Is Hi Res Audio a Con????/ Please Read

ontheline

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Ok i am on the verge of buying either a smartphone or a Walkman, my main aim for this purchase is to get the best sound from a portable device for personal audio. It's no secret than sony's latest experia Z2 has been rated higly for sound by What Hifi stating Incredible Sound on it's review.( am i right in saying this is without Hi Res Audio, and it's seems What Hi is wowed with the sound. Now, looking at Sony's latest attempt at a Hi Res Walkman i feel What Hi Fi hasn't praised the sound as much like they have done with the review of the Xperia Z2, question is can sound from a player without Hi Res sound better from a player with Hi Res, if so what is the point of Hi Res Audio??
 

Gazzip

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ontheline said:
huh? i'm new here. what do you mean?

not your fault mate but this topic along with, "do power cables really make a difference", and "are high end expensive interconnects worth it?", have been doing the rounds on here every week for about 5 years..... Get's a bit much for the regulars on here.
 
The answer to your main thread header is most definitely no.

If you want to get the best sound from a portable device for personal audio then the only way is to get a portable music player that is specifically designed for the job and not one that is a mish-mash of everything (ie a phone). Hi Res files are large beasties and, quite frankly, phones do not have the required storage capacity to do the job sufficiently well (well maybe if you only want to carry a few LP's worth).

I use an old Colorfly C4 Pro and although this cannot handle DSD or anything quite as hires as that it will still knock the sound quality of any phone I have yet heard into a cocked-hat. One can only wonder at the quality you can get from the latest Astell & Kern.

You will really need to get your priorities sorted and, if you already own a perfectly serviceablwe mobile phone, then go get a portable audio player.

The only problem on this front is most decent portable players are going to cost a fair bit more than a 'phone.
 

John Duncan

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This is an emotive subject, ontheline, with entrenched positions on either side of the debate, so it is unlikely that you'll get a consensus to your question. I myself am generally of the view that there is nothing to be gained from eg 24/96 encoding of a given master compared to even 320k downmixes of the same material. The important thing is the mastering, and you will often - though not always - find that those sites selling high res material are selling you a better master rather than better audio quality just by dint of the material's 'resolution'.
 

matt49

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You say this is for "personal audio", i.e. listening with headphones. In that case, even assuming hi res audio is audibly superior to CD quality, it's almost certain that the bottlenecks in any smartphone-based system (the quality of the headphones and the smartphone's headphone output) are going to make any superiority of hi res inaudible.

So I'd second Al Ears: if you want to get he benefit of hi res on the go (assuming there is any benefit), you'll need something like an A&K -- plus some serious cans.

Matt
 

relocated

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ontheline said:
huh? i'm new here. what do you mean?

He means that this argument has raged over and over again on this and other forums. People get entrenched with what they believe and frankly discussion is pointless because no-one will believe the other sides arguments.

The short[ish] answer is that our hearing does not need hi-res at all, 16 bit cd quality files supply all the sound that your brain needs. However, hi-res comes with a higher price and is another opportunity for 'rights holders' to get mugs, sorry audiophiles, to buy their music all-over-again; so hi-res files are possibly supplied from better mastered original recordings. So to that end buying a hi-res file could result in you hearing a better performance, only you can decide.

Of course if you downsized the file from 24 to 16 bit your hearing apparatus will hear it just the same. It's your money and hearing, so your decision.
 

Thropplenoggin

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For £160, the Fiio X3 is superb (the X5 even better, apparently, though larger and more pricey). One of my best audio purchases to date (actually, a generous gift from Mrs. Throppers)
 

Vladimir

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Yes it is. CD quality is sufficient and we cannot discern the differences with higher resolution formats. Proven in double blind tests. If an SACD sounds different and better than a CD that is because they remastered it better, it has nothing to do with the resolution.
 

relocated

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Gazzip said:
ontheline said:
huh? i'm new here. what do you mean?

not your fault mate but this topic along with, "do power cables really make a difference", and "are high end expensive interconnects worth it?", have been doing the rounds on here every week for about 5 years..... Get's a bit much for the regulars on here.

Not that such 'regulars' couldn't just ignore it of course.
 

aob9

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The Xpera Z2 is a phone. Get yourself a device specifically designed for your needs. I have spent an absolute fortune on personal audio over the last ten years trying out different manufacturers of both DAP's and headphones. I have sent back or resold some very expensive kit that left me cold with dissapointment.

Look at what I have have settled for in the end . I'm not deaf, but then maybe I don't have the famed "Golden Ear". I also don't need Terrabytes of storage, I can only listen to so much music in a week.

This................... http://www.sony.ie/electronics/walkman/nwz-e580-series

and this............ http://en-de.sennheiser.com/stereo-headphones-travel-lightweigt-px-100-ii

Costing a total of approx €200 and the combination sounds fantastic.
 

