PDA

View Full Version : Are these lossy?


Meurglys0
2006-05-10, 02:01 PM
Hi.

Without noticing there was a whole section devoted to "lossy or not" I sent a private message to Five on Dimeadozen.org yesterday. So I thought I would post my question here too. Below is the message I sent Five :

I was checking some of the shows I have just recieved and I've got some suspicious spectral and freq graphs. And remembering you were experienced in detecting the source of audio files, I thought maybe you could take a look at them and let me know what you think about their possible sources...

If memory serves, I recall you don't support EAC for analysing audio but this is the only program I'm familiar with and till next month I won't have time to get used to another one and I thought maybe these graphs will also serve the purpose, so graphs from EAC are what I have.

In the frequency graphs of many shows, you'll notice, there's a drop off around 12-13 khz which is the main thing that made me suspicious. Because according to the audiohub page explaining how to detect mp3 audio (http://www.audiohub.org/get/fa/fa.htm) a drop-off caused by a mp3 source happens around 17-19 khz while on a mini-disc sourced audio this happens around 13-14 khz. The drop-offs however are not really so sudden drop-offs; they just tend to descend quickly after that point, that's all.

A line slicing the view on almost each spectral graph makes me think this is due to some remastering etc.. Because again according to audihub-mp3-detection-guide the spectral analysis shouldn't look so unnaturally tidy and linear. But I see this horizontal line in spectral analysis of many shows; do you know what casuses this? Is it really due to some remastering etc.?

Now I know that Leonard Cohen - 1993-05-27 - Frankfurt and Leonard Cohen - 1993-05-28 - Munich are DAT recordings. Also, Liveman (you know him, don't you?) told me his own copies of these shows produce the same graphs, and that he thinks the results are due to (maybe) the OKM mics used to tape the show, or some mastering process; so at least for those shows I am a bit relieved. Liveman also told me the same taper taped also the Leonard Cohen - 1988-06-01 - Royal Albert Hall, London show but with different equipment.

Anyway, I have included spectral+freq analysis for 2-3 tracks from each show that I am suspicious about. If you can take a look at these graphs I'd really appreciate it and be forever thankful.

You can download the graphs from :

http://rapidshare.de/files/20011763/Are_these_lossy.rar.html

I hope I'm not putting too much weight on you... I am, I guess. So please forgive me.

Thanks in advance.

Regards to all.

Five
2006-05-10, 03:40 PM
:wave:

I wasn't on DIME yesterday so I saw it here first

noticing a steep dropoff in the fa is certainly cause for suspicion but it is not conclusive. also, mp3s and MDs can drop off at different frequencies, depening on the encoder & settings.

I'll get a chance to look at the samples you've provided tonight or tomorrow.

Meurglys0
2006-05-10, 03:42 PM
:wave:

I wasn't on DIME yesterday so I saw it here first

noticing a steep dropoff in the fa is certainly cause for suspicion but it is not conclusive. also, mp3s and MDs can drop off at different frequencies, depening on the encoder & settings.

I'll get a chance to look at the samples you've provided tonight or tomorrow.


Thanks Five.

I'm looking forward to hearing (good news) from you.

Regards.

Kagan.

Meurglys0
2006-05-14, 05:09 AM
:wave:

I wasn't on DIME yesterday so I saw it here first

noticing a steep dropoff in the fa is certainly cause for suspicion but it is not conclusive. also, mp3s and MDs can drop off at different frequencies, depening on the encoder & settings.

I'll get a chance to look at the samples you've provided tonight or tomorrow.


Sorry to bother you Five, but could it be you have forgotten about my request from your kindness to take a look at my samples?

Five
2006-05-14, 04:27 PM
tha't okay, man. you are right this one kind of slipped my mind.

hard to really see what's going on using EAC for analysis... could you provide some flac samples via yousendit.com / rapidshare.de perhaps?

also check here (http://www.thetradersden.org/forums/showthread.php?t=4288) for some info on better tools that are available online.

Meurglys0
2006-05-14, 04:36 PM
tha't okay, man. you are right this one kind of slipped my mind.

hard to really see what's going on using EAC for analysis... could you provide some flac samples via yousendit.com / rapidshare.de perhaps?

also check here (http://www.thetradersden.org/forums/showthread.php?t=4288) for some info on better tools that are available online.

Thanks.

My uploading capabilities are limited but I can cut 10-20 seconds of audio from each track and upload them. Would 20 seconds be enough to analyze the source?

