Local Stereo Store Guy is a bloomin' idiot (unless, of course, your MP3s were ripped so horribly that they have all kinds of distortion in them... but you would hear that).

 

MP3's are not evil however they are and always will be of a lower quality than CD. As far as the human ear/brains ability to hear differences in music quality you can do far better than CD. SACD/DVDA are both better quality and vinyl (Record) is even better.

To tell the differences requires a superb sound system and I have never heard a car system capable of really doing justice to better formats. I have heard $20k home systems that couldn't do them justice.

In short don't worry about damage due to MP3's unless you are playing at the moronic edge of your systems abilities. Do realize that there are much more capable formats available if your system is capable.

 

Here's a quick test for people who think they can discern different tracks simply by listening

http://www.wisetyro.com/Stuff/Music/...blind_test.wav

(MIRRORS:
http://www.sphexi.com/audio_test/the...lind_test.flac
http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~rleemhui/...lind_test.flac)

Each file contain 3 SETS of clips, each clip encoded differently.

No using graphic analysers. Listen to them, and rank them by sound quality... ie>

set 1: okay, best, worst
set 2: worst, okay, best

etc

 

Do you really think listening to these on computer speakers can in any way show variation???

I have a very, very nice home system and if anyone wants to come hear the differences in formats of your choosing I will be happy to set up a date.

MP3 of any quality is unbearable to listen to on my system... in my car, on my friends systems there is little difference if any.

For the average Joe MP3 is fine but to blindly state there is no difference or very little is a fools statement made by people who don't own equipment of high enough quality or have such poor hearing that they are unable to tell the difference.

 

I have the same Ipod setup and there is "distortion" that isn't there when the music is burned to a CD and played. I replaced my speakers during the initial install and I thought I had done a bad job when some of the songs had a little "crackle" in them. Went away playing CDs directly via the HU.

 

you're invited to burn the wav to a compact disc, and play it on your home system.

its why it was posted in the first place

 

I am having trouble downloading the wav because of file size I will let it run and burn it. Probably can't give it a listen until this weekend.

I did play one of the other files, just through the first group on my comp and would say

Best
Worst: Seriously compressed (no highs or lows and distorted)
Good: It has a hint of digital compression in the vocals. Less punch ion the low end

My computer speakers are not great at all but capable with a sub. I expected to hear little difference but it was there. I can tell for sure the second one is likely to be torture on the home system.

 

let me know when you do check it out in full

just to clarify, download link #2 and #3 are MIRRORS of link #1. they are in FLAC (lossless compression) to save space

each file contains 3 "sets" of clips... and they are potentially ordered differently