[TheFlipsideDown]

Hey Head-fi, I have a buddy that was looking in to getting his first pair of high quality headphones. The question he has is will he notice a difference in quality between his Logitech G930's and something like a Audio-Technica ATH-M50 if all of his music is downloaded from 720p-1080p Youtube videos? I assume all of the uploads are of good quality and I think he would notice a difference but I'm not sure opinions? Also he listens to Electronic/Chillstep type music not always Dubstep but some mixed in, so he wants something with a nice hard hitting base but also good for melodic vocals. What do y'all recommend?

 

[viralcow]

Even 1080p youtube compresses the audio quite a bit. I find the SQ comparable to 128kbps, but certainly nowhere near as good as 320kbps or lossless. Also, the process of ripping audio from a video stream (which isn't the same thing as downloading the source file) isn't going to be perfect, either.
 
But still I think the M50s should be an improvement despite not being the most detailed headphone. I don't know for sure since I haven't heard the G930's but my experience with several gaming headsets has been awful and also the G930's are wireless, which suffers from audio compression.

 

[Bi0HaZard]

Between May 2011 and July 2012, Youtube used 152 kbps AAC and since July 2012 Youtube has used 192 kbps AAC compression. Videos uploaded since 2011 are far superior to 128 kbps MP3. I have never heard the ATH-M50's, but even with a medium quality source like Youtube, there should be a significant difference.