Hi Res Music - It's for Real

Gary S
10+ year member

CarAudio.com Elite
I just wanted to give a review about Hi Res music in general, and why I like it. So here's some plain talk about Hi Res music and why I think it's one of the biggest leaps in consumer audio in history.

I too read and watched the vids on what people and experts were saying about Hi Res music....... it seems like half the people believe it's better quality, the other half of the camp says it's baloney. I did not know what to think - all the controversy reminded me of debates about wires, amps, and vinyl vs. CD's.

What I don't like is some of the purely wrong stuff some of the proponents say about Hi Res..... like it has extended frequency response above 20K, above human hearing.... that's nonsense, science proved we can't perceive anything above that, and they proved it long ago, so that's a lie. No wonder some people are skeptical.

But, there is sound quality in some form, hearing is believing.... when I heard a really good Hi Res track for the first time a couple of years ago, I could not believe it, and I got really excited - and I was excited for at least a year, lol. Now I'm getting used to it but it's still sooooo sweet.

- not all Hi Res tracks are High Res - if they weren't mixed or recorded well, or are just up-sampled, about 40% or more of them only sound like CD's.

- I'm not sure you can tell the difference between a CD and Hi Res at low or moderate volume levels. It seems to work best at high volume levels. Basically, in layman's terms how it works is, the Hi Res music (the tracks that really do sound better), have a more accurate pitch.... apparently, we can hear the extra information in the music, as if the "timing" or perception gets better. (for example, a piano sounds sweeter and less gritty than it does on CD's) - it does not hurt your ears like a CD.........this enables you to turn up the volume louder and get more of a live, concert-like sound (please watch your hearing). And with this increase in volume, a couple of things happen:

1) You get more dynamic range from Hi Res music than Cd's (and lesser formats).

2) The bass and treble are often extended - not beyond the range of human hearing, like some have falsely claimed, But it often seems the good Hi Res tracks have more information in the low bass and treble in the range that we can hear. Now, granted, I have a pretty serious subwoofer in my Sensurround home theater (that's what I like to call it, heh!). It's a near-field subwoofer with three - 12 inch drivers. The hi frequencies, such as from a synthesizer, seem to go into the stratosphere.

And in my opinion, to handle the extended frequency response and dynamic range, you need a decent system... a good home stereo or theater with bookshelf speakers or bigger, receiver, and sub at a minimum, or high end $100.00 + headphones, or a car stereo......... those little Bose speakers, ear buds, TV's, and sound bars won't make it.

And by the way, I've heard one good remastered CD that sounded similar to Hi Res, and I'm sure there are more out there, but Hi Res is more than that.

I've been listening to Hi Res in the house, I don't know how to get it into the car yet, I've heard some head units down convert to CD quality in the DAC, so I have to do more research on this.

I've been around high end car and home audio for 39 years, I've heard and installed a lot of systems, both car and Home theater (even a boat and a dump truck). I was there when the first car CD players came out - the Sony was the first one I saw. I also remember when JL Audio contracted with a U.S. speaker build house for their subs, before they started building their own.

I thought for 30 years that CD sound was as good as it gets for consumers (other than a reel-to-reel which is probably not practical for most consumers). Boy, was I wrong. I was in shock for a year at how much better my home theater sounds with Hi Res music, I play it most of the time when I want to listen to music.

All I can tell you is, this is the best audio improvement for the consumer I've heard since surround sound, CD players, active crossovers, and separate subwoofers were introduced. I'm amazed.

 
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I just got a brand new Kenwood 9705S, and it supports high res. Got a decent system, quality speakers and amps.

So can you only buy high res music digitally? Do you lose any quality copying it to usb flash drive?

Any suggestions for some rock high res music tracks to get?

 
Anything recorded before the digital age can not be hi res.
High resolution attempts to emulate analog. You know, on/off digital stairsteps getting tinier to the point that they are almost as smooth as the original waveform in analog form? Have you ever compared a slow play 180gram vinyl to the same CD release? The vinyl is alive and the CD falls flat. Not because the CD sounds bad necessarily, but because the unconverted analog waveform just sounds better. Do you even have an LP player?
Stating that anything before the digital age cannot be hi res is just... Well let's just put it this way, you spelled cannot "can not".

 
Hmmmm............ I think reel-to-reel recordings are Hi Res capable. Granted, recording and mixing quality has improved over the years, so a full Hi Res digital recording today should be able to sound better than reel-to-real? However, reel-to-reel can and often does sound better than CD's in my experience........especially when mixed and converted to Hi Res digital and the tape hiss is reduced/removed to the point it's not audible.

And Vinyl vs. Cd's? - hmmmm........ both have problems. Hi Res seems to be able to best both of them a lot of the time.

