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I'm trying to increase the quality of music I listen to. I have most of my music in MP3 format, and have never heard anything in the FLAC format, though I'm aware that the quality is superior. I just had a few questions.
How noticeable is the difference on its own. That is to say, using the same average headphones and my computer as a player, will I notice much of a difference between MP3 and FLAC or would I need some top shelf headphones as well? What do those of you who are FLAC users use as a portable player?
I'm looking to purchase a pair of $70-80 headphones since all I have are some average earbuds. Would some moderately priced Sennheisers be good enough to notice an increase in quality, or does it really not matter until you get into the $100 range?
Any advice for someone trying to upgrade music gear would be greatly appreciated.
Follow Ups:
I agree, I've started using Flac's, big difference.
Makes a 128/320 sound like a 64. I can't stand my 128's now.
I agree with much of the advice you've been given in this thread. i just want to add that if you are ripping your cds, i would use flac, as you can always make mp3 copies of the flac files for your portable, and still have the flacs for later as your gear and ears get "better". if you only have mp3 you cannot get back the info you lost via compression, and will have to re-rip.
Flac/mp3 players are free. You should be able to rip a track at 320kbs MP3 and at FLAC and play back and decide for your self. From an audiophile perspective which is what you will get mostly on this board, there is only FLAC and WAV, no MP3 listening here for the most part. For me on a old iPod Shuffle and $40 Senn PX100's, the difference in 320kbs MP3 and any lossless codec was readily apparent, not subtle at all.
Firstly, find better quality headphones that are both easy to drive and well suited to the type(s) of music you listen to. If you listen mostly to Rock (or similar styles), the Grado SR60i headphones are both dynamic sounding and easy to drive. But, if noise leakage is an issue or if you prefer acoustic music you may want to buy sealed headphones or headphones with a different tonal balance. Check out this list...
Edits: 10/30/11
Take the setup you have now and rip a CD in two different formats. First rip to mp3 at the level of resolution you listen to now (128?). Then do a separate rip to a full resolution WAV file (or AIFF is fine if you're using Mac). Then directly compare the mp3 version of the track to the full resolution WAV file. FLAC will just be a lossless compressed version of the WAV, so this should give you a good reading on what you should expect between the two different levels of resolution.
If you hear no difference then there are likely 2 or 3 points of weakness. As you suggest, you may need better headphones. Second, you'll probably want a better DAC than the one that is on the default sound card in your computer. The default sound card is, at best, just ok. And third is possibly optimizing your OS and music player software.
Hope this helps.
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