Understanding lossless, high-resolution, and spatial audio

09 June 2021


Sort by:

To me the cleanest audio I've listened to is Dave Brubeck at 24/176.4 FLAC. All I can say is that 24/96 and 24/192 is satisfactory.

    • R
    • Rkm
    • DkZ
    • 09 Jun 2021

    Lebza72, 09 Jun 2021I don't think so. Tidal uses MQA audio which is why th... moreMQA is lossy.
    There are many articles which measured available. It just seems to be a scam.

      • ?
      • Anonymous
      • JT5
      • 09 Jun 2021

      Dometalican, 09 Jun 2021Love this article. I learned a good amount; even if there&#... moreI doubt.
      Htc is not even making phones with stereo anymore.
      U20 is mono.

        Thank god. long waiting for the informative article.

        Finally apple use the tech, as usual suddenly GSMArena feels something is missing.

        Naughty GSMArena ;)

          • D
          • AnonD-1003038
          • M}3
          • 09 Jun 2021

          Lebza72, 09 Jun 2021Very true. Since my exposure lossless music like Flac and H... morePeople exaggerate "hires" and "lossless" quality. 128kbps MP3 using bad encoder settings, fair enough, you can sense there is something off. But if it's a very high quality encoding at 192kbps, 256kbps or even 320kbps, most people won't be able to reliably spot a difference. Also a lot of music from "alternate" sources is often 128kbps upsampled to 320kbps just to be more interesting because higher bitrate is suppose to be better. But if you recode from bad quality to better quality you only make it even worse. Source: I ripped a lot of music from CD's and bought music that came as 320kbps from the authors. In all honesty, I don't think I could reliably differentiate FLAC from MP3 that was encoded using highest settings that have no regard for speed of encoding but quality instead.

            This is HD audio from You tube :

            https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFcXGF-AwisAmJ1WmoSLKBA/videos

              Nilyahs, 09 Jun 2021So, is Tidal's hires audio worse than Apple's? Be... moreI don't think so. Tidal uses MQA audio which is why their songs sound better than those from Spotify

                • T
                • Talkback
                • 7Xn
                • 09 Jun 2021

                Wow! You certainly have a great, and awesome lawyering skills when it comes to Apple huh! Too many jots and tittles when it comes to explanations with regard to Lossless, high resolution, and spatial audio where in the very truth of the matter is, you simply just want to justify apples shortcomings whenit comes to this true, and inevitable technological advancements in digital audio. I truly, and highly doubt if the readers would be able to view this comment of mine.

                  vrvly, 09 Jun 2021Lossless is enjoyable, unlike lossy, but only if you use hq... moreVery true. Since my exposure lossless music like Flac and Hi res audio it's a struggle listening to my old mp3 collection

                    Great article. I have been enjoying lossless audio lately through my old Yamaha RXV1000 receiver using their separate WXAD-10 streaming adaptor. I have also streaming some HD audio, Hi res audio and HQ audio songs from You tube using my good old Mi box TV box. I have also found myself researching about DACS and streamers lately. Very addictive

                      • y
                      • yalim
                      • T4}
                      • 09 Jun 2021

                      a very good article. if you are using tws, you need at least $200-250 budget to get the benefit. otherwise,don't bother.

                        LG V-series phonew and some from G-series have some very good DACs and Amps inside, which could drive even studio-grade headphones. Sadly, they are no longer on the market, but I still plan to buy one.

                          • D
                          • AnonD-1003038
                          • M}3
                          • 09 Jun 2021

                          Lccy, 09 Jun 2021I wanted to point out that sampling at twice the frequency ... moreAlthough certain frequency ranges are inaudible to the user, they can affect how audio is reproduced from signal to actual mechanical effect (vibration of speaker membrane) which leads to different audio reproduction because output soundwaves will be different. There is question of filtering on how much that actually affects the audio reproduction in the end, but in general it's considered as "better". How much is usually up to the user (and their wallets).

                            • ?
                            • Anonymous
                            • 6wN
                            • 09 Jun 2021

                            cyber, 09 Jun 2021since any wireless headphones sucks,none of this matters,yo... moreWireless headphones don't suck. There are many great ones. But wireless headphones are for relaxing and enjoying and not for professional audio editing.

                              Love this article. I learned a good amount; even if there's still much to learn.

                              Really hope HTC makes a comeback with a powerful DAC. Otherwise, only ROG and (maybe) Sony can deliver this kind of experience without the need for an external DAC.

                                • ?
                                • Anonymous
                                • 6wN
                                • 09 Jun 2021

                                I think ordinary MP3 is enough for most people. Just buy decent headphones and configure equalizer.

                                  • ?
                                  • Anonymous
                                  • sxr
                                  • 09 Jun 2021

                                  to enjoy any of these, you really need to have "good ears"...
                                  a capable "player" device...
                                  and an appropriate "hearing" device... i mean, earphones or headphones...
                                  one of them, off, you really are not "experiencing" any...

                                    • L
                                    • Lccy
                                    • n1u
                                    • 09 Jun 2021

                                    Lccy, 09 Jun 2021I wanted to point out that sampling at twice the frequency ... moreI made a mistake, frequencies above half the sample rate until the sample rate are also recorded as aliases, that's why a brick wall low pass filter is required.

                                    http://bitperfectsound.blogspot.com/2013/11/sample-rate-matters-i.html?m=1

                                    This is a good explanation

                                    http://bitperfectsound.blogspot.com/2013/11/sample-rate-matters-part-ii.html?m=1

                                    I will absolutely insist that even with moderate equipment such as mid range earbuds and Android phones with 3.5mm jack's before they were removed, you could absolutely hear the improvement with 24bit 96khz audio and another improvement at 192khz

                                      • L
                                      • Lccy
                                      • n1u
                                      • 09 Jun 2021

                                      I wanted to point out that sampling at twice the frequency still results in aliasing when sampling as frequencies beyond twice the sample rate will get aliased which is why you need a low pass filter when sampling, just as in digital photography where the blur is visible, the low pass filters for audio degrade the signal.

                                      That is why 96khz and 192khz audio as well as DSD make sense, you can use a much gentler low pass filter for sampling and reconstruction.

                                      High Res audio is not about reproducing frequencies that are inaudible to the human ear, it is about using gentler low pass filters that have less colouration to the original signal.

                                        • c
                                        • cyber
                                        • S2D
                                        • 09 Jun 2021

                                        since any wireless headphones sucks,none of this matters,you need high quality wired headphones and device capable of reproducing it so smartphones are not up to task

                                          5 of 6