Neil Young Says MP3 Isn't Good Enough; Neither Are CDs

[teknomedic]

they're not good enough... they've not been good enough for a while... if Amazon, Apple, etc would just stop selling the MP3 versions and move on to better formats like FLAC (Crapple devices would need to support it though)..... (goes back to read article)...

 

[zybch]

[citation][nom]teknomedic[/nom]they're not good enough... they've not been good enough for a while... if Amazon, Apple, etc would just stop selling the MP3 versions and move on to better formats like FLAC (Crapple devices would need to support it though)..... (goes back to read article)...[/citation]
The problem is that its not a universal standard. There are very few popular devices that can support it, let alone native OS support without installing plugins and codec packs.

 

[zodiacfml]

This is nonsense. Pretty much like the Megapixel race with digital cameras.
The weakest link in audio is the speakers. Get yourself some electrostatic headphones before changing bothering with the audio format.
The sampling rate on a CD is good already, this is the reason why MP3 was invented, to throw out the CD recording information that most people wouldn't notice.
In addition, in older age, hearing gets impaired too.

 

[uruquiora]

[citation][nom]Thunderfox[/nom]How can someone as old as Niel Young have the hearing capacity to distinguish between an MP3 and anything else?[/citation]
that's the most stupid comment i read in probably the last 10 years, and there's a lot of shyte around the we... Well considering your comment, you don't really love music, or don't play any instrument obviously...
[citation] most people would be hard pressed to notice it.[/citation]
well... not if they have a decent amplifier and speakers...

Personnaly i hope we will have the network infrastructures one day to allow playback with such a format... that's every music lover's dream...

 

[Guest]

1510Kbps DTS is orgasmic. I have a few audio files at 96KHz 24bit 4mbit rate. Sounds like pure bliss. If you think the average human cannot tell a difference between this and some sh1t mp3 @ 320kbps then you must be deaf.

 

[endrewsmith]

I personally can't tell the quality difference of a MP3 at 256kbps and one at 320kbps. So High quality mp3's are good enough for me. I see no point in wasting HDD space for quality that i can not perceive

Probably because you haven't tested with good headset/IEM. I don't have so-called "gold ears", but with my JVC FX700, I can tell 256 apart from 320. The latter is more fuller and lively than the former. For instance, in MJ's Stranger in Moscow, sounds of raindrops hitting asphalt is so real in 320, but not so much in 256. But I can't distinguish between 328 and FLAC though.

 

[iam2thecrowe]

[citation][nom]JackFrost860[/nom]Isn’t Steve Jobs the very reason why loss compressed music file are ubiquitous today?[/citation]
he is the reason you pay for it.

 

[back_by_demand]

[citation][nom]amk-aka-Phantom[/nom]amk-aka-phantom says it is. Just as much credibility.[/citation]
Why was this thumbed down? Neil Young & Crazy Horse may have produced some great music but anyone with ears can listen to it and state that MP3 is an inferior audio reproduction
...
Because MP3 is so ubiquitous it is now almost impossible to get rid of it, but seeing as almost all torrented pirate music is MP3 people just deal with it whilst the true audiophiles are a minority

 

[back_by_demand]

[citation][nom]bmerigan[/nom]So... you don't believe Bluray is better than VHS?[/citation]
VHS is just magnetic tape, there is a device that can record PC data onto a VHS tape, you could easily have 50GB of Bluray movie stored.
...
Not very practical, but how cool and retro would it be to have "Avatar, Extended 3D Edition" playing on a VHS tape?

 

[stoogie]

You guys lack common sense, FLAC is fine for now, unless you have a $10,000 audio setup you won't tell any difference. And how many people have such a setup you think? Yes not many. So trying to push a better audio quality is a stupid idea at this point of time considering the costs. And sif thumbs down my comments, there's more than 1 meaning to a sentence.

 

[WyomingKnott]

[citation][nom]Thunderfox[/nom]How can someone as old as Niel Young have the hearing capacity to distinguish between an MP3 and anything else? Is there a difference between MP3 and CD? Yes, but that is the price of convenience, and it's not like there aren't already better formats than MP3 anyway. Mp3 is desirable because everything can play it and it has no DRM.Is there a difference between a CD and DSD or SACD or whatever newfangled formats may arise? A bit perhaps, but most people would be hard pressed to notice it. And besides, how much music over the last few decades was mastered digitally? Was their equipment comperable to the quality of DSD? If not, get ready to buy all your music in new remastered DSD editions again.[/citation]
To the first question, it's more a matter of training than age. I can hear the difference (CD / compressed) fairly clearly, and I don't spend as much time listening to music as Neil Young does.

To "Is there a difference between a CD and DSD or SACD or whatever newfangled formats may arise?" once again it's a question of experience and of individual physical ability. SACD simply encodes more of the music than CD, and CD more than a lossy MP3 file.

You are right, it is the price of convenience. But, to push an analogy too far, some of us are content to eat fast food, some will take the trouble to cook, and some save up to be able to experience gourmet restaurants.

My wife can't hear the difference between good speakers and my TV. I, personally, can tell the difference in my studio headphones between sound that comes from my sound card and sound that was converted and amplified by my headphone amp. The headphone amp lets the music breathe a little more easily.

Some people can't tell the difference; for others it becomes a tradeoff between convenience, price, and quality. No-one will say that MP3s should be eliminated. But it might actually make sense to have high-quality versions available for those who prefer them. And the higher the quality of the master, the better everything down the line can be.