Is Hi Rez audio dead? (1 Viewer)

[Pupp]

On a side note...

I downloaded a sample 24/192 music file. It was less than 40 seconds long, but very impressive sound.

I was pleasantly surprised just how much better it sounded over 320kb mp3 files.
The only mp3s at 320kb I have is classical music. Everything else I have is mid level mp3 quality.

There's very little difference, to my ears, between 320 and 128kbs mp3 files.

 

[Sam Posten]

The environment and structure of a car does not really lend itself to hi-resolution audio listening. The noise floor is too high, the placement of speakers is compromised, and the acoustics are poor. Hi-resolution audio definitely has its place, but it's not in the car. Not that it hurts to play it there, you're jut not doing it justice.

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again this is opinion masquerading as fact.

 

[Sam Posten]

Not free. Included with the cost of your monthly subscription. How does that make it free?.

Jesus dude you copied the rest of the part where I made the distinction. There’s between tens and hundreds of millions of people who are getting lossless for free on top of the subscription they already found valuable enough to pay for without it.

 

[Sam Posten]

I never ended up on the sacd/dvd-audio hobby for one big reason. There were a total of less than 5 titles released on sacd/dvd-audio, which I had any interest in.

And how many thousands of lossless and spatial audio tracks are you skipping out on now for “reasons”?

 

[jcroy]

And how many thousands of lossless and spatial audio tracks are you skipping out on now for “reasons”?

Currently: infinite.

The primary reason is that I am not currently subscribed to any music streaming services.

Most of my current music needs, is listening to stuff on youtube. I am too lazy to even search for the cd on my bookshelf, take the disc out of the case, and placing it into my standalone cd player. Much easier to just type in some keywords into youtube.

 

[JohnRice]

This thread reads like a James Joyce novel.

 

[jcroy]

This thread reads like a James Joyce novel.

.... or a Beavis and Butthead conversation

 

[ScottHM]

again this is opinion masquerading as fact.

Not masquerading as, but based upon. But your opinion is as welcome as I hope mine is.

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[Lord Dalek]

This thread reads like a James Joyce novel.

Welcome to the HTF. If you think this thread reads like a James Joyce novel, may I introduce you to a circular firing squad about Criterion not supporting 4K or why 3D isn't dead?

 

[jcroy]

Back in the day, I was hoping dvd-audio would succeed for various technical reasons.

The bugaboo for me in those days, was dealing with jitter when it came to ripping / playing audio cd discs. I encountered this by chance, when I first wrote my own cd ripping program. One had to do all kinds of tricks to get a rip that was jitter free.

When I finally saw what the redbook audio cd technical details were, I realized the sectors were not always precisely defined. So each different cd-rom drive manufacturer, had a slightly different "drive offset" due to this ambiguity for redbook audio cd discs. (The data cd-rom standard layered on top of a redbook audio cd standard, eliminated this sectorial ambiguity for data cd-rom discs).

When I first read the technical details about dvd, I was guessing each sector would be defined precisely since dvd-rom discs would also be a computer data disc standard, where data discs would have data integrity as the #1 priority. So jitter wouldn't be a constant issue to deal with.

 

[DavidJ]

I don't think I would download hi-rez, even if I had decent unlimited broadband. (I live in the sticks).

I'd be interested in physical disks. And perhaps someday I'll get a decent turntable. (Something under a $1000, but prefer the $500 to $750 range) and start collecting vinyl. For a long time I was against vinyl, and there are arguments for and against vinyl. But I figure perhaps something that wasn't overly expensive would be a nice addition to my house. I'd have to fall in love with vinyl to get a turntable more expensive than that.

I've recently gotten back into vinyl, and there are lots of good options in the price range you're considering. I ended up going with a Fluance RT85 and am pleased with it. It comes with a good cartridge.

I'm against streaming high rez audio for other reasons than the quality. I have plenty of music on my computer, and want to focus on physical disks for some stuff, especially jazz and classical. But only if the discs have the highest possible recordings.

I did mention that I didn't keep up with the current state of streaming high rez audio. I do know that Tidal, when it was first introduced, was only streaming CD quality as high rez. But that was several years ago.

