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What is lossless sound quality Part 3

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What is lossless sound quality Part 3

Apple Music Lossless: What Devices are Supported? - MacRumors

Although the sense of sound can be quantified through data, it has always been a subjective awareness.

Qué es Apple Music sin pérdidas y qué dispositivos funcionan?

However, apart from the difference in the sense of human hearing, the quality of each piece of music still goes back to the original recording and after recording. production; Many years ago, Sony started promoting high-quality music. When it comes to music and sound quality equipment, the author once talked to a senior engineer at Sony about the difference high quality sound makes to the listener. At that time, the senior engineer pointed out that from the data plane, the high-quality sound format is actually a large extension of high-frequency. However, if you ditch the data specs and record high-quality music with modern equipment, you’ll be able to present deeper, more realistic low-frequency dynamics.

The photo contains electronic accessories, electronics, Sony Walkman NW-WM1 series, Sony DMP-Z1, headphones

▲Although the quality of the original sound is very important, even a well-recorded 320K file with a good playback and listening device can work better than directly using a mobile phone to play a high-quality file with the included headphones

However, this is also seen from the original conditions of the radio equipment, but generally the music released to the market will not be released directly after being picked up. The original audio still needs to go through steps like re-editing, post-production. , synthesis, etc.. The music post-production process will also degrade the sound quality and involve personal preferences. If the editing is excessive, the sound quality will also be affected.

However, if the WAVE format, which is commonly used in standard digital music, is used, no matter what the result of the front recording is and how damaged it is, the music will eventually be compressed into a file with a fixed format. sampling rate, but the content will also include a large amount of inaudible information. ; As for the lossless compression of FLAC, AAC, etc., the sound psychology theory removes information that can be considered non-existent, so that the file can be simplified.

OTOTOY is mentioned in the photo, There is a sound you can’t bru-, Genre Main > Best Selling Album Best Selling EP Latest Release Featured Item Music Information Merchandise Sale IN STORE OTOTOY Academy, including web pages, multimedia, online advertising, computer programs, product

▲ The new generation of recording methods will also use the 24-bit 44.1 kHz or higher format, which can record richer details (Image taken from: Ototoy)

Before we go on to mention high-quality sound, let’s talk about the changes related to recording in recent years; With the improvement of digital recording technology in recent years, the front recording project has also begun to introduce high-quality sound recording to exceed the traditional CD sound quality 16-bit 44.1kHz sampling above 24-bit 44.1 kHz The format is used like the original master tape, although it can only be increased from 16-bit to 24-bit, but the increased amount of data per second means there is more information. If the subsequent sampling rate is increased to 96 bits, the PCM encoded sound curve of the sawtooth waveform can be improved. Close to analog waveforms.

For example, the Japanese digital music platform Ototoy will mark such music based on high-quality recordings with the HQD symbol. Before the term Hi-Res Audio, this type of 24-bit audio based on high-quality recordings and not re-pressed into CD-quality sound. The file is usually completed with a digital mastering level sound quality file, and has been in practice for many years before the appearance of the hi-res level mark. Incidentally, SACDs recorded in 1-bit format and presented in DSD format that is close to an analog curve can also be considered as mastering. It is a kind of high-quality sound quality, but strictly speaking, since the DSD format does not have the editing function, in fact, the DSD file is still converted as a high-density PCM file.

9:41, all colors are mentioned in the photo, including Apple Music Lossless Android, Lossless Compression, Apple Music, Dolby Atmos, 3D Sound

▲Currently, high-resolution music is divided into analog mastering transcription, CD-quality mastering scaling, and high-quality native sound mastering, among which the scaling effect is still the worst

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What is lossless sound quality Part 2

lossless audio

The principle of these audio compression methods is to preserve places that are easily heard by the human ear as much as possible.

Music Lossless

In conventional fixed bit rate (CBR) mode, the audible data in the audio is removed and is easier for the human ear to hear. The more information that is withheld, the less information that is withheld when the part is inaudible. As the complexity of the sound increases, the degree of deterioration in sound quality becomes more apparent. For example, when listening to pure voice Performances and performances combined with background music, pure compressed music for vocals, sounds less degraded than the original file.

