Tried this blind-test on another forum too, and i am interested in hearing more oppinions.

I recorded 2 minnutes of "Out of space" from "Their law" CD 1. One time as WAV (losless) and one time as MP3.

Afterwards i converted the MP3 back to losless WAV. Converting the MP3 back to WAV does not make the sound better or worse. It will still be the sound from the MP3, inluding compression artifacts etc. I only did this so that you have to use your ears to judge, and not filename and filesize.

In this RAR archive you will find the 2 WAV files, named 1.WAV and 2.WAV. One of those files was once the MP3 file. No tricky questions, just download and listen and see if you can hear which is which. There is a 50% chance to guess the correct answer, but please give a good reason for what you choose.




The MP3 file had been compressed to around 2,8 MB which is 7,25th of the size of the losless WAV file. (LAME 3.92 VBR/ABR at 128<192>256 kbps 44,1 khz (average was 195kbps))


I hope it is not against the forum rules to post this, as it is only 2/5th of the original song

File 2 is the mp3.

Actually both of them sound just as bad... :p

When comparing to my own wav file of out of space!

Forgot to say, i will give you all the result in a few days when everyone has had a chance to listen properly.

Where is your rip from?
What made you choose file 2?

2 people just voted without listening or what?... comeon

I actually voted for file 2, thought I could hear some difference, but honestly not really. And since file 2 is made 15:27 and file 1 15:40 I reckon file 1 is th e mp3....

the remastered one. I used oos from the their law cd.

I base my listening on the cymbals when i do tests like this.
With less bitrates the cymbals gets bad.. more "scratchy"
hmmm......
Don't know how to explain it properly, but I've been doing similar tests on my self...
But with different bitrates of mp3 and various other compressed formats!
To kinda figure out which bitrate to grab cd's in! I'm still sticking with Lame 3.97 Constand bitrate in 320 kbps.
In that bitrate people can't really tell the difference!

File 1


To hear if some file is compressed I use the "Karaoke" effect from my audio controller software (it's "RealTek Sound Manager", I use the "Toggle Voice" feature and turn the voice off). If you use Winamp, it basically does the same as "stereo voice removal" preset from Signal Processing Studio plug-in. And then I mostly pay attention to hi-hats and cymbals like Jericho-X, because that's where the compression does the most damage. The sound becomes.. don't know how exactly to describe it, it's somehow distorted.. for example, on hi-hats it sometime sounds like there's a "flange" effect on them. If a file is compressed in lower bitrate (for example 128) you can mostly hear it on all the sounds from the background. On some 128kbps files I hear the difference without the "karaoke" effect, especially if I have headphones on..

In this case, I had to use the headphones because without them I couldn't hear any difference. At the 00:13 point I can hear the compression when the first cymbal comes in (didn't listen further).

I can't tell the difference

and I don't think I can tell the difference between 2 MP3s of different kbps either (I gotta check that out)

but I have to say I prefer OOS on the Remastered Experience (from Experience Expanded, over the Their Law one)

This IS the one from Their Law

Hmm that's weird Maybe I'm just getting old...

Now where's the hearing aid.......

File 1 was the mp3. Votes were as follows:

File 1 [ 1 ] 12%
File 2 [ 4 ] 50%
I cant tell the difference [ 3 ] 37%

1% didnt vote on anything