Are IE 80s Good Enough for FLAC Files?

[syfi777]

Hi All,

I have recently tried a month free subscribtion with Tidal. I was interested in trying out there much higher bitrate than Deezer (not Dezezer Elite)

I have tried to listen between the two sources and i cannot for the life of me notice a differnce.

I do have a pair of IE 80's which i listen to through my smart phone (Samsung S6)

So are IE80s good enough to notice the difference or could it be from my smartphone? and if so would an portabal amp be needed?

It may be stupid for me to expect to hear a difference when listening on just my smart phone, but my knowledge in the subject is very limited. Sorry if this is a stupid question.

Best Regards,

Simon

 

[insider9]

I've not heard your earphones but at that price there should be an audible difference. Whether you'd hear it it's a completely different matter. Some people cannot tell the difference between Spotify/ Deezer and Tidal/CD. It's ok not to hear a difference, in fact treat it as a blessing in disguise. It may save you quite a lot of money down the line.

If you would like to hear a difference then listening directly from your smartphone doesn't help. A better quality DAC would be necessary. Something like Dragonfly Black should give you a good idea of what to expect with a better quality DAC.

Please audition and don't take my word for it though. We all hear things differently 🙂

 

[Dave_]

There's nothing wrong with your phone or earphones, and i'd avoid the advice of anyone trying to convince you otherwise.

You heard no difference because there wasn't one to be heard, plain and simple...

 

[lex365]

I have these exact IEM's I can say with 100% certainty there is no audible difference between FLAC files and good quailty MP3's. This is also backed up by countless articles and videos online of blind tests between the two. The difference through a driver that small is just not going to be audible. There are a few things you can do to get the most out of your portable audio such as investing in a DAC (Dragonfly Black or Red/Chord Mojo would be excellent choices) and trying out an app like Onkyo HF Player.

From several years of owning and using good quialty IEM's the only thing that has made any noticeable difference assuming you already have some good quality music files was investing in a good portable DAC.

 

[dalethorn]

I can say with 100% certainty there is no audible difference between FLAC files and good quailty MP3's.

MP3's are lossy, and FLAC should be lossless. So there is a difference when the MP3 creator tosses away some of the data to achieve its compression. It is true that with some playback gear and some music tracks, no differences would be heard by many audiophiles in a casual listen. Then again, most audiophiles don't really know exactly what to listen for. Musicians who have perfect pitch are good candidates for judging.

More to the point though is that blind tests are conducted on many false premises, so before setting up a blind test, a little research helps a lot:

http://www.stereophile.com/content/listening-143#RqYbaDZVFd38FSeJ.97

 

[lex365]

That was more a reference to listening through IEM's. Of course a compressed file can never sound as good as an uncompressed file for obvious reasons but it will sound identical to the vast majority of people.

From my own personal experience I cannot notice any difference at all between 320kb MP3 files from the FLAC files they have been created from, both using my portable music rig (iPhone 7/Onkyo HF Player/Chord Mojo/ie80's) and my at home set up listed below.

 

[alchemy1969]

Hi All,

I have recently tried a month free subscribtion with Tidal. I was interested in trying out there much higher bitrate than Deezer (not Dezezer Elite)

I have tried to listen between the two sources and i cannot for the life of me notice a differnce.

I do have a pair of IE 80's which i listen to through my smart phone (Samsung S6)

So are IE80s good enough to notice the difference or could it be from my smartphone? and if so would an portabal amp be needed?

It may be stupid for me to expect to hear a difference when listening on just my smart phone, but my knowledge in the subject is very limited. Sorry if this is a stupid question.

Best Regards,

Simon

[/quote I think you expect too much from your phone, Grado IE80 is way much beter in sound that you can hear on phone output. Think about some decent in-ears or some external DAC for Grado s....

 

[dalethorn]

Hi All,

I have recently tried a month free subscribtion with Tidal. I was interested in trying out there much higher bitrate than Deezer (not Dezezer Elite)

I have tried to listen between the two sources and i cannot for the life of me notice a differnce.

I do have a pair of IE 80's which i listen to through my smart phone (Samsung S6)

So are IE80s good enough to notice the difference or could it be from my smartphone? and if so would an portabal amp be needed?

It may be stupid for me to expect to hear a difference when listening on just my smart phone, but my knowledge in the subject is very limited. Sorry if this is a stupid question.

Best Regards,

Simon

The IE80 is good enough, but the factors influencing the final sound are complicated. Basically, if the higher bitrate guys aren't getting the higher bitrate to you (and others too, in all probability), then they should do some tests to find out why. But they probably won't.