Review Digital Vs Digital

[WayneKerr]

Think I’ve got three, couldn’t tell the difference. got a couple of hd-cd, no difference.
bought a couple of shm-cd and they were noticeably different. I wouldn’t say better, just different.
sounded like they had been remixed rather than improved.
redbook done well is excellent. No real need for the other formats.
(kinda how I feel about hi res streaming)

I've got a few SACDs and do think they sound slightly better than the CD counterpart. Also got some SHM CDs which have definitely been tampered with, ran them through Audacity only to find most of them show signs of serious clipping.

 

[WayneKerr]

The reconstruction filter can play a role in hearing any benefits. The higher sampling rate means that aliasing is pushed father away from the audioband, meaning that a Minimum phase filter will be as good at suppressing artifacts close to 20KHz as a Fast Roll-off/Brickwall filter, when working at 96 or 192KHz, significantly less so in 44.1KHz.

When using Minimum phase filter, aliasing artifacts close to 20KHz are replaced with silence or actual music content. That may be perceptible, assuming a) that the amplifier and speakers have the necessary high-frequency extension and b) The angle of tweeter to listeners head and room acoustics do not cancel/blur the frequencies over 20KHz.

Way too much for my small brain to comprehend 🙂

 

[Gray]

The reconstruction filter can play a role in hearing any benefits. The higher sampling rate means that aliasing is pushed father away from the audioband, meaning that a Minimum phase filter will be as good at suppressing artifacts close to 20KHz as a Fast Roll-off/Brickwall filter, when working at 96 or 192KHz, significantly less so in 44.1KHz.

When using Minimum phase filter, aliasing artifacts close to 20KHz are replaced with silence or actual music content. That may be perceptible, assuming a) that the amplifier and speakers have the necessary high-frequency extension and b) The angle of tweeter to listeners head and room acoustics do not cancel/blur the frequencies over 20KHz.

It's noticeable that reviewers say that there's 'not much' or 'hardly any' audible difference when switching between DAC filters.
That's their code for saying they can't hear any at all....but they can't be quite so direct and honest.

(About the same 'difference' for the majority, as is heard with cables I suspect).

 

[Gray]

Way too much for my small brain to comprehend 🙂

And most brains, don't worry 👍

 

[npxavar]

There are so many caveats for Hi-Rez, that the mere fact that it is pushed to the general audience is questionable, to say the least.

 

[Deleted member 201267]

My 16 bit 44.1 khz CD playback is all the "Hi-Rez" i need frankly.

 

[Friesiansam]

My 16 bit 44.1 khz CD playback is all the "Hi-Rez" i need frankly.

I think many people don’t realise, just how much information/detail a good DAC can extract, from the CD standard.

 

[npxavar]

I think many people don’t realise, just how much information/detail a good DAC can extract, from the CD standard.

+100

 

[npxavar]

I think many people don’t realise, just how much information/detail a good DAC can extract, from the CD standard.

One of the strong points of Vinyl is that it can sound good even with cheap turntables.

Absolutely not the case with CDs, digital music.

 

[Gray]

One of the strong points of Vinyl is that it can sound good even with cheap turntables.

Absolutely not the case with CDs, digital music.

I've repeatedly heard the opposite opinion - that vinyl requires a bigger spend to reach an equivalent performance.

 

[manicm]

One of the strong points of Vinyl is that it can sound good even with cheap turntables.

Absolutely not the case with CDs, digital music.

Vinyl with cheap turntables will sound muddy, with no soundstage to speak of. And you need a good phono stage too.

 

[npxavar]

The analogue feel will be there though.

Achieving a similar feel with digital music playback is more difficult and therefore more expensive.

 

[Symples]

Hi all...

Wouldn't any discernible differences between CD quality and high res quality audio files be entirely dependent on the audio equipment being used?

Anything coming from a computer via either the onboard sound chips or even a dedicated sound card is going to be subjected to computer noise!

My soundcard (Creative ZXr) has claimed signal to noise ratio of 125dB

Though I will accept that all electrical components generate noise. Unless it's really noisy. I cannot see it affecting the sound. Just imagine trying to transfer data via a noisy USB port.

I think too much is made of electrical noise components. Unless you have a really noisy mains etc I wouldn't worry about it.

.. and don't get me started about audiophile network switches..... bah!

My amp and CD player can disable their digital circuits and I must admit to not hearing a difference. Mind you when I am listing to a CD or my turntable, I have the equipment set to pure audio .

When I can locate them. I will report on my dual layer SACDs
Will there be a difference?
I know that you're all on tenderhooks waiting for the answer.

 

[Jasonovich]

Lately I have been purchasing digital hi-res files of some old albums.

I had read a few views that hi-res files were a waste of time. Could this be true? It got me thinking about the differences between a standard CD that has been ripped to flac and a hi-res digital rip.

It just so happens that I had bought an album from Qobuz in hi-res. They also allowed me to download in various qualities.

So...

I downloaded Street Life by the Crusaders in CD, 24bit 96KHz and 24bit 192KHz.

For the geeks
[Geek mode on...]
Digital files located on my laptop.
LG Gram 1790p with 12th gen I7 CPU.
Connect via USB to my Yamaha CD S2100 CD player's USB input via an Amazon Basic 5m USB A to B cable.
Yamaha/Steinberg ASIO USB driver
[Geek mode off...]

For everyone else. I
Yamaha CD s2100 --> Onkyo TX RZ800 --> Tannoy Revolution XT8F floorstandaers
Chord C-Line interconnects between the CD player and amp.
QED and some non brand 79 strand cable between the amp and speakers.

First test was the CD 16bit 44.1KHz flac file
Next up I jumped straight to the 192KHz flac file

The CD file sounded great. I donot have the words to fully describe the sound. Let's just say that I am happy with my system. It had warmth and weight (no it wasn't heavy)

OK on to the 192KHz flac file. It sounded just as good. Not better. In fact I could not tell the difference between the files.
Backwards and forward and no dicernable differences heard.

So are we being conned with hi-res (and the extra expense) files?
Are my poor 61 year old ears not up to it?
IS ny system not up to the task of revealing the subtle differences?

It does make me wonder
I purposely didn't include the MP3 file as I can clearly hear the difference in an A-B comparison.


So... am I missing something?
Do I stick with CD quality flac files?

Apologies, I realise this thread is dated but I couldn't resist. I get my source music mostly from NativeDSD. When you play DSD512 natively, you can hear the difference when it is compared to PCM.
It's just a shame, DSD hasn't got the same expansive catalogue as CD's, hopefully more people will buy into it, and the market will ultimately give us more choice.

 

[Al ears]

Apologies, I realise this thread is dated but I couldn't resist. I get my source music mostly from NativeDSD. When you play DSD512 natively, you can hear the difference when it is compared to PCM.
It's just a shame, DSD hasn't got the same expansive catalogue as CD's, hopefully more people will buy into it, and the market will ultimately give us more choice.

When you say DSD I assume you mean SACD discs.
They are still big in Japan but never really took off elsewhere due to over inflated prices.
If, however, you meant downloads then the same applies.

 

[Cricketbat70]

And most brains, don't worry 👍

Excuse my brains ignorance in this thread but with some earlier responses (not yours) talking about bit rates digital filters etc aren't we in danger of just analysing music too much searching for that difference instead of just enjoying the music.

 

[Oxfordian]

I have just read this thread and have to be honest 95% of it has gone whizzing above my head, all I wanted to say was that Streetlife was a damn fine track to listen too, one of my all time favourites.

I think that I may just go and play the CD.

😉