Can somebody who owns the CD single please tell me if the sound quality is any better than that of the download, which suffers from the same problem as Magnificent and Glasscutter - in that they sound really shit.

I'm not talking about the quality of the music either, before the jokes commence.

I noticed better sound on the pressed SST over the download. Not a whole lot, but a little.

8up said:

Me 2

J.S.

Digital media like .wma and .mp3 is never CD quality.

NouveauDance said:

Sure, but most of the downloads from the Musicology store sound 'good enough' at least. Those four - Glasscutter, SST, BNO and Magnificent - sound really bad, and it's not down to file compression.

NouveauDance said:

It is if you rip it directly from your cd to your comp. The quality is "dumbed down" manually, by changing the format or kpbs(sp?). Cd quality usually =128 kpbs(sp?)or sometimes even 192. For instance, I took a bunch of songs from various cds and ripped them to my comp to burn a compilation for my ride, and every song sounds crystal clear.

GodzHand said:

Yep - they might sound fine to you, depending on your audio equipment, but no mp3 is *ever* truly CD quality, not even 320kpbs, because mp3 is a lossey medium, and always loses audio information in the compression process.

I can definately tell the difference between CD and 128 or 160 kpbs, 192 and higher, I'm fine with, but it's all upto personal preference - but don't believe any mp3 is CD quality, it just isn't

I thought the same and bought the CD, there is a noticible difference between the MP3 and CD.

i wish he would have put Glass Cutter and Magnificent
on a maxi single for Te Amo Corazon.

because they do indeed sound absolutely shitty in mp3
format right now.

GodzHand said:

CD quality is actually about 1400 kbps - so ANY lossless file format (WMA, MP3, AAC) is not CD-quality. It cannot be, by it's very nature.

For most listeners, you get a "transparent" MP3 at about 192-256kbps, but the pressed CD will always sound better.

Se7en said:

Exactly, unless you leave in .WAV form, which then it'll be perfect.

I've never been big on needing pressed CD copies of songs - I've always enjoyed the downloads - but SST and BNO definitely sound so much better on CD - I noticed parts (especially on BNO) that I hadn't heard on the download version before.