Audio Systems: Classical piano music on CD and on MP3?, classical piano music, pianist lang lang

Question
Dear Sir,

I would like to ask whether there is really a quality mismatch between a classical piano CD and mp3?

Suppose I buy a CD by pianist Lang Lang and convert the files into 320kbs MP3, does it sound the same on the same audio system? Or is the CD still better than mp3?

The reason I ask is some say although on theory, the audio quality of MP3 is reduced, but our ear cannot hear it. And that 320kbs MP3 is just the same as CD.


Is it true?

Pls note that here I want to compare classical music only. Perhaps pop/rock music would sound perfect on MP3, but how about classical piano music?


Thank you.

Answer
As far as the "theory" is concerned, it's true. MP3, regardless of the sample rate, is a lossy compression type. There will always be less information than a  properly mastered CD. This page goes into great detail about it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mp3

When it comes to whether or not you can hear the difference is wholly subjective. Some people, such as myself, can hear the difference if you do an A/B on the same system, and in my studio it's more pronounced. Not everybody can, however, and some people that say they can actually can't (I've seen blind listening tests that prove this).

Unfortunately, there's no hard answer to this type of question since it relies on something as variable as the human ear. This is something that you can only answer really for yourself.