Meurglys0
2006-05-14, 07:12 PM
tha't okay, man. you are right this one kind of slipped my mind.

hard to really see what's going on using EAC for analysis... could you provide some flac samples via yousendit.com / rapidshare.de perhaps?

also check here (http://www.thetradersden.org/forums/showthread.php?t=4288) for some info on better tools that are available online.

Here are 20 second samples from each show in question.

http://rapidshare.de/files/20479406/Segments.rar.html

Thanks a lot for your effort to help me.

Looking forward to hear from you soon.

Regards.

Kagan.

Five
2006-05-14, 11:51 PM
1974-09-18

I'd say this one is lossy :down:

Five
2006-05-14, 11:54 PM
1974-09-24

also lossy... looks like the exact same encoder settings as the previous :down:

Five
2006-05-15, 12:03 AM
1985-03-06

I'm not sure what to say about this one... the cutoff is very straight in the sa, but fa looks normal. sounds brittle and somewhat distorted but not really like an mp3. so I'd call this less than ideal, but lossless so far as I can ascertain (other opinions?)

sa:

Five
2006-05-15, 12:04 AM
1985-03-06 (same show)

fa:

Five
2006-05-15, 12:10 AM
1988-06-01

lossy... looks like the same encoder settings used on the 1974 shows above. :down:

Five
2006-05-15, 12:13 AM
1993-05-04

lossy :down:

again, looks like it was encoded by the same person who did the '74 shows. also, very audible artifacts on all these as well.

Five
2006-05-15, 12:16 AM
1993-05-10

lossy again :down:

again, looks & sounds like the '74 shows

Five
2006-05-15, 12:20 AM
1993-05-11

lossy :down:

again like the '74 shows

Five
2006-05-15, 12:22 AM
1993-05-27

lossy :down:

same again

Five
2006-05-15, 12:25 AM
1993-05-28

lossy :down:

same again

Five
2006-05-15, 12:29 AM
1993-06-19

lossy :down:

bit of a higher bitrate used for the lossy encoding on this one

Five
2006-05-15, 12:32 AM
1993-07-26

lossy, looks like the '74 shows (and most of the others) again

Five
2006-05-15, 12:54 AM
so unfortunately it looks like they're all positively lossy imo except 1985-03-06, which I'm not so sure about, either. looks like most of them came from the same person, too.

here are the flac samples of 1985-03-06, would appriciate some more input from others here if possible:
http://rapidshare.de/files/20491407/lc1985-03-06samples.zip.html

Meurglys0
2006-05-15, 04:26 AM
so unfortunately it looks like they're all positively lossy imo except 1985-03-06, which I'm not so sure about, either. looks like most of them came from the same person, too.

here are the flac samples of 1985-03-06, would appriciate some more input from others here if possible:
http://rapidshare.de/files/20491407/lc1985-03-06samples.zip.html

Thanks a lot Five.

The person who sent me these also sent me 30 fine shows. So it's about the circulation pool, and not about him, as I know some other traders claimed to have some of these exact same shows...

Anyway... Thanks a lot for your efforts.

I'll immigrate to Cool edit pro and check other shows I mentioned with that program too. (I've sent you the ones that looked unclear in the EAC analysis; I have checked other shows with EAC already, I mean...)

Regards.

Kagan.

Meurglys0
2006-05-15, 04:46 AM
I forgot about this one Five. If it's not a problem, if you can take a look at this one also, I'd really appreciate it.

Regards.

Five
2006-05-15, 04:55 AM
you're welcome, Kagan. I think I got a couple Cohen seeds from you at dime before so I am happy to help.

This last one is lossy as well, looks just like those '74 shows once again.

Meurglys0
2006-05-15, 05:15 AM
you're welcome, Kagan. I think I got a couple Cohen seeds from you at dime before so I am happy to help.

This last one is lossy as well, looks just like those '74 shows once again.

Thanks a lot Five.

Regards.

mixwell
2006-05-16, 12:15 AM
1985-03-06

I'm not sure what to say about this one... the cutoff is very straight in the sa, but fa looks normal. sounds brittle and somewhat distorted but not really like an mp3. so I'd call this less than ideal, but lossless so far as I can ascertain (other opinions?)

sa:

Television or other broadcast. The heavy banding around 15.75 is a video crossover frequency. Most analog broadcast signals have cutoffs around 15k and digital around 16k, unless it's Dolby Digtial which cuts around 20k. The brittle distortion is probably analog broadcast compression which generally happens twice in the chain, once in post and once at the satellite feed uplink.

So yes, less than ideal, but technically lossless.