High Res Audio Files and Streaming

[GVCCbob]

DBpoweramp rips my CD files, Flac 16bit/44.1kHz.

Hi-res audio files usually use a sampling frequency of 96kHz or 192kHz at 24bit. You can also have 88.2kHz and 176.4kHz files.

Music Converter has the capability to convert audio files to high res specs.

With new streaming services selling this High Res streaming, ie Tidal Spotify,for more money my question how do these High Res files get created.

Does it make sense to use Music Converter to convert Ripped CD to high res, or any other audio type file.

Are there any type of audio files mp3, mp3, apple itunes, etc that would benefit in audio quality from converting via Music Converter to High Res.

I am trying to understand were these high res files came from, and are they really better than standard CD quality.

Is it worth more to pay streaming services for High Res Streaming.

Comments?

[Spoon]

Re: High Res Audio Files and Streaming

Converting a CD track to high res gives nothing extra. They are recorded at the higher resolution.

[timster67]

Re: High Res Audio Files and Streaming

As Spoon has said, no point in up-converting anything. Some say passing 16 bit files through a transcoder to 24 bit can make small improvements to SQ but that's not because it suddenly becomes "HiRes".
Just to add to Spoon, genuine HiRes is 24-bit (regardless of sampling rate), so it could be 44.1/24. 96/24 is probably the next most common. 192 or 88.2 and others are rarer. These comes from the recording masters (although there is often suspicion they could just be upsampled from 44.1/16 CD quality "Red Book" by the labels). Qobuz sell and stream these with their Studio or Sublime subscritions. Tidal streams CD quality or MQA (which is not lossless and is an industry-tied proprietary format). Spotify currently only stream lossy mp3 and are only thinking about streaming CD quality - this is not HiRes.

[GVCCbob]

Re: High Res Audio Files and Streaming

Thanks, so there is no reason to pay a higher price to services like Tidal because they are not really streaming or selling true High Res, just CD quality audio.

[JUMP2]

Re: High Res Audio Files and Streaming

Spotify stream lossy mp3? last i check spotify stream ogg vorbis

[garym]

Re: High Res Audio Files and Streaming

Spotify stream lossy mp3? last i check spotify stream ogg vorbis

Correct. Spotify streams a high quality LOSSY 320kbs ogg vorbis format file. It is quite good.

[garym]

Re: High Res Audio Files and Streaming

Thanks, so there is no reason to pay a higher price to services like Tidal because they are not really streaming or selling true High Res, just CD quality audio.

Well, streaming CD quality is something worthwhile. I've thought about Tidal or Qubuz for that reason. Better than low-bit rate lossy in many cases. Although I find Spotify 320kbs ogg vorbis lossy files to be very very good.

To confirm what others have told you, one can't magically convert a CD rip into hi-res by upconverting it to 24/96 or 24/192. You're adding extra space but no extra music info. One can PURCHASE hi-res files (24/96, 24/192, etc.) from vendors. These were not ripped from CDs but obtained from the record label. Not worth the extra cost in my opinion. It is the *mastering* of the music that matters most, and a CD can have good (or bad) mastering and a hi-res file can have good (or bad) mastering. If both the CD and hi-res come from the same masters, it is essentially impossible to tell them apart in a blind listening test. Archimago does quality analysis and I trust him (unlike the snake oil music hardware/software folks with $10,000 USB cables, etc.). See:

http://archimago.blogspot.com/2014/04/internet-test-24-bit-vs-16-bit-audio.html

[timster67]

Re: High Res Audio Files and Streaming

Spotify stream lossy mp3? last i check spotify stream ogg vorbis

I don't use Spotify enough to really take much interest in what exact lossy format it is, just that it is such. I stand corrected. 320 is 320 though, mp3 or ogg vorbis. AFAIK they are the same thing for all intents and purposes, ogg vorbis just results in even smaller files.