As for the lossless sound quality offered by the current streaming platform, there are many formats, but in fact, strictly speaking, these formats, including flac and ALAC, belong to lossless compression (non-destructive data compression) in place of lossless sound quality in a strict sense. The performance is almost the same as WAVE, but the file size is small, the decoding speed is fast, and at the same time, it can be used in streaming services. Therefore, it is also the representative format of lossless sound quality entering the era of non-optical disc media, and it is also the current music streaming service.

In addition, Tidal’s MQA is a more controversial format, because although MQA is general lossless audio reduction, it focuses on making high quality music files higher than CD quality so that they are similar to files. CD-quality flac. original high-quality sound format, but the point of controversy is whether the higher compression ratio can maintain the same real listening experience as the original high-quality sound quality has been controversial, and MQA requires a specific device to perform the hardware decoding. many devices are still only able to do MQA decoding through software.

The photo mentions オーディオ Association が, ハイレゾ対応 machine に, めた processing power, including ハイレゾオーディオ definition, digital audio, high-resolution audio, Japan オーディオ Association, sound quality

▲Today’s so-called High-Resolution Audio generally refers to sound quality above CD, but to be certified, the device must support 24-bit, 96kHz format processing capability.

However, since MP3 and AAC are previously planned destructive music compression formats, their purpose is to compress CD-level sound quality into smaller files, so most of the encoding specifications are presented in one presentation. 16-bit 44.1 kHz or 16-bit 48 kHz CD-level audio, but MQA is a format with a reduced file size that blocks high-quality sound. Basically, the MQA format will be equivalent to PCM 24-bit or top music.

In fact, with that said, current music file formats that don’t emphasize high-quality streaming services, whether presented in MP3 or AAC, are called lossy-compressed music, while high-quality, lossless streaming quality is compressed without loss. music. As for the music heard by traditional vehicles like vinyl and CD, it is called lossless music. In theory, non-destructively compressed lossless music and lossless music should have the same sound quality.

Does lossless sound quality have to be good? Does compressed sound have to be bad?
The photo mentions Browse, Coming Soon, New Single, and Apple. Related, contains media, streaming, apple, eddie library, media

▲ Although Apple Music has released lossless sound quality, its marketing focus is on spatial audio

When the Japanese audio industry started promoting high-quality music, many people jumped up and said that high-quality sound was useless. When Apple Music launched the premium sound format, its executives also said that he was one of the people who couldn’t tell the difference, noting that Apple launched the premium sound service to serve one of those hundred people. ; Before we talk about high-quality sound, let’s go back and talk about the current state of digital music on today’s playback devices. .

What is lossless sound quality

There is no comparison, no harm, if lossless sound quality and high sound quality are necessary, and what differences in hearing can Bit-Perfect bring without going through SRC

lossless & lossless audio

mp3

KKBOX

flac

spotify

high resolution

dolby atmos

Apple

apple music

CAA

360 reality audio

SRC

spatial audio

Bit-Perfect

Although lossless sound quality and high-quality streaming services have been on the market for a while, as have true wireless earphones, Apple isn’t the first to make waves in the market, with Apple’s launch of so-called high-fidelity compressed sound quality. in Apple Music, in fact, after the lossless compression commonly known in Taiwan’s audio industry, lossless sound quality and high sound quality have instantly become a hot topic discussed by many people, but if the benefits of lossless sound quality are really obvious, the author will spend some space from the theoretical concept to the practical level. The differences are briefly described, but the following arguments focus on being easy to understand, so some of the descriptions are not entirely accurate.

