Can you hear the difference betweel FLAC and MP3 320?

[caseyjones955]

I really couldn't easily hear the difference before. Even with a basic but fairly decent car stereo I could hear no real advantage to loading up my phone with much larger FLAC files, even at home it was hard to tell the difference.

I cant justify or afford the speakers I really want and being a cheap bastard I did a bit of research and decided to go with some DIY options and landed on some waveguide towers/center and a pair of 18"sealed sub kits and low end sub amp and still landed under $2500 unless you count the hours spent finishing it all up. Now Ive been re ripping my shit into FLAC files, the difference in sound quality is obvious. Seems most people cant distinguish it though. My AVR is a shitty entry level Yamaha I picked up years ago fro Best Buy so nothing high end there. I was going to buy an Anthem AVR but the Vmax popped up and ruined that.

I'm wondering of the folks here who can tell the difference? Who even maybe doesn't know or care what FLAC or MP3 is? If you can hear the difference whats your basic setup.

 

[DMAN999]

I only listen to mp3's using my little Sansa MP3 player (in my car and on my Vmax) so 320 kbps mp3's work just fine for me.
I do have some FLAC versions of some songs/albums but I can't hear any difference when I play them.
I'd guess if you had a Very high end system you'd notice a difference.

 

[Tex85]

Unless your an audiophile with a pile of money to throw away on super high quality audio systems you might as well go with high bitrate mp3s. Flac is definitely higher quality but 99% of the population will never know the difference.

 

[Foxviewnet]

Probably correct on not hearing much difference. Its a faster download than ripping a CD and like mp3 it lacks digital rights management so it is popular for this reason. Make as many copies as you want. It's a good internet transport for higher quality audio so many record companies are starting to embrace the FLAC format. It has actually been around since 2001.

 

[adambweird]

I have some lower end audiophile grade equipment that ive pieced together over the years through various endeavors and i dont hear the difference. BUT, im also half deaf in one ear due to tinitus from a softball accident (ALWAYS slide into 2nd when the short stop scoops it!!).

 

[caseyjones955]

Unless your an audiophile with a pile of money to throw away on super high quality audio systems you might as well go with high bitrate mp3s. Flac is definitely higher quality but 99% of the population will never know the difference.

My dream speakers are modified Infinity IRS V but the likely hood that I will ever find a pair and be able to afford them at the same time is pretty remote. That would be a great example of high end audiophile equipment, if I had that much spare scratch I think I would be on a brand new K bike.

These that I just put together make the difference clear. The EOS-8 waveguides are around $12 each and the compression drivers are around $35 each, that handles all the high freq. I've always been lukewarm to horn loaded speakers but these dont behave to much like horns. I love the clarity of horns but they wear me out after awhile, not all day speakers IMO.

What I cant hear is the difference between fancy high $ HDMI, speaker or RCA patch cables, but some people swear they can. Nor can I hear difference between my $400 6kw sub amp and the much higher quality Emotiva amp we auditioned, $2000 difference, no sound quality change that I could hear.