Originally Posted By: joden

Nope, it makes no difference to any device (player or PC) if the device is playing back a wav or an MP3, the ONLY difference is quality of sound and size.

WMA - MP3 - AAC = no difference, only personal preference and hype!


FILESIZE is where the performance difference can be problematic.


Consider those using a laptop in live performance.

Consider the hard disk here.

There are also other considerations.

Most certainly a .wav file is a better audio than a compressed file. This is mostly due to truncation of the frequency range anymore, if the better codecs are used for conversion.

BUT - That pesky Law of Diminishing Returns weighs in as well and at that point one has to exercise a bit of common sense within the given situation.

*Live Performance -- What does the typical Live Performance situation actually entail?

Are you always guaranteed an acoustically treated situation in most live venues or are you at the mercy of whatever is actually and really there?

Are the shapes of the different venues even taken into account as to their acoustic properties? Not the typical live venue where someone would likely be using backing tracks or BiaB, we're talking the typical bar or restaurant venue here, where anything goes really. Am thinking of a place I used to play in on a regular basis that is L shaped and the "stage" if you could call it that, was located at the short end of the L.

What is the PA system itself?

A couple of boxes mounted on stands with a woofer and a horn?

That is not quite the same situation as the proper audiophile or studio environment using Nearfields, Sound Treatment, etc.

Then there is the background noise level of the live venue to consider, as well.

My realworld experiments using .wav, .mp3 and .wma files in live entertainment has shown to me that the difference between the full PCM audio of the .wav file and those other two compressed mediums goes unheard and unnoticed, even by the entertainer.

And the Double Blindfold has indeed been used to proof that.

But anyone who wishes to run full ,.wav files in live performance venues such as mentioned above can certainly go ahead and do so if that's what floats their boat.


--Mac

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