Can mp3 really sound as good as cd's?

:eek:Does the sound quality from a mp4 player / mp3 usb drive, connected to an amp, is same as that of a CD burned using mp3 tracks? (consider mp3s with bit rate of 128)

If answer is yes, then I can (or any one can) just connect a mp4 player with loads of music to an amp !!!
 
Hi,

It would be nice if people could share their first hand experience about which iPod dock has audiophile quality RCA out.

I was totally disappointed by an iPod playing a WAV file through its headphone out, into a hifi setup.

Thanks,
Sharad
 
Hello everyone

I just saw this post n wanted to post my inputs here ! First of all you can never have the same sound from mp3 song which you can get from the CD !!!!!! The reason is : all mp3 files are compressed form of sound signals , there are n numbers of mp3 variants/formats are available on the internet. While converting song from a cd to mp3 , it sheds out few details which you can not recover even if you reformat it in the original condition !!!! Every mp3 converter has their own way of doing things ,means the details lost during converting is different form each other !! For some people its very difficult to differentiate even if you convert same song by using different converter !!! Now comes mp3 verses audio cd : Do very simple test by your self. Choose any song from your cd for exm. song with good vocal & some complexed part where the instruments are starting from smooth to complexed form, now memorize them , you can also write down those spl notes to compare later!! So now you can convert it in mp3 format for a real test. now play the both and you can compare the depth and details of the song between the two !!!!!! In short, mp3 is a smart digital way to carry or store your songs but for that you have to compromise on few things like , detail.depth which for some people are essential for the sonic impact of the soundtrack ! Thanks RB9
 
MP3 mastered at 256kbps or above is very difficult to detect sometimes even in true
hi fi setup.....if MP3 or any other lossy audio codec were available in the late 1970's then Sony Philips may have used it in designing the Audio CD standard in place of PCM.
 
Actually the mp3 standard is similar to CD at 16bit/48Khz sampling rate capping(44.1 for CD) but when a CD is ripped into an mp3 , the bitrate falls from 1411 kbps to 128 kbps, which does result in loss of quality because some of the information is completely and irreversibly lost. The instruments sound less natural, the overall loudness comes down, the soundstage gets closer, the drums are less deep and the flute is less serene. And it is hugely noticeable. the difference between the sound of CD and mp3 is like the difference between being treated at Taj and being served food at McDonald's. Many people believe that you need a high end system to notice the same but wait. But on any proper system, you can tell the difference.

eventough ,that the fraunhofer algorithm (upon which the mp3 format is based) is highly efficient way of compressing as it takes into account the psychoacoustics and human-perception into account to achieve a high compression to achieve a decent sound. But its up to you to decide whether you want a 'happy-meal' or 'four course meal'

As far as the mp3HD is considered, yes it is CD quality lossless compression but occupies larger space due to 500-900 kbps !
 
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