Oh, 100%. I actually tested this by recording bit perfect copies from different streaming services and comparing them with audacity.
I found that they only way to hear a difference between the same song played on two different platforms was 1) if there was a notable difference in gain or 2) if they were using two different masters for the same song. If two platforms were using the same master version, they were impossible to tell apart in an ABX test.
All of this is to say that the quality of the mastering is orders of magnitude more important than whether or not a track is lossy or lossless, as far as audible audio quality goes.
aesthelete@lemmy.world 8 hours ago
Not here to argue I can hear the difference, because I can’t. But in audio collecting where the size and burden of even large lossless files isn’t much different from lossy files, why care? I download the flac files and compress upon delivery to the client where the space might be of a larger concern.
kabe@lemmy.world 8 hours ago
I do the same, as it happens, so I won’t argue with you.
As for “why care?”, I’d say it’s about making informed decisions and not spending money unnecessarily in the pursuit of genuinely better sound quality.
aesthelete@lemmy.world 8 hours ago
Yeah, I don’t get too deep into that game. I do have some higher-ish quality headphones and speakers though. I also find that subs are largely underrated by audio snobs.