MAXIMUMPC
CHALLENGEANOTHER52 MAXIMUMPC SEPTEMBER 2007
THE RESULTS
The absence of even a single country music fan was just one of the surprise findings of our challenge
COLOR US CORRECTED
The biggest surprise of the test actually disproved our hypoth-
esis: Eight of the 10 participants expressed a preference for
the higher-bitrate songs while listening with the Apple buds,
compared to only six who picked the higher-quality track while
listening to the Shures. Several of the test subjects went so far
as to say they felt more confi dent expressing a preference while
listening to the Apple buds. That didn’t necessarily translate into
a preference for the Apple buds, however (more on that later).LEAVE IT TO THE OLD FOGEYS
Age also factored differently than we had expected. Human
hearing tends to deteriorate as people get older, but all three of
our subjects who are over 40 years old correctly identifi ed the
higher bitrate tracks using both the Apple and the Shure ear-
phones. Three of the four subjects aged between 31 and 40 cor-
rectly identifi ed the higher bitrate tracks with the Apple earbuds,
but only two were successful when listening with the Shures.
Two of the three under-30 subjects picked the higher-qual-
ity tracks with the Apples, but only one from that group made
the right choice with the Shures. All four musicians picked the
higher-quality track while listening to the Apples, and three of
the four were correct with the Shures.Despite being less able to detect the bitrate of the songs
while listening to the Shure SE420 earphones, eight of 10 sub-
jects expressed a preference for them over the Apple buds.
Several people commented on the Shure’s ability to block
extraneous noise. While listening to the SE420s, one person
remarked, “Wow, I’d forgotten that wood-block sound was even
in this song.” Another said, “The difference between the Shure
earphones and the Apple earbuds was more signifi cant than the
difference between the song encoded at 128Kb/s and the one
recorded at 256Kb/s.” One of the two people who expressed a
preference for Apple’s product told us, “It seemed like I got bet-
ter kick from the bass.”THE WEAKEST LINK
Could it be that the performance of the Shures masked the fl aws
in the tracks encoded at lower bitrates? We typically experience
just the opposite: High-end listening gear tends to reveal fl aws.
Your audio system is only as strong as its weakest link, and if
you’re using cheap earphones, you’re missing out on what your
MP3 player is capable of delivering. The SE420s fi t tight inside
your ear canal, so they isolate your ears from extraneous noise.
Many of our listeners found that they could turn the player’s vol-
ume down signifi cantly because the earphones weren’t compet-ANDRES SEGOVIA The Legendary Andres
Segovia in an All-Bach
ProgramChaconne (from Violin
Partita No. 2)“I’ve listened to this recording 40 billion times. I know every nuance in it.GUNS N’ ROSES Civil War Use Your Illusion II “This song is meant to be played loud. Axl Rose’s voice and the guitars
should help me tell the difference.”
HÜSKER DÜ New Day Rising Celebrated Summer “I’ve been listening to a lot of Hüsker Dü lately. Sometimes you rediscover
a band and wonder why you haven’t listened to them for so long.”
MASSIVE ATTACK 100th Window Future Proof “I know this song so well. I fi gured I’d be able to tell if I’m hearing every-
thing that should be there.”
MINGUS BIG BAND Gunslinging Birds Jump Monk “I’ll be listening for dynamic range in the horns. I think I’ll perceive differ-
ences in the sound of the piano solo and the upright bass, too.”
NINE INCH NAILS Year Zero The Great Destroyer “It has the typical chord progression of a pop song, and then it goes into
this crazy techno solo. I thought the variety would help me identify the
differences in the bitrates.”
STEELY DAN Aja Josie “This may be the world’s most fanatical band when it comes to recording.
One of the things I’ll be listening for is the chimes in the opening.”
STEVIE WONDER Original Musiquarium I
Vol. IISir Duke “I think I’ll be able to hear the difference in the sound of the horn sec-
tion at the beginning of the song—I think it will sound brighter at the
higher bitrate.”
SUNDAY’S BEST Where Are You Now? Truest You “The drummer in this band is cymbal crazy. I think it will be hard to cap-
ture that sound accurately at a low bitrate.”
TEA LEAF GREEN Taught to Be Proud If It Wasn’t for the Money “This is from a CD that I listen to a lot; I’m very familiar with it.”Continued on page 54ËARTIST ALBUM TRACK LISTENER COMMENTSTHE TEST TRACKS