One of the discs that I have really been looking forward to listening to on my M80s is Yes, Close To The Edge. I only own it as an 320kbps mp3. Since some here say they hear no difference between this and full fidelity disc, I thought I would give it a whirl.

I must say, this is the first dissapointment. The bass seemed a little recessed and undefined compared to disks like Dire straits live or Clapton Unplugged.

I must say that I am noticing a lot more difference between discs in how they mix tracks, but this mp3 just didn't have the sound I was hoping for.

Now I need to go and buy the disc somewhere. Sigh...

Let us know what you think when you do find the disc please. I'm considering re-ripping all of my CDs now that I have the Axioms and 320kbps seemed like a good mid-point for file size, functionality with most MP3 players, etc.

I'll be curious about what you think when you do the A/B comparison.

Hi Fredk,

It's not the MP3 at 320 kbps that's at fault, it's the original source recording that's no good. I don't know that particular album, but if you get the CD version (assuming the mastering source was the original), then the CD will sound equally disappointing.

MP3 at 320 kbps is remarkably transparent for all but a few rare musical instruments, such as castinets and some other percussion. In the codec transparency tests I participated in some years ago with a big group of panelists at the NRC in Ottawa (the same tests were repeated in the UK and Australia with the same A/B/X protocol and test selections), you had to go to lower data rates with MP3 before any audible artifacts showed up. We did about ten different codecs (some were clearly inferior and were rejected). But MP3 at 320 kbps and a couple of others (a Franhauffer codec from Germany as well) were excellent.

Regards,

Alan

Alan, was *.flac part of that comparison? Could you tell the difference between a 320 kbps mp3, a flac file, and a wave file?

Thanks for the informative reply Alan.

Thanks Alan. As always, that was an extremely informative post.

Since I personally didn't do the compression, I was thinking that there could be several reasons why I was dissapointed including the hardware involved, and the original source.

Whenever I buy a new CD, the 1st thing I do is rip it in ITunes and use my media server to stream it to my XBox360 which is connected to my Theater System. When I rip, I rip at 320kbps and I would consider it 95-99% of the fidelity of the orignal.

Fred, I am pretty familiar with that album, and I'd be surprised if you found the CD version as satisfying as the other impeccably-produced disks you mentioned. Like Alan, I don't think it is the (lossy) compression. I've always been disappointed that the production quality of Yes recordings doesn't live up to the level of the virtuosity.

If I was going to spend time ripping my CD collection (and I DID...) I'd rip to FLAC. It takes more space but it is lossless, and there are utilities you can use to convert from FLAC to lower bitrate MP3's for portable devices. Storage is cheap. Just make sure you back-up

I agree with Tom. The early Yes recordings are pretty crappy to say the least which is truly unfortunate. One of the better recorded Yes albums is "Relayer"

Thanks Tom. I guess you have answered several questions for me. There is an audiohpile release of Roundabout that I will probably end up getting.

Unfortunately I don't think the later stuff Yes produced is anywhere near as innovative/interesting as the early albums.