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Lossless Audio - can you hear the difference?

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Beosince98
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Beosince98 Posted: Fri, Feb 26 2021 6:28 PM

Hi fellow Beoworlders,

I recently came across this website: http://abx.digitalfeed.net

It allows you to check if you can hear the difference between lossless and compressed music on your audio systems. The test is blind and takes a good few minutes. The goal is to match two reference samples (one compressed and one lossless) to the target sample X. At the end you get the result of how many tracks you identified correctly. 

Personal Verdict: With my setup I do not need lossless streaming (I tired on BeoLab 5 and Beoplay H6 second gen). The differences are minute, and without the direct comparison I could not tell you if the track is lossless or AAC 320 kbps. I also found that it is hugely dependent on the song if there is a discernible difference between lossless and compressed.

BeoJosh
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BeoJosh replied on Fri, Feb 26 2021 8:41 PM

What an interesting test--thanks for sharing. I'll look forward to taking it.

Without yet having done so, all I can say is that--to my ears--I was quite surprised what a difference moving from Airplay (AAC) to Deezer Hifi (FLAC) made on my B&O speakers. Everything sounds fuller and more detailed on all my speakers, and it most especially "woke up" my flex speakers.

--
Beovision Harmony 77, Beovision Harmony 65 x2, Beovision Contour 48, LG GX 65/Beosound Stage/STB Stand
Beolab 50s, Beolab 28s, Beolab 18s x3, Beolab 19, Beoplay A9, Beosound Edge, Beosound 2 x2, Beosound 1 x2, Beosound Level x2, Beosound Core x2, Beoplay M3, Beosound 9000, Beogram TX2, Beogram 6500 White Edition, 4000c (on order), Beoremote One x8, Beoremote Halo x3, BLC NL/ML
Beoplay H95 x3, Beoplay EQ x2, Beoplay E8, Beoplay E8 Sport, Beosound A1 x2

BrianP
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BrianP replied on Fri, Feb 26 2021 10:56 PM
I switched from Deezer Premium to Hifi a few month ago to test it out.

I experienced a much richer/fuller sound with a lot more details. The difference is not big but I find it worth spending 50 pct. more for the Hifi subscription.

I have Beolab 5, A9 2nd Gen and H9 3rd Gen.
TWG
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TWG replied on Sat, Feb 27 2021 7:47 AM

There's no technical information what type of file you'll be listening, too. Do you really listen to e.g. an 320kBit/s MP3 vs. an uncompressed 16Bit PCM Wav file? Or do they just present you a 256kibt/s AAC vs. 256kbit/s MP3 file?

A little bit strange... and therefore not usable as a true reference for comparison.




chartz
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chartz replied on Sat, Feb 27 2021 8:39 AM

I cannot hear the difference between CD and Spotify. Let alone lossless.

I thought I could, but in the end I gave up on testing.

Jacques

Carolpa
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Carolpa replied on Sat, Feb 27 2021 11:37 AM

chartz:
I thought I could, but in the end I gave up on testing.
In this test are only FLAC files, if you choose A or B you get FLAC.

So are you tested or directed?

 

Curly
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Curly replied on Sat, Feb 27 2021 12:54 PM

https://archivedforum2.beoworld.org/forums/t/42885.aspx

Currently: BeoLab 17, BeoLab 18, BeoSound Core, Beosound Level, Beosound A1 2nd Gen, BeoPlay S8 Connection Hub, Halo, Essence Remote

Previously: BeoSound 1 non-GVA

Beosince98
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Beosince98 replied on Sat, Feb 27 2021 12:57 PM

TWG:

There's no technical information what type of file you'll be listening, too. Do you really listen to e.g. an 320kBit/s MP3 vs. an uncompressed 16Bit PCM Wav file? Or do they just present you a 256kibt/s AAC vs. 256kbit/s MP3 file?

A little bit strange... and therefore not usable as a true reference for comparison.

I have done some digging and found that this test uses the same samples Tidal used for their test (theirs is not available anymore). The only thing different is the better statistics and the direct ABX comparison. The uncompressed format is AAC 320 KBPS (the highest quality compressed sound format on Tidal). The compressed format is Lossless (FLAC/ALAC). All samples are taken directly from Tidal. 

Carolpa
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Carolpa replied on Sat, Feb 27 2021 1:27 PM

Beosince98:
I have done some digging and found
after looking at the website sources that only FLAC seemed to be used.

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