Just because it's all in your head, doesn't mean it's not real...

[khiemtran]

I've been experimenting lately with itunes to see if I can tell the difference between 192 kbs encoded mp3s and Apple's Lossless Encoding. (I've been trying to work out whether I'm happy buying music from iTMS, or whether it really is worth ordering in CDs.) The answer so far seems to be that I can't pick the difference - in a blind test I can't pick which is which any more accurately than 50 %. Unfortunately, I've also found that if I believe I'm listening to the lossless encoding, than I far more likely to find something special when listening to the music. The funny thing is, this has held true all the way through, even after the results have demonstrated that I can't really perceive a difference. With this in mind, I guess I am stuck with CDs, at least until someone comes up with a new lossy encoding method that I can convince myself really is as good as the real thing.

Comments

[sciamanna.livejournal.com]

Fascinating. I strongly suspect that I do the same thing, though I haven't done a blind test. Because you see, I think I hear a difference -- but at the same time, I'm convinced I'm not in the small (can't remember the number) percentage of the population that can genuinely physically hear the artefacts.

The human brain is fascinating. And yes, I agree with your conclusion. It's like the placebo effect: if it works, don't knock it. We only perceive through the filter of our head: if we didn't, we'd be either enlightened or completely insane :-)

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

Yes, I remember there was an article in the paper a while ago about an experiment where some wine experts had a truly "blind" tasting -- and found they couldn't reliably tell red wine from white. The tone of the article was that it proved that experts had simply been deluding themselves with "mossy overtones" and "hints of stonefruit", but think that was a classic care of missing the point. In the end, it is the perception that counts, not just the raw input, and the perception comes from the whole experience.

[sciamanna.livejournal.com]

Interesting. Though I bet they were given some Australian red... :-) If they'd had Sicilian or Sardinian red they wouldn't have had that problem, I'm sure! (If you like your red wine strong-tasting, try Sicilian. Despite being very strong, it's also about the only red that goes well with fish, because it's not tannic. Well, so I'm told, I haven't had fish for a while...)