 
Hmmmm............ I think reel-to-reel recordings are Hi Res capable. Granted, recording and mixing quality has improved over the years, so a full Hi Res digital recording today should be able to sound better than reel-to-real? However, reel-to-reel can and often does sound better than CD's in my experience........especially when mixed and converted to Hi Res digital and the tape hiss is reduced/removed to the point it's not audible.
And Vinyl vs. Cd's? - hmmmm........ both have problems. Hi Res seems to be able to best both of them a lot of the time.
Semantically speaking, yes, all playback systems will have problems, not just CD or Vinyl. The point is to go with something that sounds alive.
Of course reel to reel sounds better than CD, it's analog. That's the same point I was making with regards to LP, it's analog. The greater point is that any digital waveform will always be striving to sound as good as an analog waveform but it will always be tiny little stairsteps with jagged edges being converted and converted and converted by processors and clocks that suffer from jitter. Digital will always be attempting to sound like analog, that's the point of increasing the resolution so that the jagged steps get small enough to fool our brain, and it's finally getting there with the help of today's best DAC/preamps with precision clocks, uber-high quality opamps like Burson discrete circuits, tube buffers (for further smoothing and warmth), and the hi res files that do not randomly remove vitally important bits of information that have nothing to do with frequency response, but more to do with spacial cues and the fractal nature of music. Fractals are why analog sounds better than digital, regardless of the noise that comes along with it. The cherry on top of these high resolution files and DACs is the much better noise performance with many serving up 112dB-120dB. That is only a minor portion of the overall performance but it does allow you to hear deeper into the details of the recordings(provided the content possesses the detail in the first place).

Anyhow, I quite like the crackling of a record. Something cozy about it.

 
I can barely hear a small difference between a CD qaulity lossless file and a 320 kB mp3. For example, I have Imagine Dragons Believer in both CD qaulity lossless and mp3 format. When they play back to back on my ancient iPod player, I notice that the bass seems to sound a little bit more dynamic and full with the CD qaulity format. This is when my vehicle is not moving though so given how noisy the car environment is, you might not hear much of a difference. I personally have not listened to a hi resolution recording, so I cannot speak for that but if it’s anything like the jump from mp3 to lossless/ CD format than I won’t be jumping on that bandwagon until the prices come down.

If you have a high end home audio system in a quiet room than maybe it’s worth it; car audio in a noisy car, not so much.

 
I can barely hear a small difference between a CD qaulity lossless file and a 320 kB mp3.
No, I'm sorry. Thy guy posting above you will not allow that to be possible because he said so.
If you have a high end home audio system in a quiet room than maybe it’s worth it; car audio in a noisy car, not so much.
This is a very reasonable statement. Mostly because it's common sense logical, but also because it doesn't force the notion onto others that there is simply no difference to be heard. That can't be decided for someone, it is subjective. Some can hear a difference and some can't. There are simply too many variables in equipment and ear/brain systems in individuals for there not to be a possible audible difference in playback.
 
A good read if you want to learn something that matters. https://www.cognifit.com/science/cognitive-skills/auditory

This bites many of audiofools.
We're all audiofools in the end, we just chase different beliefs. The difference I don't go into every thread to force my beliefs on others. I just enjoy correcting you and letting others know that it's okay if they have different beliefs than you. Plus I can spell and articulate better than you can, so they probable enjoy reading my posts a bit more than yours. You know, since you're telling them things are so absolute and all. Did your mom/dad decide everything for you or were allowed to decide anything for yourself?
Also, did you know the human ear/brain system is still far a more advanced measurement system than anything we currently use to reference or describe something with? It can decode and analyze things we still haven't devised test methods for. That's the sole reason we rough everything into place with our tests and measurements, then follow up with fine tuning by ear. And because we also have wildly varying tastes from human to human. And taste can't be argued.

 
We're all audiofools in the end, we just chase different beliefs. The difference I don't go into every thread to force my beliefs on others. I just enjoy correcting you and letting others know that it's okay if they have different beliefs than you. Plus I can spell and articulate better than you can, so they probable enjoy reading my posts a bit more than yours. You know, since you're telling them things are so absolute and all. Did your mom/dad decide everything for you or were allowed to decide anything for yourself?
Also, did you know the human ear/brain system is still far a more advanced measurement system than anything we currently use to reference or describe something with? It can decode and analyze things we still haven't devised test methods for. That's the sole reason we rough everything into place with our tests and measurements, then follow up with fine tuning by ear. And because we also have wildly varying tastes from human to human. And taste can't be argued.
The beliefs are backed up by data. Yours are backed up by whatever you think.

Do you want to compete against me? That’s one way to decide who is full of crap.. you can do a build with your magic amps. I promise you will get destroyed.

 
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Gary S

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