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Apr 24, 2018
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For me, it would be difficult to discuss discernible differences in audio quality without going through some history and my experiences with lossy compression.
When I was 14, the MP3 format had just started to emerge. I was experimenting with encoding my CDs in various compression rates whether it were fixed or variable. Back then, it was really easy to tell if something was encoded in MP3 even at higher bit rates. Anything encoded in 128kbps sounded like it was ran through a ”pluging-into-the-matrix” bitcrusher filter. Sounds encoded in 320kbps didn’t sound as bad, but still, the artifacts of compression were very apparent. This mainly had to with the quality of encoders.
Since then, different methods have been employed in encoding MP3s and M4As which nowadays, contain less of those artifacts. You can actually invert a modern 320kbps encoded MP3 and subtract it from a 44.1khz CD quality image and discover that very little is taken out. It’s at a point now that, unless you‘re doing an A/B comparison, there’s very little telltale signs that something has been compressed. However, there very much still exists a difference between lossy and lossless audio.
Although it’s not as aggregious as it was with older encoders, the difference is still noticeable; specially if you’ve spent the last 5 years listening to compressed, lossy music, and make the switch back to lossless. At 44.1khz / 16bit lossless, you start to hear a better representation of the soundstage. This is due to reverb trails being reproduced at a greater fidelity, allowing your ears to hear their full extent which perceptually opens up the space where the sound lives. Minute differences in amplitude become discernible. It’s microscopic, but you start to hear the trail end of snare hits last half a millisecond longer and the leading end of transients extending further out. Although minor, it makes quite a difference in how we perceive the music. The returning frequencies that were lost in compression also breathe a new life to songs. Then there’s diminishing returns with increasing to higher sample rates like 96khz / 24bit masters due to the limited physical ability of our biology to transduce differences in atmospheric pressures. There’s also the aftermath where the marginal difference in fidelity we experienced when first switching to lossless gets lost eventually due to our ears getting accustomed to the sound. At least we can rest in the fact that we’re getting the best quality if we have lossless.
As it stands, I would really love to listen to lossless since there are parts of songs completely lost in lossy compression. But, having no desire to buy and store physical copies of CDs and wanting the convenience of streaming content over the internet, I haven’t got much choice. Tidal offers lossless for around $25, but until they improve their music library and the god-awful app, I shall have to be content with Spotify’s 320kbps service.
Apr 24, 2018
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