Gazzip

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relocated said:
Gazzip said:
ontheline said:
huh? i'm new here. what do you mean?

not your fault mate but this topic along with, "do power cables really make a difference", and "are high end expensive interconnects worth it?", have been doing the rounds on here every week for about 5 years..... Get's a bit much for the regulars on here.

Not that such 'regulars' couldn't just ignore it of course.

i know. Painful isn't it.
 

Jota180

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relocated said:
Gazzip said:
ontheline said:
huh? i'm new here. what do you mean?

not your fault mate but this topic along with, "do power cables really make a difference", and "are high end expensive interconnects worth it?", have been doing the rounds on here every week for about 5 years..... Get's a bit much for the regulars on here.

Not that such 'regulars' couldn't just ignore it of course.

http://imgur.com/gGx84Bj

and by god, this website is positively prehistoric. Away and get a new one Whathifi bods.
 

The_Lhc

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relocated said:
Gazzip said:
ontheline said:
huh? i'm new here. what do you mean?

not your fault mate but this topic along with, "do power cables really make a difference", and "are high end expensive interconnects worth it?", have been doing the rounds on here every week for about 5 years..... Get's a bit much for the regulars on here.

Not that such 'regulars' couldn't just ignore it of course.

We could never ignore an errant apostrophe such as that one though...
 

MajorFubar

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Gazzip said:
ontheline said:
huh? i'm new here. what do you mean?

not your fault mate but this topic along with, "do power cables really make a difference", and "are high end expensive interconnects worth it?", have been doing the rounds on here every week for about 5 years..... Get's a bit much for the regulars on here.

To be more constructive, maybe there's a way that newbies could be encouraged to use the search facility more, so they don't need to rehash a question that comes up probably every five to ten days and routinely fills the air with red mist every time. We must be round about due another cables thread...

And to be fair he's not strictly a newby, he registered over 15 months ago.
 
MajorFubar said:
Gazzip said:
ontheline said:
huh? i'm new here. what do you mean?

not your fault mate but this topic along with, "do power cables really make a difference", and "are high end expensive interconnects worth it?", have been doing the rounds on here every week for about 5 years..... Get's a bit much for the regulars on here.

To be more constructive, maybe there's a way that newbies could be encouraged to use the search facility more, so they don't need to rehash a question that comes up probably every five to ten days and routinely fills the air with red mist every time. We must be round about due another cables thread...

And to be fair he's not strictly a newby, he registered over 15 months ago.

Quite, and obviously does not read the forum often which is why he has posted his thread here. :grin:
 

Gazzip

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The_Lhc said:
relocated said:
Gazzip said:
ontheline said:
huh? i'm new here. what do you mean?

not your fault mate but this topic along with, "do power cables really make a difference", and "are high end expensive interconnects worth it?", have been doing the rounds on here every week for about 5 years..... Get's a bit much for the regulars on here.

Not that such 'regulars' couldn't just ignore it of course.

We could never ignore an errant apostrophe such as that one though...

Oh my god. I'm mortified. That, along with there/their, is my own pet hate. I cannot believe I typed that.
 

ontheline

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:doh: sorry guys if i've caused mayhem but i did register 15 months ago but only second time on the forum, thick as **** on this thing just now. please bare with me, hope i don't get thrown outta here. WHAT did i do wrong? :doh:
 

matt49

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ontheline said:
:doh: sorry guys if i've caused mayhem but i did register 15 months ago but only second time on the forum, thick as **** on this thing just now. please bare with me, hope i don't get thrown outta here. WHAT did i do wrong? :doh:

Seriously, don't worry. Some people on here are just a bit combustible.

I think maybe the thread title didn't really reflect what you want to know. As I said in my earlier post, hi res isn't really the issue here, as you'd be unlikely to be able to hear any of the putative advantages of hi res on a smartphone via headphones.

Matt
 

ontheline

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matt49 said:
ontheline said:
:doh: sorry guys if i've caused mayhem but i did register 15 months ago but only second time on the forum, thick as **** on this thing just now. please bare with me, hope i don't get thrown outta here. WHAT did i do wrong? :doh:

Seriously, don't worry. Some people on here are just a bit combustible.

I think maybe the thread title didn't really reflect what you want to know. As I said in my earlier post, hi res isn't really the issue here, as you'd be unlikely to be able to hear any of the putative advantages of hi res on a smartphone via headphones.

Matt

ok, thanks for your advice Matt.
 

fr0g

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Yes. It's a con.

Another "format" for you to buy even though they could release equal quality on existing formats.

I do buy sometimes, simply for the reasons John mentions, but it's most definitely a total con.
 

byakuya83

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There are many aspects to what makes a good portable audio player. I think interface and control are very important. Have read about the A&K having a glitchy interface. Personally I find Apple products do the job, plus much more.
 

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