What is lossless sound quality? What is the sound quality of the music we usually listen to?
The photo mentions * Introduction to KKBOX sound quality (including format), release year, sound quality, including digital, KKBox, streaming, Hi-Res Audio and Hi-Fi

▲ Both AAC and MP3 are destructive compression, while FLAC and ALAC are lossless compression

Before we go into the details, let’s talk about what is called lossless sound quality; From the author’s concept and cognition, the so-called lossless sound quality is a relative word rather than an absolute word. The main source is the relative word born due to the emergence of the MP3 music compression format. ; After the music industry entered the digital format, digital music files were generally recorded through PCM encoding, and WAVE files were generally used on CDs. The time and space situation of MP3 was Due to the fact that the capacity of the hard disk was generally not large at that time, in order to be limited in the limited space, a large amount of music data is stored in the storage space and you may need to compress the files. .

The reason why MP3 cannot be called a lossless format is because its essence is to compress the original WAVE file with a limited bit rate by combining concepts such as the psychology of sound. In bitrate compression mode, compared to the original WAVE file, the bitrate is at least 1:4 to 12:1. The higher the bitrate, the greater the amount of information retained. For example, AAC format also uses similar audio psychology for compression, but the efficiency is better than MP3. Therefore, the lossless sound quality of most streaming platforms today is mostly AAC as the mainstream.

Photo mentions KKBOX, FLAC format, 16bit/48kHz, related to KKBox, including kkbox Hi-Res, Hi-Res Audio, KKBox, Streaming Media, Hi-Fi

▲ Although the waveform of digital music in PCM format will appear jagged, but as the sampling rate increases, it will be closer to the analog arc curve

Really terrifying audio compression

FLAC

Check the deterioration of sound quality by “appearance”!

FLAC

■ What format do you choose when copying? AIFF, ALAC, AAC … Check the sound quality of each by “appearance”

Music files are the main audio playback source for Imadoki. Except when purchased from online distribution, the sound quality of the music files used here is largely related to the work of reading audio data from a CD to a PC, the so-called “ripping” setting. This time I would like to review that part in a little more detail.

The first half of this article describes the basics of the extraction format for those who want to know what quality of sound to choose when extracting. Perhaps this first half is common information to many file and web readers.

However, the highlights are beyond that. “Really Terrifying Audio Compression” … So, in the second half of the article, “How much does the compressed file actually deteriorate the sound?” And “How much does the sound quality change depending on the bit rate value?” you will check with (→ Visually check the sound quality of AIFF, ALAC, AAC!). I would like you to stay with us until the end.

■ Not to mention now … First, let’s review the basics

The scheme of the options for copying is “compression format (file format)” and “bit rate”. These two determine the sound quality and file size, which is another important factor.

“Compressed format (file format)” refers to formats such as AAC, MP3, Apple Lossless, and FLAC. This selection determines the sound quality, file size, and playback environment.

The “bit rate” is the amount of data allocated per second of audio. The higher the value (kbps), the higher the sound quality, but the larger the file size.

In the case of iTunes, call this screen “Load Settings” from the environment settings and configure the extraction.

Please refer to the following table based on that. We have summarized the characteristics of typical compression formats and bit rate settings.

The item “Sample bit rate settings” in the table is cited from the default settings provided in iTunes (* iTunes does not support FLAC)

First, pay attention to the second item from the left of the table. Compression formats can be broadly classified into “lossy compression”, “lossless compression” and “uncompressed”.

The “lossy compression” method, which AAC and MP3 belong to, achieves a high compression rate = a significant reduction in file capacity by reducing some of the data when compressing audio data. In contrast, the original audio data cannot be fully restored during playback and deterioration in sound quality is inevitable. The degree of deterioration in sound quality changes depending on the bit rate setting. The lower the value of the bit rate, the greater the deterioration in sound quality and, conversely, the higher the value of the bit rate, the more mitigated.

The “lossless compression” method, to which Apple Lossless and FLAC belong, is a method that can fully restore the original audio data during playback, at the cost of a low compression rate. The file size is large, but the sound quality is equivalent to that of a CD. The bit rate fluctuates automatically according to the content of the audio data, and the compression rate is not constant accordingly.

AIFF and WAV are “uncompressed” methods. Extract the original audio data and create a file as is. It does not compress, so it has a lot of capacity, but the sound quality is perfect.

