Difference between original and 128 kbps MP3

What you see below is the spectrum of a Portished song: Nylon Smile. This music is neither classical nor acoustic.

Above, the two channels of the uncompressed song. Below, after the gray line and the words "unite sync," are those of the same song compressed into a 128 kbps MP3. The spectrum is intentionally black and white to highlight the differences.

If you look carefully, you'll notice that, in the upper (uncompressed) spectrum, the position of the red line I placed to mark the highest frequency is above 20,000 Hz, while in the lower one, it stops earlier, at around 17,000 Hz. This is the band, visible at first glance, that is lost with this level of compression. Then we'd need to delve into the details to see if something is missing underneath.

It follows that distributing music of any kind in MP3 format at 128 kbps, as most online retailers of generic pop music do, amounts to a bandwidth theft of about 3 kHz and spreads a habit of using a narrower bandwidth.

Now you'll tell me that, after all, the damned little headphones already provide narrow bandwidth, but...

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