[lamode]

Originally Posted by pwiles1968 /img/forum/go_quote.gif
 
There is new information that accuracy in the time domain is multiple times more important than the frequency domain. I’m not sure where the cutoff is for this level of accuracy but I’ve read and heard that 5 to 10 microseconds is the range. This requires a sampling rate of 192 kHz…according to this new information 96 kHz/24-bits is not sufficient."

 
Jitter is another marketing hoax, like 24-bit. By that I mean that it is a theoretical problem only, and not audible in normal setups.
 
A double blind test showed that jitter was not audible until it exceeded 250 nanoseconds (which is 2000 times higher than the 130 ps jitter on a random DAC I selected, the 6-year-old $450 Cambridge Audio DAC Magic - nothing special at all by today's standards).
 
See https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/ast/26/1/26_1_50/_pdf
and http://www.stereophile.com/content/cambridge-audio-azur-dacmagic-da-converter-specifications
 
So I hope we can bury this myth as well.
 
All I can say is shame on the audio industry for this incessant false marketing, rather than actually doing something to improve the recordings, where it matters!

 

[daerron]

   
It's not an audible improvement, though. 48kHz gets you less than 1 whole note above 44.1, and you already can't hear the upper tones it can provide. 24bits is nice if I want to do processing on the file, but for listening it has no benefit over 16bits. And still, the stuff about time vs. frequency domain still sounds like made up stuff for marketing. But yes, if you believe in hi-res then of course you'll want the slimmest possible delivery.

I'm aware that 24-bits just increases the headroom, but seems to me there must be other benefits apart from playback. I've got the CD version of R.E.Ms Automatic for the People and the HD Tracks 24-bit/48KHz album and the HD Tracks one to me does sound better. Maybe the mastering was done differently on the two records? If I check the dynamic range of the two albums it does differ slightly with a little improvement on the HD Tracks version.

 

[peterinvan]

When will we finally be able to try Tidal MQA streaming?
 
I have my Meridian Explorer 2 in place, ready and waiting.
 
Hope to hear an announcement this week from the CES.

 

[peterinvan]

CES news...
 
...from a technical point of view we can confirm the Tidal/MQA service works. Here at CES Unveiled there was a working demo on a Mac laptop through the MQA-enabled Meridian Explorer 2 DAC and headphones, with MQA music files provided via music label 2L on Tidal.
 
Does anyone have a clue how to stream MQA tracks on Tidal?

 

[LFC_SL]

The world absolutely does not need a better format, we need better recordings! Most modern recordings are so awful that even CD quality is wasted on them

Several factors means that this will not happen
- Money men forcing mastering engineers to turn it up loud
- Mainstream music firmly embedded in the practice and you need mainstream music to educate the media and public. That will not happen with nice sounding classical CD's
- To illustrate the ignorance and losing fight, plenty of consumers of "high res" audio are not aware of the loudness war

 

[RRod]

Several factors means that this will not happen
- Money men forcing mastering engineers to turn it up loud
- Mainstream music firmly embedded in the practice and you need mainstream music to educate the media and public. That will not happen with nice sounding classical CD's
- To illustrate the ignorance and losing fight, plenty of consumers of "high res" audio are not aware of the loudness war

 
-I'm pretty sure the musicians themselves are partly to blame, not that they don't want $$, of course.
-There are nice sounding pop CDs that can easily be compared to their more recent loudness-war remasters. But I agree: how to get the word out is far from clear
-Probably the same kind of people who have eschewed digital until hi-res was available.

 

[pwiles1968]

Looks like MQA has moved a long way much more media now available and lots of studios & manufacturers signed, maybe there was something in there after all.