Maxwell Davies Archive

Audio News for August 26, 2016

by Audiophile Audition | Aug 26, 2016 | Audio News

Sony Is Advertising a Hi-Res Turntable – There cannot be such a thing as a hi-res turntable. It may be designed to convert vinyl discs to audio files, but it is not therefore hi-res. Vinyl may often sound fantastic, but it is not hi-res and never will be. Post-iPod Players – Both new and experienced audio fans are flocking to hi-res audio players for music while on the go. Rather than the old-fashioned MP3 players like Apple’s iPod, they have sophisticated electronics such as DACs, making them capable of reproducing hi-res audio that the iPod cannot handle. The hi-res mobile players have also become cheaper and more feature-packed recently. Hi-res correctly refers to anything in digital audio files which is more than the standard 44.1K/16-bit of compact discs. (The current low-end hi-res is considered to be 48K/24-bit.) The bit depth is usually pushed up to 24-bits and the sampling to at least 96K, which results in clearer, richer and more authentic audio. Enthusiasts sometimes compare hi-res audio to so-called 4K video (actually UHD) in terms of better sound quality, clarity, and authentic audio. Such players now range from $150 to $6000. Tracks can be streamed via services like Tidal and […]