Can you tell the difference between Lossless and compressed? - Blu-ray Forum

Jimmy Bro · 10-12-2012, 04:56 PM

Can you actually tell the difference between the DTS-HD/Dolby TrueHD/LPCM and the normal DTS and Dolby compressed formats?

Is it a huge difference?

Franchot · 10-12-2012, 05:08 PM

I can tell the difference.

I think a lot depends on the quality of your speakers and headphones. Lossless sounds more open with a natural timbre and a "you are there quality" whereas compressed sounds tinny, artificial, and as the name implies "compressed"--everything squished together with less separation between the different instruments, voices, noises, etc.

Compressed soundtracks also tend to be louder and more one-note than the more open lossless soundtracks.

mywhitenoise · 10-12-2012, 05:41 PM

I honestly can't tell the difference when it's a film, and I have the equipment to showcase it. I can hear a difference between vinyl (or SACD/DVD-A) between CD, and I can hear a difference between CD and high quality mp3s, though.

pentatonic · 10-12-2012, 06:26 PM

I can on pretty much all BDs, but have to play it fairly loud to really appreciate the difference. The biggest difference I find is the dynamic range that lossless has. Mind you it's not night and day but there is a nice jump in AQ for me.

Pelican170 · 10-12-2012, 06:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mywhitenoise

I honestly can't tell the difference when it's a film, and I have the equipment to showcase it. I can hear a difference between vinyl (or SACD/DVD-A) between CD, and I can hear a difference between CD and high quality mp3s, though.

Never heard of such a thing haha. MP3's are such bad quality....

Johnny Vinyl · 10-12-2012, 07:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pelican170

Never heard of such a thing haha. MP3's are such bad quality....

MP3 is available at various levels, such as 64, 128, 256 and 320. Many people can't tell the difference between a 320 MP3 and a flac file. This is not unlike the difference between what the OP described.

pentatonic · 10-12-2012, 07:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Johnny Vinyl

MP3 is available at various levels, such as 64, 128, 256 and 320. Many people can't tell the difference between a 320 MP3 and a flac file. This is not unlike the difference between what the OP described.

Exactly and let's be honest, the difference between a well encoded 320 mp3 and a flac file (or DD and lossless) will not be evident on all playback devices. But when I use my headphones for example, there is a difference. How much though is where I think the debate lies.

Pelican170 · 10-12-2012, 08:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Johnny Vinyl

MP3 is available at various levels, such as 64, 128, 256 and 320. Many people can't tell the difference between a 320 MP3 and a flac file. This is not unlike the difference between what the OP described.

Well, I convert my mp3's to higher levels myself, and CD's still sound far better IMO... I just think MP3's are very convenient but dont sound good at all...

Johnny Vinyl · 10-12-2012, 08:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pelican170

Well, I convert my mp3's to higher levels myself, and CD's still sound far better IMO... I just think MP3's are very convenient but dont sound good at all...

You can't UPconvert your MP3's...it is what it is.

Pelican170 · 10-12-2012, 08:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Johnny Vinyl

You can't UPconvert your MP3's...it is what it is.

well then the program i have is bogus but thats what i thought it would do. Maybe thats why i think all mp3's are crap lol

Nick The Slick · 10-12-2012, 08:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Johnny Vinyl

You can't UPconvert your MP3's...it is what it is.

You can upconvert them, but you can't make them sound any better in the process. Pretty sure that's what you're saying but just clarifying that. On the original subject though, I can tell a difference between compressed and lossless. As others said though I notice much more of a difference between MP3's and FLAC than I do between DTS/DD and DTS-HD Master/DDTrueHD (but I do notice a difference). With music the main differences i hear are vocal clarity, separation of instruments, and better sound stage. With movies it's mainly little details like surround effects and more defined bass. Can't really do a side by side comparison though so that's all subjective.

