Is it a reasonable conclusion that the more complex the mix, the less likely someone is able to discern the difference between different bit rates?

I don’t know about bit-rates, but for equipment testing, I always find it easier to tell when it’s more complex – especially a good live performance of real musical instruments.

These articles are worth a read if you care about truth in audio: https://www.resolutionmag.com/content/slaying-dragons/

The better the resolution of a loudspeaker, the easier it is to hear lossy compression (for a given listener).

One of the things about a lot of modern home audio gear is that the frequency response tends to be surprisingly flat but the transient response is rather flawed – a lot of details are lost. Much of these can be blamed on cones which have high mass vs their cone area, poor stiffness and high self-damping. Conversely an older pre-1980 hi-fi speaker will often have much less flat frequency response but the lightweight paper cone drivers will show up more detail, as will modern high output PA drivers.

I don’t think people would have been as tolerant of the backwards step of MP3 if it had happened in the ’70s. But the gear of the ’00s hid it well. Same with DAB radio.

Interesting video.

I know the guy that used to run Spendor and he’s of retirement age but still designs outstanding sounding passive loudspeaker and loudspeaker systesms:

http://www.hifiplus.com/articles/a-night-at-the-opera/

Doing those listening tests with loudspeakers instead of headphones might be more illuminating – when I’ve tried there is a difference in the so-called imaging, or soundstaging.

Doing those listening tests with loudspeakers instead of headphones might be more illuminating – when I’ve tried there is a difference in the so-called imaging, or soundstaging.

There’s a big difference in imagining with speakers and headphones, with speakers you get bleed from the other speaker, you don’t get that with headphones. It’s why when mastering you really need to do it with both and check balance and phasing issues and the like you won’t hear in headphones..

Interesting comments chiefgrooveguru. Whilst I love the sound of my 1990s era Castle Edens now they’re finally driven properly by some Naim grunt, I still think my dad’s 40 year old Class A Sugden and Castle Pembrokes have the edge, and they’re on terrible stands in corners in a very cluttered house.

Sure, the Edens look better, but for a 25 year newer equivalent model, I’m not convinced they’re quite the leap forward you’d expect.