Does MP3 have a place?
Wednesday, 13th January 2016
Back in the summer, I experimented with BBC radio's 4-channel surround sound broadcasts of the Proms concerts, writing about my experiences in our Connected customer magazine.
You can read about the BBC's pilot here.
Russ Andrews customer Laurence Garrett e-mailed to say:
Laurence's experiences with the surround-sound feed didn't mirror mine, where I was pleasantly surprised by the whole experience. But I did agree with him on one point – that a compressed 320kbps feed can sound quite acceptable, given good source material.
Note that I'm not saying that 320kbps sound is indistinguishable from CD quality or higher-resolution; I'm not, and can quite clearly hear the improvements with non-compressed, higher resolution files. But I do find music compressed at 320kbps satisfactory to listen to; and if the music's good, it makes me hunt out the CD or higher resolution download. I think as a stepping-stone to better quality, MP3 streams (such as those delivered by Spotify, for example) have a place, and we shouldn't dismiss them out-of-hand.
Russ Andrews customer Laurence Garrett e-mailed to say:
"After grappling to obtain a better sound from Radio 3 proms, I tried via my laptop to see what 4.0 sound was like, via HDMI from Laptop to receiver. Hmmm, not spectacular was my result. However, I had not used the FM side of my tuner, and on wiring up that side to rooftop aerial, I was amazed how much better FM was over DAB. I had tried Radio 3 via my smart TV only to bump into streaming problems on the 320kbps connection, and the 128kbps sound was not really worthy. However Linn Radio, 320kbps connection, was excellent. I await the muddy waters of a cash-strapped BBC to clear before I invest in anything off the peg..."
Laurence's experiences with the surround-sound feed didn't mirror mine, where I was pleasantly surprised by the whole experience. But I did agree with him on one point – that a compressed 320kbps feed can sound quite acceptable, given good source material.
Note that I'm not saying that 320kbps sound is indistinguishable from CD quality or higher-resolution; I'm not, and can quite clearly hear the improvements with non-compressed, higher resolution files. But I do find music compressed at 320kbps satisfactory to listen to; and if the music's good, it makes me hunt out the CD or higher resolution download. I think as a stepping-stone to better quality, MP3 streams (such as those delivered by Spotify, for example) have a place, and we shouldn't dismiss them out-of-hand.
Written By John Armer
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