 Hz, 2 channels, 0x1 = MS PCM,
Supported.


That's not an MP3. That's a PCM copy of the CD data and should sound
identical if played through the same DAC.

Oh yes, .wav. I did not notice that, thanks.

Newbie question, mp3 quality
 

Are you sure?

When playing a CD the soundcard will convert from digital to analogue
and provide a bit of amplification.

When playing an mp3 the soundcard will do the same plus it might decode
the mp3. If it does not then the computers main microprocessor will do
it.

Newbie question, mp3 quality
 

andy wrote:
Are you sure?


When playing a CD the soundcard will convert from digital to analogue
and provide a bit of amplification.

When playing an mp3 the soundcard will do the same plus it might decode
the mp3. If it does not then the computers main microprocessor will do
it.

I see. I guess there had to be a digital to analogue converter in there
somewhere. So if the CD sounds good and the mp3 does not, then there is
not much I can do to make the mp3 sound better?

Newbie question, mp3 quality
 

So if the CD sounds good and the mp3 does not, then there is
not much I can do to make the mp3 sound better?

Not starting from an mp3. However, if you have access to the original
CD then you could make a higher quality mp3.

I should add that higher quality mp3s are not a disaster. It is quite
likely that when you compared your mp3 against a CD you were not
hearing mp3 vs. CD differences but differences in the original source.

Newbie question, mp3 quality
 

"David Jones" wrote in message

Hi All, and thanks for any help for this newbie.

My new flat mate has a good quality stereo (~300 GBP amp,
450 GBP speakers). I tried plugging my laptop in, and
compared the one album we both had (his on CD, mine in
mp3 format). The difference was amazing, with the CD
sounding so much better I thought about getting rid of my
whole collection.

Just about everything is wrong with this comparison.

(1) No level matching
(2) Not time synched
(3) No assurance that the MP3 was well-made from the same CD
as it was being compared to
(4) No bias controls (hardly worth mentioning given how
bollixed up the rest was.)

There are the basics of doing a good comparison - manage
them well and you may learn some neat stuff.

Newbie question, mp3 quality
 

Arny Krueger wrote:
"David Jones" wrote in message


Hi All, and thanks for any help for this newbie.

My new flat mate has a good quality stereo (~300 GBP amp,
450 GBP speakers). I tried plugging my laptop in, and
compared the one album we both had (his on CD, mine in
mp3 format). The difference was amazing, with the CD
sounding so much better I thought about getting rid of my
whole collection.


Just about everything is wrong with this comparison.

(1) No level matching
(2) Not time synched
(3) No assurance that the MP3 was well-made from the same CD
as it was being compared to
(4) No bias controls (hardly worth mentioning given how
bollixed up the rest was.)

There are the basics of doing a good comparison - manage
them well and you may learn some neat stuff.

I had a bit more of a play last night, though I came up with much less
clear cut answers. I got the CD and riped the music to mp3 at 192 and
320 kbps, and also micro$ofts lossless format. My mate could not tell
the difference between any of the compressed formats when he did not
know which was which. He did get that the CD was better, but was not
sure. The CD in the CD player was deffinatly better. I have decided I
shall have to splash out on a new sound card (see my other thread,
Choosing a sound card).