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probably flac and opus

Makes no difference all the same .u can't tell after 128kbs or maybe 192

Wav and flac. But you'd also need a decent audio setup to hear the difference with mp3's of 320 kbps of the same track.

what is considered a decent setup? I have some nice headphones connected to my computer?

Well, what is your goal? :)

I don't know lol, just hearing music with better quality. I'm on linux so I know that that is a little bit limiting. I just downloaded a the sayonara audio player and looks decent

this are the headsets btw https://drop.com/buy/drop-pc38x-gaming-headset

you probably can't hear the difference under $5k setup 🤣

Depending on how far you're willing to go, studio monitors are the best option but they also require that you're in a room with proper acoustics. Headphones are great in terms of the quality you get for your money but are not ideal, you only hear one channel per ear exclusively. I only use my headphones to check for tiny flaws in my tracks which are more difficult to hear on monitors, as well as having a second source of reference on mixing/mastering for a different system.

There’s an obvious difference between 96 and 128 kps. Seems like the limit of perception’s gotta be at least 256 - 320 kps.

Maybe if you listen to music through a moldy potato 128 kps is sufficient.

usually some old stereo and speakers from goodwill

No shame. Would take decent speakers with a high quality DAC over the converse all day.

gotta specify the minimum requierments for decent audio. minimum dac minimum amp minimum speakers

I hear you, the headphones are kind of needed because the acustics in the room I'm in are shit. Plus my lady will would kill me if I start blasting music lol. would you recommend other headphones? or other tools?

Not really, but I would recommend against using equalisers. If a track has been properly mixed and mastered there should be no need for manually adjusting frequency, unless you're using a shitty setup, but with those headphones you should be fine. I don't know what type of music you're into, but here's one of my tracks if you're interested. https://wavlake.com/track/2c6912f5-ba9a-4265-8b1e-232e59a9febb

awesome! thank you! nice trance!

You're welcome, see you around on the nostr :)

• Speaks: That’s subjective. Apart from studio monitors speakers aren’t designed to reproduce signals accurately, and engineers are going to massage their frequency response to suit the target / range of consumer(s). Can probably think of speakers like buying old prime lenses for cameras. Are you gonna benefit from spending $800 on something made with modern design and manufacturing? Yes. Will a model that was top of the line in the late 80’s that you found for a bargain be fine for casual listening? Absolutely. • Preamps: No idea. All my speakers I listen to music through are active, and have internal, matched preamps. Never went down this rabbit hole. • DACs: Easiest element to be evaluate scientifically. Start by looking at a graph of the frequency response of any potential DAC, which anything worthwhile will have in the tech specs, and look for ones that are the most flat up to 20 kHz. You also want to make sure that any DAC you spend money on has an accurate clock that can synchronize with the source you’ll use it with. This is the weakest link in most signal chains, and budget DACs have come a long way from where they were 20 years ago, when most everything had muddy lows and a shrill upper range. This is one of the reasons for the common misconception that analog audio sounds better than digital (which are all worth understanding). Honestly any halfway-decent, dedicated DAC is going to be a big enough upgrade to be noticeable even while playing shittily mastered pop music with a squashed dynamic range over stock speakers in a car driving down the highway. If you want a recommendation look into FiiO’s products. They make Android-based Digital Audio Players that can be used as standalone DACs over USB or Bluetooth. Haven’t looked at their lineup in years, but 8 years ago I paid $99 for one of their DAPs that ran circles around the DAC in my studio.

I didn't know the dac was that important. I was using the headphone jack from the computer 😂.

It converts the 0s and 1s into the analog signal you hear. It’s the first, and usually weakest part of the chain. Upgrade that and you might hear some detail above 128 kps😉