Can you really tell the difference between lossless and lossy compression?
If you mean, can I tell the difference between 128 kbps encoded music and lossless, yes I can, in certain types of music. Generally, I can’t with most pop and rock music, particularly the more modern stuff that compresses the heck out of the dynamic range. But I can tell the difference with music that takes full advantage of CD resolution’s dynamic range (I think the CD format’s dynamic range isn’t good enough as it is, but that’s a topic for another day.) Can I tell the difference between carefully encoded 320kbps MP3 and lossless? I can’t in A/B testing. But I once had my music library encoded in 320kbps, and one thing I discovered is that I have to stop listening after an hour or so, whereas that’s not a problem with music encoded with a mathematically lossless algorithm. Clearly, something’s happening to create listening fatigue. Maybe it’s all in my head, maybe not. But it’s an issue nonetheless for me. The earphone connector on the iPod is terrible Well, it’s better on the newer