How to normalize FLAC files? Mp4Gain is the solution.

How to normalize FLAC files? Mp4Gain is the solution.

Normalize FLAC

For years, Mp4Gain has been able to serve to normalize the loudness of the most popular audio formats such as Ogg, FLAC, ACC, Mp3, etc and also video such as mp4, avi, flv, mpeg, etc. has received a lot of attention.

Initially it was the normalization of the audio volume level of mp3s, but later we have been able to achieve with great success and great quality to normalize the loudness of all these other audio and video formats.

How to normalize FLAC?

The operation is simple: you just have to load your audio or video files and press the button to normalize your audio volume level and that’s it. In no time you will have the file perfectly normalized.

At the same time you can perform other functions, such as equalizing the sound. and improve the sound quality, modify the bitrate, the samplerate and modify the pitch without affecting the speed or vice versa, modify the speed without affecting the pitch.

How to normalize FLAC files using Mp4Gain?

The easiest way to normalize FLAC files or to convert (and normalize at the same time) mp4 videos or directly convert mp3 to FLAC is to use Mp4Gain, which is as simple as loading the mp3 or an mp4 and clicking on the video and that’s it. you can convert from mp4 to FLAC or from mp3 to FLAC, all with the best sound quality and with the volume perfectly normalized.

WAV has no better sound quality than FLAC

WAV has no better sound quality than FLAC.

FLAC vs WAV

The switch to file playback invites unnecessary discussion.

FLAC y WAV

In recent years, audio equipment has expanded into the field of file playback, which has been handled by personal computers, and most of the players currently on the market are equipped with a USB terminal and a LAN terminal, and they are compatible with various audio formats. .

Network audio PC audio file format Sound quality difference FLAC WAV JPLAY

It can be roughly divided into four formats.

Lossy compressed audio formats, such as mp3 and AAC
Lossless compressed audio formats such as FLAC and ALAC
High quality WAV format equal to or better than a CD sound source
Audio formats other than CD (such as DSD)
If you enjoy music with PC audio or network audio, it is a common understanding that the sound of lossy compressed audio format is worse than that of a CD.

In theory, lossy compressed audio formats lose information during the compression process and cannot be restored to the original WAV file, so if you want to make up for the difference, you can increase or interpolate the information. There is no choice but to “fill in”. Even so, the amount of information is not the same, and since we are interpolating what is not there, although it sounds good, it is only an imitation.

I think the argument that there is a difference in sound quality when there is a difference in the amount of information theoretically was also at the time of the transition from pre-records to CDs and the emergence of SACD and DVD-Audio. The difference in the amount of information is the difference in sound quality, which can be said to be the same when comparing high-resolution and CD-equivalent sound sources. It is true in a sense, although it is conditional on the material at the time of production being good.

Discussion of lossless compression formats
On the other hand, as a story to debate among people who enjoy PC audio and network audio, there is a similar story between WAV files equivalent to CD sound sources and FLAC files in lossless compression audio format.

WAV sounds better than FLAC.
Sound is better without tag information.
So make all sound sources WAV and remove all tags.
No, it’s inconvenient without a label, so commit to FLAC
Certainly, the sound output between FLAC files and WAV files may sound different if you play it back on a PC or network audio player. Even at home, when I play it on the Marantz NA-11S1, I feel a slight difference.

Network audio PC audio file format Sound quality difference FLAC WAV JPLAY

However, WAV files, FLAC files, and the CD sound source used as the extraction source are originally sound sources with the same amount of information, unlike the lossy compressed audio format. Which is better, when playing on a CD or when playing a WAV file, or when the sound source is the same?

The answer is fixed.

It depends on the quality of the player.

If you are good at playing CDs, you will hear them better. If you’re good at playing WAV files, WAV files should sound better. Since it is related to the creator’s commitment, I think the sound quality may not be exactly the same depending on the playback path and the processing method.

Similarly, FLAC has the same amount of information, so there should be no difference in sound quality. But it certainly sounds different. I think it should be the same.

