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BicBoiBen OP t1_je8jyoy wrote

Reply to comment by TheHelpfulDad in Are audiophile headphones that noticeable? by BicBoiBen

Would Spotify on its best quality be a good enough sample? Or are streaming services in general not too good in that department?

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No-Context5479 t1_je8stuo wrote

That person is speaking horse shit... Spotify is audibly indistinguishable from higher bitrate files of the same master source during an ABX test

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smalg2 t1_je8n88l wrote

Spotify on best quality is 320kbps Vorbis (a patent-free alternative to MP3). It should be virtually indistinguishable from lossless for human ears (while using about 3 times less bandwidth / storage).

Here's a blind test comparing 128 kbps MP3, 320kbps MP3, and lossless. See if you can hear the difference ;-) Personally I can hear the difference between 128kbps and the rest most of the time, but not between 320kbps and lossless.

Note that Vorbis is slightly better than MP3 if I remember correctly, so if you can't hear the difference between lossless and 320kpbs MP3, you likely won't hear the difference between lossless and 320kpbs Vorbis either.

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