One is a sound engineer, and the other a sound designer. Utterly destroyed, I sent the test to two other headphone reviewers. The program concluded that I probably couldn’t hear the difference between 320kbps files and FLAC files. After two tries, I received the same result I came up with the correct answer only 54% of the time. So, I decided to take a short version of the test myself. One Googler directed me to an online program designed to test your ability to differentiate between a Spotify 320kbps file and a FLAC. Sure enough, I found a bunch of musicians and audio professionals who were dumbfounded by the same discovery. I went online to see if other audiophiles had this problem. Still, was I losing my hearing? I’m a musician, and I review headphones for a living, so this was a terrifying possibility. Not the best headphones on the market, but certainly an expensive, high quality model that relatively few people would be willing to dish out money for. I should preface this article by saying that the headphones I used were my Westone W40’s. Can You Hear The Difference Between Spotify And High-Res? Well, there’s a test you can take to give you a definitive answer. So, I compared another song and got the same result was I hearing a difference, or was my brain playing tricks on me? After a few obsessive comparisons, I came to the conclusion that I could hear very little difference, if any, between the two files. Maybe I heard a difference, but I wasn’t sure. But just out of interest, I decided to compare it to the same song on Spotify. So, with excitement, I signed up for a trial subscription and listened to a song. What the hell, I can dish out $20 a month if it means uncompromised sound. A streaming service, much like Spotify, that provides FLAC files with its premium subscription.

Being an audiophile, I naturally want the best sound I can get. But I’ve also listened to high resolution files, and they sounded fantastic. I’ve been a loyal Spotify subscriber for a few years now. Can You Hear the Difference Between Spotify and High-Res?

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