How good of an audio setup do you need to be able to hear a difference between FLAC and MP3 320kbps?

[Bucknekked]

Yeah, $20K. I'll get right on that.......

@highfigh @lovinthehd @-Jim-
I believe our OP and chief argumentarian is one of those audio snobs of a particular disorder.
I saw it in a review once. "cork sniffers" was the quote.
I think mr mono-bloc is a cork sniffer for sure.

 

[lovinthehd]

@highfigh @lovinthehd @-Jim-
I believe our OP and chief argumentarian is one of those audio snobs of a particular disorder.
I saw it in a review once. "cork sniffers" was the quote.
I think mr mono-bloc is a cork sniffer for sure.

We just don't appreciate the crowd he runs with (or imagines he does?)....

 

[highfigh]

I guess our systems aren't 'resolving enough'.

I grabbed this last week as I was watching a YouTube video about some new speakers- ran pink noise and used the Dynaudio RTA app while sitting in my usual spot. Not scientific by any means, but not bad, for 2.5-way using 6-1/2" drivers and a 1" textile dome tweeter. The deviations in amplitude are purely from the normal fluctuations in the pink noise, although I need to address the region around 1.5KHz because it's a touch strong.

 

[kevintomb]

Sir, this is nonsense and 100% false. I suggest you find another forum to post in if you wish to continue with this meaningless gibberish.

It was a typo obviously, calm down...LMAO

 

[highfigh]

Luxman have become quite trendy, but for a better word if you can find a M 900u, grab it. These mostly never seem to hit the showroom floor, and are snapped up on "back" order lists. Currently a a Luxman M 900u retails for close to $20.000 us The Pre-amp C 900u is around the same price.

Things cost what they cost. Buy a mazda at a low price, Buy a Maserati it might just cost a bit more. Or to put it another way you could buy a 6 bed room house on acres, or buy a shipping container, and tell yourself your happy. It all comes down to what your prepared to spend.

I don't need to think about the price of my possessions to be happy with them and price isn't an absolute guarantor of quality. Since you mentioned cars, look at the number of expensive cars that are train wrecks when it comes to reliability. Don't tell me they're on the edge of destruction just because they're tuned so well, either- that's a BS way to think. High price SHOULD bring quality and durability/reliability, not fragility.

 

[Swerd]

@highfigh @lovinthehd @-Jim-
I believe our OP and chief argumentarian is one of those audio snobs of a particular disorder.
I saw it in a review once. "cork sniffers" was the quote.
I think mr mono-bloc is a cork sniffer for sure.

It's not the corks he's sniffed that I worry about. It's all those other "sniffables".

 

[3db]

Perhaps snorting too much of her own wares?

I like the color purple!!!!

 

[Bucknekked]

It's not the corks he's sniffed that I worry about. It's all those other "sniffables".

@highfigh @lovinthehd @-Jim-

Our cork sniffin' OP was tossing out examples of expensive gear he considered "entry level" stuff to show us rubes how much he knows about high end gear. Two of his examples, the Gryphon amps and the Magico speaker line, I happen to know a teensy bit about. So, what separates a cork sniffer from a genuine enthusiast?

A friend of mine retired from the company we worked for and I took over his job. In that exchange of jobs, I learned about his audio hobby and blahblahblah we have become friends over the years with audio as our common ground.

He didn't retire til he was way passed 70 so his timeline to enjoy his endgame audio systems isn't unlimited so he decided to buy his dream gear and to heck with the cost. You can't take it with you so let's splurge. He bought a Gryphon Amp to replace his already fabulous one and a set of Magico's to replace his already fabulous speakers. He is strictly a classical music guy and he knows his sound. Most people could never spend that kind of dough on audio. But for him, what else did he love that much?

For two pieces of gear, he was north of $50,000 USD. Yet it wasn't about the cost of the gear. I would wager he hasn't mentioned the price of the gear to anyone, even me. I just looked it up. But for him it was his dream gear.
And in the years since he has loved it and listened to it and enjoyed it as much as anyone I know. He never talks about cost. That's not why he bought this stuff. One can invest in high end gear, stuff that the average guy on the AH would never consider, and still be honest and true to your own values. He's not a cork sniffer because he bought his stuff for love of music. He's a 2.0 channel stereo listener to classical music. When he listens to Beethoven, so do his neighbors!

 

[BMXTRIX]

If I were a money is no object guy, I would likely get some Meridians. I heard the Meridian rep walk into a store I worked at, hooked up some B&W 801D speakers to a McIntosh amp and then reference between the Meridians and the B&Ws and the Meridians were significantly better sounding... In our store, with our equipment, with zero additional setup. It was one of the few times I was really blown away by how much better something sounded and how confident the Meridian rep was when he was talking about how this would blow us away.

If this was their 'pre-staged' gear, I would have been wondering what BS he was pulling, but it was OUR top dollar gear. We were Meridian dealers as well as B&W dealers, so we sold things and made a profit either way. But, it opened my eyes to the quality of their well matched active speakers of the time.

On that type of gear, I'm not worrying about FLAC vs. MP3. I'm wondering why I'm not listening to high resolution audio ALWAYS. I would be in the CD+ audio quality section of my life at all times. Why in the world would this even be a debate? If you're dropping $10,000+ on speakers for music listening, then spend a few bucks to ensure what you're listening to is CD or better quality at all times.

On my current Airpods, I'm happy with my MP3s.

 

[kmidst]

The question of what's available is an interesting one... Firstly we have to consider the scale of the product, and the cost factor. Your obversely not looking at the same price scale as I am. Probably because you have no understanding of the high-end audio market To you a bookshelf speaker is worth a couple of hundred dollars, which is your level of expenditure. The high-end market is the stuff on display at audio show's like Munich. Where the very rich and sometimes famous like to dangle there cheque books or wave a Mastercard So lets consider a couple of examples of high-end entry level audio gear, firstly speakers, Martin Logan CLX $49.000. Tannoy Westminsters $80.000. YG Acoustics Carmel $38.800 Magico A3 [very entry level ] $27.050 Magico S3 $66.600. Do you get the picture,, and all prices are in Aussie dollars So please don't insult my intelligence with statements about product prices you have no knowledge off. Just as a matter of interest look up the price range of your own USA made Boulder Amp's. and be sitting down when you do so.

You aren't fooling anyone, you know. You're in the crowd that pushes these insanely high priced snake oil items to the fools you mentioned who have too much money to burn. This forum is for people who understand the limitations of their gear and seek to get the best cost to performance ratio. More expensive does not equal better. Companies just convince people of that so they will spend more.
Audio quality has diminishing returns, namely that it seeks to represent the source material recording as closely as possible. There is no magic to it, everything else you do to the reproduction is just coloring the frequency range. Going out and buying a $5000 power line filter, for example, is not magically going to make your music sound beautiful.
But I know you won't give up, because you have a vested interest in this. Just know that it's shady and takes advantage of people. That means you have given up your "good guy" card. I'm sure you don't GAF though. Enjoy the lack of respect you receive in that case.

 

[cpp]

I like the color purple!!!!

I like blue