Let’s change our perspective and look at the lossless compressed file format, which is not an audio file.

What audio format should I choose?

What audio format should I choose?

Best Audio Format

The audio format is usually a measure of the quality of a track. There is a lot of debate about which is the best music format. So I recently witnessed a similar dispute. Not virtual, but real. In general, I decided to write an article on audio formats and human language to try to explain what is the best audio format. I’ll try to avoid abstruse terms and feature descriptions, so as not to hurt the brains of readers again.

BEST AUDIO FORMAT

Right away, I admit that I will not sing praises in honor of any particular audio format, just as I will not “skip” anyone. Let everyone decide for themselves. I will not go into the “jungle” and review the most famous formats of high quality music.

I believe that these disputes are conducted by people, to put it mildly, not well versed in this matter. Because professionals (that is, people who know what they are doing and why they are doing it) will not do it. With today’s abundance of audio formats, anyone who needs it will find what they need. Agree, a dispute between a tractor driver and a driver about which is better – a tractor or a car will look silly. For some purposes a tractor, for others a machine. Here it is the same.

WAV is rightly considered the highest quality music format. This audio format is not compressed or lossy. Used for recording and processing sound, this is the highest quality sound, as the WAV recording is not compressed. Encoded to any other audio format. Well, as a result, it “weighs” a lot, which is why it’s mainly used for sound recording.

The following are several “interpretations” that can be divided into:

Lossy audio compression

I’ll start with the well-known and widely used (though not always loved) MP3 format. This audio format is actively used everywhere and everywhere, where it is needed and where it is not needed. But this does not mean that it is not worthy of the place it occupies in its niche. Very worthy. Although he has been “sitting” in his niche for about two decades, no one has “kicked” him out of there yet. And there were many who wanted to say it. And the main favorite of them is WMA (Windows Media Audio), which was conceived by Microsoft as an alternative to MP3. As a result, it is an alternative and it is, despite the best efforts of the developers. The next character is OGG. Despite the broader possibilities than MP3, for example, it never received widespread acceptance. Although it is compatible with many operating systems. Perhaps, it is worth mentioning the AAC audio format, which was supposed to replace MP3 in the relay. Encoding quality has been improved and compression loss reduced. But Ay.

The main advantage of these formats is their small size. The downside is the loss of quality.

Lossless audio compression

FLAC is perhaps the most popular lossless audio format and encoding codec. Music lovers are gradually switching to this format. WavPack competes with it, but it is not that popular. It’s the same story with Apple Lossless, which reduces the size to 60%.

Here the story is exactly the opposite: the quality is better and the size is greater.

Skeptics say that it is almost impossible to distinguish MP3 (320 kbps) from Losless by ear. “And if there is no difference, why pay more?” In fact, it is quite difficult to feel the difference in audio formats on common equipment, even for music lovers. But there are those who immediately feel this difference (they personally attended the experiment). But when listening to a good device, the difference is huge. The problem is that not everyone can afford a good device.

Are there sound differences between WAV and FLAC?

What format is the best? Two fundamental opinions have prevailed over WAV and FLAC. The audio test reveals whether the perceived sound differences between theoretically identical music files are correct.

FLAC

The music file on the hard disk consists of several components that are in a “package”. In addition to the actual music data, the container contains information about the format, resolution, and album information (metadata).

In the WAV container format, PCM (CD) data is saved uncompressed and lossless. FLAC saves the data in a way that saves more space. This is known as lossless compression. The two basic views of FLAC / WAV are:

The FLAC and WAV containers have identical data registers, and therefore sound absolutely the same, based on a technical abstraction (bits are bits).

WAV sounds clearly better than FLAC based on subjective listening experience.

Who has the reason

The two basic questions are:

Is the music data in the two WAV / FLAC containers identical?

Does the playback of the data, which includes the FLAC unpacking process, produce sound relevant errors?

For the comparison to be meaningful, the two files must come from the same source or have gone through the same extraction process.

