Audio Quality Test: Can You Identify the Uncompressed Song?

You've probably heard that Jay Z's Tidal is one of the latest music services to offer high-definition audio. If you've been a reader here over the past year you'll know about Neil Young's Pono Player and music service catering only to “audiophiles” who demand the highest sound quality possible.

You may also (and we hope you did) check out one of our most popular articles from February, allowing you to hear what is removed when “Tom's Diner” by Suzanne Vega was compressed.

Regardless, the battle of compressed vs uncompressed music rages on. Are MP3's good enough? Can most people actually tell the difference between compressed versions of songs? Now you can test yourself with this fun quiz on NPR.

I admit to testing this wearing a shockingly cheap and nasty pair of earbuds and having to cover my ears further as someone decide to fell a tree outside at the exact moment (oh, those audio compression Gods aren't kind), and managed to score a measly 66% in identifying the uncompressed version of each song.

Make sure you turn up your volume on speakers or use the best headphones you can and good luck!

Take the test here: http://www.npr.org/sections/therecord/2015/06/02/411473508/how-well-can-you-hear-audio-quality