Even if one does not have top quality gear like PS Audio, or maybe even especially if one does not have PS Audio, it is not too hard to hear the difference between MP3 and FLAC. For years my cars systems would not play better than MP3-320. So I duplicated a music library of 50000 songs as both FLAC for at home and MP3-320 for the car. Finally cars started supporting FLAC and I had the opportunity to do A and B testing with family and friends untrained ears. Only my 85-year-old hard-of-hearing mother could not hear the difference. And actually, everyone could hear the difference between 16-bit FLAC and 24-bit FLAC for music that they knew well. But that was usually with the 24-bit version being a “remastered” release and the 16-bit version as the original release. So I discount that result. Besides, most people found that 16-bit FLAC to be like 90% of the way better than MP3-320. That is, 16-bit FLAC is noticably better sounding in a car stereo that comes straight from the manufacturer… but a good one. I do not use headphones. Is this the case with headphones too? Try A and B testing with innocent bystanders!
YES! But only on good systems, OR, headphones for 320 vs. FLAC. Easiest way is to listen with headphones, on a stereo system with speakers it should be on the resolving side. I actually did this exact test in my car waiting for GF at the time while bored. Could NOT hear the diff on car stereo (between 320/lossless) streaming through BT, BUT on $75 headphones connected to my iPhone, I COULD.
The other argument is WHY would you wanna lose parts of the music that was recorded in the first place? SPECIALLY these days with cheap 100mbps connections, and even cheaper hard drive. Lossless all the way.
Aha, I should have mentioned that I use USB sticks and FLAC8 in the car. All my car A-B Tests were done that way, not with Bluetooth. With a 32GB stick and the more compressed but still lossless FLAC8, I can go weeks without repeating music in the car (even before Corona). And the improvement vs. MP3-320 could be heard by multiple testers, admittedly with the optional better stereo from the car OEM.
At least for me, It is hard to hear tell the difference between lossy and lossless tracks. My headphone is so normal that Spotify MP3 downloaded by DRmare sounds the same as the Tidal FLAC. So Spotify’s quality is enough for me.
I agree. With mp3 320kbps upconverted to WAV 16bit/44.1KHz, the difference becomes much
minimal… I use this method when there is no available CD source 
Yeah, why did you change his files dude? Didn’t he want reorganization?
Some audiophiles are funny. The neighbour spends new car money on DAC components, but resists getting new iPads, laptops or… and this was the crucial bit… a larger SSD. With FLAC0, he did not have room for his music library on the 1TB SSD. With FLAC8 it was not a problem. I kept all his WAV, AIFF and FLAC0 files for over a year on the side before he relented and agreed to delete them, keeping the FLAC8s. With more and more 24-bit files being added, his FLAC library is now up to 985GB. So he would not have room for his DSD or 24-bit vinyl rips, except that he started leaving off whole genres of music so as to make room. I would have gone for a 2TB SSD!
Oh cool. hehehe, he still gave you gruff after you explained it eh? As you say, us audiophiles are funny. 
Oh and yeah I was one of those until my server software had issues with lossless aiff tags. I then went full flac.
I am still a stickler for lossless, but only when I have the option for it. If not, I’ve even listened to 96kbs! ahhhhhg, but the music was sweet!
I think the title of this thread has a misspelling: “lousy” has a letter “U” and only one “S”.
6ˆ)
I am actually very impressed by the audio compression codecs. At higher bit rates they provide a significant reduction in file size with a much smaller reduction in quality. In the bad old days when they were introduced file size mattered.
With current Internet speeds, file size no longer matters much.
Unfortunately, many still have slow speeds. Internet connections are often pretty rough outside of urban areas.
Honestly, what difference does it make if other people think you’re crazy or not? If you hear a difference, and you appreciate that difference, that’s all that matters. The same goes for any number of other things in life as well.
I think there are some nuances here which should be discussed.
A 64 kbps stream, which, I think Pandora serves on its free tier (not certain) sounds awful even from a brilliant mastering effort; don’t get me started on the criminally awful quality from Sirius satellite. On the other hand, an AAC 320 kbps rip can sound quite good and tough for me to A/B from lossless.
One of my favorite albums, Miles Davis - Sorcerer, would never get a listen from me unless it is from the Mofi SACD (files liberated to DSF using BRD player). So, some content, if tremendously special to the listener, should only be consumed in lossless or high resolution versions.