ExoBassTix wrote:One's definition of quality is subjective, guys :P
No, not really. There are a lot of objective measures of audio quality. A file with a sample rate of 96 kHz is objectively higher-quality than a file at 22 kHz, all other factors being equal, and a lossy encoding of a piece of audio (in mp3 or ogg format, for instance) will always be objectively lower quality than the source material. Another way to objectively test audio quality is with trials conducted on large groups of real human listeners by testing how well they can make out certain aspects of a recording on different mediums. Such studies, for instance, have pretty conclusively proven that nobody can really tell the difference between a well encoded MP3 at 320 kbps and a lossless file of the same audio.
:3
