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Comment by Edinburger | Hacker News Reader

What are you listening on? I expect that most people could tell the difference if they listened on a reasonable quality separate CD player, amp and speakers and compared that with an MP3 player plugged into the same amp and speakers. Unfortunately I don't have an experiment I can cite but having tried it myself, I can say the difference is substantial.

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You're probably experiencing the placebo effect.

If you care there's software that will let you double-blind test yourself to see what bitrate is transparent for you.

LAME above 165 should be transparent (i.e. sound the same as the source) for most people even with good equipment.

well I think rphillips has proven his point with these replys I've done ABX testing with cd and mp3s and I always choose cds correctly those that can't tell the difference i suggest you stop using your ipod earbuds and get something better

notice what he said:

"quality separate CD player, amp and speakers and compared that with an MP3 player plugged into the same amp and speakers"

"MP3 player"

I'd assume that it means iPod-style device, which probably doesn't have as high quality output as "quality separate CD player". Yes, its comparing apples to oranges, but its different from placebo

Good point. I haven't listened to high bitrate MP3s through something like an iPod but with a high-end outboard DAC. With a setup like that I believe it could become hard/impossible to tell the difference.

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