My harshness was focused mainly at the guy that posted the Youtube video saying that high rez music was dead.

I respect that. I listen to music in different ways. My vinyl listening and some of my disc listening occur in an environment where I'm focused on the music. My streaming of high-res primarily happens in my office where I'm also working.

 

[TJPC]

After having lived through the LP, High Fi,Stereo era, with all its major disadvantages, and having fully embraced the far superior sound of CDs, it is astonishing to me that anyone would want to go backward to vinyl! I guess it is like the kick I used to get in showing my friends my wind up gramophone.

 

[TonyD]

What makes you thinks cd is far superior?

 

[JohnRice]

Now we're really down the rabbit hole.

 

[jcroy]

I once spent hours of my time, listening to music that interested me, with my full attention. This was in the days when I lived by myself and basically had an apartment with a wonderful expensive system and one chair.

Life — career, marriage and family intervened. Now, many years later, since my brain has been scrambled by the instant gratification of the internet, I can’t get my mind to focus on anything over 2 minutes without wandering out the window, or falling asleep, and I can’t believe I once sat and listened to an entire symphony.

This is EXACTLY the same excuse I use to rationalize my laziness over the years/decades !!!

Nowadays I'm too lazy to go searching for a cd, dvd/bluray, vinyl, etc ... disc on the bookcase or in storage. Easier to just watch/listen to something online or a vod service.

 

[TJPC]

I can’t go back to wow, flutter, pops, clicks, poor dynamic range etc. etc. This was with a fairly high range turntable and cartridge.

 

[jcroy]

I can’t go back to wow, flutter, pops, clicks, poor dynamic range etc. etc. This was with a fairly high range turntable and cartridge.

For the genres of music I was listening to back in the day, stuff like poor dynamic range, wow, flutter, etc ... were not really relevant.

My main annoyances with vinyl was primarily the persistent record noises in between songs, and how easy it was to scratch/damage the vinyl by stupidity. (During the actual songs, the record noises were mostly covered up by the music and not really noticable).

 

[TJPC]

My listening was via earphones mostly and to classical music. A persistent scratching noise often took me out of the music and made me listen to the record rather than its contents. CDs were a revelation that no amount of careful handling or anti static gun, or "half speed mastering" of my LPs could ever match. I had thousands of records, and gradually over10 years or so replaced them all.

 

[jcroy]

And how many thousands of lossless and spatial audio tracks are you skipping out on now for “reasons”?

Case in point.

Recently I wanted to listen to something again with my full attention on the standalone stereo. After searching through storage, I don't seem to have the original vinyl records anymore. Either they were lost or stolen over the years, and/or I completely forgot about them.

Before I ordered them, I decided to check if there are better versions released over the years. There were 25th/30th anniversary cd remastered releases, which turned out to have brickwalling issues according to the loudness database and various threads with a lot of complaints (found via googling) about these anniversary remasters releases over the 2010s decade.

I also checked if there were any hi-res downloads. One didn't have any hi-res versions, while the other title did show up on a hi-res download store. Though it turned out the latter wasn't really a true hi-res version, where it was stated explicitly in no uncertain terms:

" Please Note: We offer this album in its native sampling rate of 44.1 kHz, 24-bit. The provided 96 kHz version was up-sampled and offers no audible value! "

From what I could figure out, this version might also be the same one as the remastered rerelease from the 2010s decade which was known to be brickwalled.


In the end, I ended up ordering the cd versions which appeared to be masters from the 1990s which didn't have brickwalling issues.

 

[jcroy]

Another recent purchase, is another title which I concluded would be a likely waste of cash for the hi-res download (if it existed). I found it in a $2 cd bin at a nearby goodwill, that was never opened by the previous owner with the original plastic wrap still intact.

From checking reviews and the loudness database, this act/artist (which will remain unnamed) has released 8 albums over the past twenty years where every one of these titles are brickwalled to death. There exists hi-res downloads of the past two albums, but no word on whether they are brickwalled. The cd versions of the past two albums are completely brickwalled to death, will tons of complaints about it online.