MP3 format, does it sound so bad?

MP3 has a bad reputation between audiophiles for its "bad audio quality", but it's widely know for the common people for offering a "good quality".
The truth is that an MP3 can sound very bad or very good, depending on the compression used for make it.
Yes, there's only one compression (MP3), but it has many parameters: type and amount of bitrate, channel separation, algorithm quality, etc...
Here you can here a bad and a good quality ones.

Don't miss the article where this video belongs to:

THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO MAKE GOOD RECORDINGS

[cemsengul]

I have started collecting FLAC tracks of all the songs I love and recommend everyone do the same. Storage is cheap today.

[Solitaire]

Thanks for posting this. It clearly shows how the sound quality of MP3s can vary, with the second version being much better sounding that the first. I've found that with the proper encoder settings I can get MP3s that sound to my ears the same as the lossless original.

[rentisme]

I always just thought that an mp3 sounded really washed out

[bashisobsolete.pythonismyn]

MP3 is the audio equivalent of VHS-NTSC. It became a legacy format circa 2000 AD. There was a big development of psychoacoustic models in the digital domain. Vorbis was a great leap forward and gave rise to CELT, SILK and OPUS.

[expgretaillegacy]

A bad quality tape sounds better than the bad quality mp3!

[pelgervampireduck]

yes it does, mp3 is worse than cassette, it's awful, it destroys the signal.

[lizichell]

mp3 has appalling frequency response and alternative lossy encoders exist which will be superior at similar bitrates.

[fraudsarentfriends]

Compared to my Compact disc of this very song i can say Both these mp3's are without clarity and sound muddy like a blanket was laid over top of them.

[josephfrye]

ok since when digital mp3 format audio quality is just sh*t?