HERESY said:
YOUR ears have been TRAINED to listen. the "average joe" doesnt even know when he is listening in mono or stereo. when i find the link to the homerecording.com test i will post it for you. they did a test on 24bit recordings and 16 bit recordings. maybe you can listen for yourself and see if a difference exists.
You're right, the average joe isn't anywhere near as picky & critical as I am of sound quality but he does usually know when something sounds better. It would be interesting to read what their findings were if you can find the link. Especially if they did things like FFT analysis and spectra-graphing. It's important to know what environment they conducted their tests in too.
we can go into the proven mathmatics all day long. nothing has been etched in stone. you have people that endorse 16 bit who will come with a math formula as well.......
I will say that the higher-bit-rate argument does have points that are fact and undebatable by the lower-bit-rate supporters. For example (and I mentioned this in an earlier post), the more bits you have, the more audio information you have to work with. The more audio information you have to manipulate, the more possibilties there are. Thats just fact. Slowly but surely, 16bit will become dinosaur technology just like 12bit, 10bit, 8bit and 4bit. That evolution will never stop.
But I absolutely agree with what you said, nothing is etched in stone because in the end. Or ever will be if you ask me because it's all about what sounds good to you as an individual. No two people hear the same so it really is just a matter of opinion.
until the AVERAGE JOE gets his hand on a 24 or 32 bit cd player that plays 96k or higher does it really matter? 5000000 bits or 666k. a person who doesnt know what they are doing can STILL make it sound like crap.....
I would say it does matter but that's just my opinion. I'm more the type who is willing to push the envelope rather than just make-due with what the majority prefers. And without a doubt, a person who doesn't know what they're doing can definately use good recording environments and still come out with crap!
Thanks to the independant market, there's plenty of good examples of that to choose from.
You can always find someone who is willing to argue and debate the shit to death. All I can say is fuck it man, do what sounds good to you.