Johnny Vinyl · 10-12-2012, 09:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nick The Slick

You can upconvert them, but you can't make them sound any better in the process. Pretty sure that's what you're saying but just clarifying that. On the original subject though, I can tell a difference between compressed and lossless. As others said though I notice much more of a difference between MP3's and FLAC than I do between DTS/DD and DTS-HD Master/DDTrueHD (but I do notice a difference). With music the main differences i hear are vocal clarity, separation of instruments, and better sound stage. With movies it's mainly little details like surround effects and more defined bass. Can't really do a side by side comparison though so that's all subjective.

Thanks for clarifying that as that's indeed what I meant.

As as as the other part of your post, I personally completely agree. Well said!

Remo · 10-12-2012, 09:36 PM

I absolutely could tell the difference on a blu-ray concert. I did a bit of a "blind" test, had the girlfriend put in a blu-ray concert and she chose which to play dts or dts-hdma (I was in a different room when she was choosing ). I would go back in the living room when it was playing to listen for a bit then leave and she would switch or not. After a few rounds of this I knew when dts or dts-hdma was playing.

octagon · 10-12-2012, 09:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jimmy Bro

Can you actually tell the difference between the DTS-HD/Dolby TrueHD/LPCM and the normal DTS and Dolby compressed formats?

Is it a huge difference?

I like to think I can tell the difference but the only times I'm really sure are when the lossy track is really poor. Interview with the Vampire comes to mind.

But for the most part, I don't usually hear night and day differences between lossless tracks and reasonably good lossy tracks.

mywhitenoise · 10-12-2012, 10:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pelican170

Never heard of such a thing haha. MP3's are such bad quality....

That's my point. I can tell the difference between CDs and "high quality" v0 rips.

Petra_Kalbrain · 10-12-2012, 10:51 PM

Yup. HUGE difference between them... on the proper equipment of course.

jlafrenz · 10-12-2012, 11:01 PM

Yes. The process of ripping to a losses format doesn't take any more effort and hard drive space is cheap. No reason not to go for it.

Al_The_Strange · 10-12-2012, 11:11 PM

I never used to hear the difference (in music or movies), but I can now.

krazeyeyez · 10-20-2012, 05:27 PM

Will you miss out if you have never heard it no. Assuming you have decent equipment and hearing is there a difference. Most definitely yes. Many of the early blu-rays defaulted to a lossy track and within 5 minutes i would know something did not sound right. Even on subtle tracks. Now is it worth investing to take advantage of just this feature... probably not but if your upgrading it would be nice capability to have.

Clark Kent · 10-20-2012, 05:37 PM

It's easiest to tell a difference on music, especially symphonic scores and the like. Most Hollywood scores are recorded with a high degree of fidelity and clarity to begin with, and some of that does get lost when played on a lossy soundtrack. It's tougher to discern on dialog and other incidental sound effects, though certain sounds like gun shots and other sharp noises do seem to lose a bit of timbre and punch across all frequencies when played in a lossy manner.

That is why I hate it when they include an isolated score, only to give it a lossy soundtrack. The collector's edition of French Connection only gave the isolated score a 5.1 Dolby Digital soundtrack.

10-12-2012, 04:56 PM	#1
Jimmy Bro Expert Member Top contributor Member since:Jan 2011 Location:Australia 4K collection:43 Blu-ray collection:458 DVD collection:63 Blu-ray reviews:15	Can you tell the difference between Lossless and compressed? Can you actually tell the difference between the DTS-HD/Dolby TrueHD/LPCM and the normal DTS and Dolby compressed formats? Is it a huge difference?

Thread Tools
Show Printable Version Email this Page
Display Modes
Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Switch to Threaded Mode

10-12-2012, 05:08 PM	#2
Franchot Senior Member Member since:Jan 2012 Location:Signal Hill Blu-ray collection:303 DVD collection:12	I can tell the difference. I think a lot depends on the quality of your speakers and headphones. Lossless sounds more open with a natural timbre and a "you are there quality" whereas compressed sounds tinny, artificial, and as the name implies "compressed"--everything squished together with less separation between the different instruments, voices, noises, etc. Compressed soundtracks also tend to be louder and more one-note than the more open lossless soundtracks.