FLAC offers different compression rates from 0 = no compression to 9 = high compression and smaller file size. The standard value is 5 and offers a medium level of compression and a reduction in file size of about 45 percent. The FLAC encode-decode process is asymmetric, that is, the computational effort to encode (once) is greater than to decode (multiple times / playback).

An extraction program uses the checksum to check if the data was extracted without errors. Good to know: encoding the data and filling the container with audio and metadata only takes place after the extraction process has completed. This means that the extraction process in the first stage is always the same, regardless of the container format to which the data is transferred in the second stage. Also, metadata and audio data are not nested with each other. Each item has its own storage area in the container.

How can the files be compared to each other?

Two teams of exactly the same force in a tug-of-war competition do not move from the venue, as 180 degrees opposite, equally large forces cancel out. In audio technology, exactly this principle is used to compare audio signals. With the call set to zero, the two audio signals to be tested are added, that is, they are mixed. Before mixing, one of the two is reversed (mirrored). A previously positive half wave is now negative and the negative half wave is correspondingly positive.

If there is no difference between the WAV and FLAC data, the result after mixing should be a zero, graphically a straight line (the two files are added to one file). If the musical data is not absolutely identical, then the graph shows a wavy line (the difference in level between the two signals). If the level of the inverted WAV signal is reduced by 0.1 dB, the two audio signals are no longer identical. The waveform remains unchanged, but there is a level difference that must be recognized as a difference signal when zeroing.

conclusion

The FLAC process does not change the binary data in any way. FLAC and WAV audio data are identical, the compression process is bit accurate. If small differences can be heard in a system, processing errors occur during runtime (primarily, the process computer generates errors on the time axis due to additional computational effort). In other words: the system produces the hearing difference. Just like a CD, played on two different systems, it can sound different.

What is really … FLAC?

FLAC (Free Lossless Audio CODEC): Unlike lossy formats like MP3 or the lossless AAC method of storing audio files. Any audio enthusiast who values the highest quality of their digital music collection should consider saving their tracks in FLAC format.

FLAC vs MP3

FLAC vs. MP3: lossless and lossy

As you can read from the English name, FLAC is free and lossless audio compression. Everyone knows the audio compression principle of the MP3 file format. On a commercially available audio CD, a typical three-minute song takes up around 30MB, after conversion to MP3, on average only about one-tenth of that, or 3MB.

Lossless FLAC Audio

The reduction is very high, especially noisy, and consciously non-perceptible parts of the original signal are lost, which is hardly a restriction for listening pleasure. However, it is never possible to calculate exactly which parts are really irrelevant to the listener, so useful information is also destroyed during compression – the quality decreases compared to the original.

This is where FLAC comes in. This codec does not compress the audio signal according to psychoacoustic methods, but rather mathematical ones. Although FLAC has a relatively low compression rate (on average, the above-mentioned three-minute track in FLAC format would be around 15MB in size), the quality is exactly the same as the original CD. The fact that the file size can still be reduced is due to the fact that musical signals contain redundant information from a mathematical point of view due to their high periodicity. Therefore, FLAC is perfectly suited to digitally archive your lossless CD collection.

How can I play FLAC files?

Common audio players can play FLAC files. In addition, more and more audio devices, such as AV receivers or Blu-ray players with USB or network connections, can play not only MP3 but also FLAC. Teufel’s audio transmission systems also reproduce the format flawlessly.

Finally, the small drawback: CD files in FLAC format quickly get very large. With 100 CDs, you get a storage requirement of around 40GB, while the same number as an MP3 file only takes up about 7GB. But if you have a superior (diabolical) system at home, you will quickly appreciate that you are hearing exactly what the music producer had in mind when the recording was made: an impressive listening experience with no compromises.

Conclusion: is FLAC the audio format of the future?

FLAC is a format that compresses audio data without loss. So it is qualitatively equal to CD.
FLAC files are as easy to create as MP3s, but they take up much more space than MP3s.
The audio format is ideal for digitizing CD collections and adapting them to the future.

What is FLAC ‘lossless audio’?

FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec)

FLAC

FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) is, like Mp3, an encoding for digital audio. In fact, FLAC is even a high definition version of MP3. In this article, you can read what this means in terms of sound quality and why you should consider adding a FLAC file to your digital music collection.

FLAC stands for Free Lossless Audio Codec. Let’s start with the ‘Free’ part of the name: FLAC works with royalty-free licenses and an open format. To better understand the “lossless” part of the name, it is important to explain how a standard MP3 file stores data.

The standard encoding format for digital audio: mp3

MP3 is a proprietary encoding format that compresses standard CD audio. Note that for most CDs, the average 3-minute track occupies approximately 30 Mb of storage capacity. This is quite a lot. In the days of the first MP3 players, when storage space was still quite exclusive, this was too much. Additionally, limited broadband Internet access was also a limiting factor in file sharing. One logical consequence was that smaller files became increasingly popular. The birth of the mp3.

An MP3 file with a 128 kbps bit rate requires no more than 3 Mb of capacity to store the aforementioned 3-minute track. This is possible using a mathematical model, which removes the parts of the track that are invisible to the human ear. This results in a more compact and even more complete file.

Because MP3s use a type of compression in which part of a track is permanently removed, we also speak of a ‘lossy’ format. A mathematical model chooses which parts are not relevant, based on the science of psychoacoustics or the study of how the human ear perceives sound.

For example, the maximum range of hearing in a young adult is between 20 and 20,000 Hz. Track values outside this range are removed from the MP3 and so are very low tones that match the loudest sounds. This ensures that a track can be played at 128 kbps, or 128 thousand bits per second, which is the perfect format for easy streaming and downloading.

The trade-off: convenience versus quality

The flaw with an MP3 file, however, is that this form of compression is done at the expense of the quality of the track. That is the commitment to create such a small and easily transferable file. A good pair of speakers is sure to put a finger on the sore spot here: cymbals that sound pretty clean, duller bass tones, and less clear track reproduction than the CD or vinyl version.

However, MP3 bit rates can also vary between 96 and 320 kbps with different quality levels. During CD to MP3 conversion, a process also known as “ripping”, most software offers the ability to set the bit rate to be converted. 128 kbps is synonymous with radio quality, 160 kbps looks pretty much what it sounds like on a CD in terms of playback and 320 kbps is close to the original.

However, many people doubt that the difference between the various bit rates is really audible. Quite old people, who listen to music through MP3 players or headphones, even prefer the sound of MP3 files with low bit rates. You can hear the difference?

When good is not good enough

For those who crave perfect sound, with lively power, clear clicks and rich resonance in high resolution, even 320kbps will be below average. This is where FLAC offers a solution. Although FLAC files are only 50% smaller than their CD counterparts, they are capable of an impressive feat: compressing with the same quality as the original. For example, a 30 Mb file like FLAC would only be 15 Mb, but it would sound at the same level as the original in terms of sound quality.

By applying a different compression technique, in which psychoacoustics is ignored, FLAC manages to preserve all the original data. So unlike MP3, nothing is removed to reduce the file size. Therefore, FLAC is labeled a “lossless format”. Instead, the FLAC algorithm reduces unnecessary information in the file. To speak in terms of listening experience, this means that the entire dynamics of the music file is maintained throughout its width. Sudden increases in sound level, known as transients, are also avoided. The sound of cymbals and drums is always brilliant. Headphone Mute BT with aptX codec

The clearer reproduction of tones is also due to the absence of sonic elements, which often cause problems with lossy files (MP3, etc.). These elements are formed when insufficient data was collected during compression to display the original file after decompression. This results in hissing or hissing noise or a grainy appearance.

Is FLAC worth it?

The answer to that question basically depends on your wishes, as MP3 files can also sound particularly good on a high-end speaker set. Especially when it comes to files with a high bit rate. Although most hi-fi speakers often exhibit a flaw or lack of dynamics in the sound. Have you invested in better speakers and want to make sure you don’t miss any details in the sound? In that case, it’s definitely worth listening to music through FLAC files.