10-12-2012, 05:41 PM	#3
mywhitenoise Power Member Top ranked HT gallery Top contributor Member since:Apr 2009 Location:California Home Theater Gallery:19 4K collection:73 Blu-ray collection:238 Blu-ray reviews:3 Trading Score:4	I honestly can't tell the difference when it's a film, and I have the equipment to showcase it. I can hear a difference between vinyl (or SACD/DVD-A) between CD, and I can hear a difference between CD and high quality mp3s, though.

10-12-2012, 06:26 PM	#4
pentatonic Blu-ray Ninja Top contributor Member since:Jan 2009 Location:Montreal, Canada Blu-ray collection:570 DVD collection:1 Blu-ray reviews: 6 Trading Score:158	I can on pretty much all BDs, but have to play it fairly loud to really appreciate the difference. The biggest difference I find is the dynamic range that lossless has. Mind you it's not night and day but there is a nice jump in AQ for me.

10-12-2012, 09:36 PM	#13
Remo Expert Member Member since:Jan 2012 Location:Michigan Home Theater Gallery:12 Blu-ray collection:248 DVD collection:24 Trading Score:73	I absolutely could tell the difference on a blu-ray concert. I did a bit of a "blind" test, had the girlfriend put in a blu-ray concert and she chose which to play dts or dts-hdma (I was in a different room when she was choosing ). I would go back in the living room when it was playing to listen for a bit then leave and she would switch or not. After a few rounds of this I knew when dts or dts-hdma was playing.

10-12-2012, 10:51 PM	#16
Petra_Kalbrain Blu-ray Archduke Top contributor Member since:Jul 2007 Location:Vancouver, BC 4K collection:5 Blu-ray collection:561 Blu-ray reviews:3 Trading Score:20	Yup. HUGE difference between them... on the proper equipment of course.

10-12-2012, 11:01 PM	#17
jlafrenz Special Member Top ranked HT gallery Member since:Feb 2010 Location:Columbia, MO Home Theater Gallery:48 Trading Score:4	Yes. The process of ripping to a losses format doesn't take any more effort and hard drive space is cheap. No reason not to go for it.

10-12-2012, 11:11 PM	#18
Al_The_Strange Blu-ray Prince Top contributor Member since:Apr 2009 Location:Out there...past them trees... Home Theater Gallery:126 4K collection:1125 Blu-ray collection:4949 DVD collection:530 Digital collection:1013 Blu-ray reviews: 132 Trading Score:32	I never used to hear the difference (in music or movies), but I can now.

10-20-2012, 05:27 PM	#19
krazeyeyez Blu-ray Samurai Member since:Dec 2007 Location:the guy on the couch Home Theater Gallery:18 Blu-ray collection:287 Blu-ray reviews:4	Will you miss out if you have never heard it no. Assuming you have decent equipment and hearing is there a difference. Most definitely yes. Many of the early blu-rays defaulted to a lossy track and within 5 minutes i would know something did not sound right. Even on subtle tracks. Now is it worth investing to take advantage of just this feature... probably not but if your upgrading it would be nice capability to have.

10-20-2012, 05:37 PM	#20
Clark Kent Blu-ray Prince Top contributor Member since:Oct 2007 Location:Metropolis Blu-ray reviews:2 Trading Score:184	It's easiest to tell a difference on music, especially symphonic scores and the like. Most Hollywood scores are recorded with a high degree of fidelity and clarity to begin with, and some of that does get lost when played on a lossy soundtrack. It's tougher to discern on dialog and other incidental sound effects, though certain sounds like gun shots and other sharp noises do seem to lose a bit of timbre and punch across all frequencies when played in a lossy manner. That is why I hate it when they include an isolated score, only to give it a lossy soundtrack. The collector's edition of French Connection only gave the isolated score a 5.1 Dolby Digital soundtrack.

Best iTunes Music Deals