Yes, that was the innocuous title of three mails that I received from one who would know what he's talking about. These are from Jochen of "The Listening Room" in Bangalore. Some other forum members might also have received them.
Here goes:
MAIL 1
Often, when I talk to my customers about High Resolution or High Definition Digital Audio I'm getting the impression that there is a lot of misunderstanding about this topic. Therefore let me try to clarify a bit.
1) High Res or HD music files is music recorded, mixed and mastered entirely in the digital domain at 24bit/96kHz or higher.
1.1) Digital PCM recordings, if done well at 24bit/96dB, can have a dynamic range of up to 130 dB. This equals the capability of the human hearing capacity (130 dB = threshold of pain).
1.2) Digital recordings done at 24bit/96dB or higher contain ultra sonic frequencies up to 48 kHz, which, as we all know, do play a great role in the fidelity, resolution and openness of recorded music.
2) Music that was recorded, mixed and mastered in the analog domain and then converted to digital 24bit/44.1kHz or higher does not qualify for being High Resolution or High Definition.
2.1) Because of it's limitation in dynamic range to approx 65 dB analog tape can deliver only half the dynamic range of a High Res/HD recordings done at 24bit/96kHz or higher and therefore does not qualify being of High Resolution/High Definition.
2.2) Bandwidth of analog tape is limited to approx. 20 kHz and does not contain ultra sonic frequencies like 24bit/96kHz (or higher) recordings, and therefore does not qualify to be of High Resolution/High Definition.
3) Music that was recorded, mixed and mastered in the digital domain but at 16bit/44.1kHz (standard CD-quality) and then converted to digital 24bit/44.1kHz or higher does not qualify for being of High Resolution or High Definition.
3.1) Because of it's limitation in dynamic range to approx 90dB digital files of standard resolution (16bit/44.1kHz aka CD-quality) can not deliver the dynamic range of High Res/HD recordings at 24bit/96kHz or higher and therefore do not qualify being of High Resolution/High Definition. It is only standard resolution.
3.2) Bandwidth of standard resolution recordings (CD-quality) is limited to 22.05 kHz and does not contain ultra sonic frequencies like 24bit/96kHz (or higher) recordings, and therefore do not qualify to be of High Resolution/High Definition.
Presently all the major record companies are converting their back catalogues to 24/44.1, 48, 88.2, 96 or 192 files and call them High Res or HD Music Files. This is absolute nonsense and not genuine, because most of these back catalogue recordings were either recorded, mixed and mastered on analog tape or to digital but at standard resolution CD-quality (16/44.1). And because of the shortcoming over genuine native High Resolution/High Definition digital recordings, those files cannot be called High Res or HD. So be aware when you download such music files. These are just as good as a CD, nothing more! The only difference to a CD or LP is, that
a) the vendors charge you an extra premium for being High Resolution/High Definition, which is a lie but big business for the vendors and record companies
b) the extra large file size only crowds your hard disk with empty zeroes and ones without any additional information.
Try to locate genuine, native High Resolution/High Definition Music Files and buy these.....it's worth it!
MAIL 2
After the above, I got a lot of responses thanking me for this clarification. Still some were confused about what is and what is not High Resolution or High Definition (both the terms are still used and no decision how these new formats should be called is made). So I have prepared a chart
listing all the formats in the 3 categories (low, standard and high resolution/definition). Still quite confusing. But when you filter out the most commonly used formats, which are MP3, Vinyl, CD, and PCM downloads at the different sample rates, it becomes a bit clearer. I hope this clarifies even further.
MAIL 3
In June 2014 the Japan Audio Society (JAS) has published a list of what actually defines High Res Audio productions to adopt Sony's High Res Audio Logo.
You would have all seen this logo somewhere on download sites:
And there is the list published by JAS:
This clearly confirms what I had written in my post before. That the whole recording process must take place in the digital domain using a format of 96kHz/24bits or above.
And the equipment used must be able to capture and transmit frequencies of 40 kHz or above.
That means only high bandwidth amplifiers qualify for being capable of transmitting HD-Audio. Conventional tube amps with their bandwidth limiting output transformers certainly do not qualify, except OTL tube amplifiers because these do not use output transformers.
Further it is interesting to see that the DSD (Direct Stream Digital) format finds no mention in this list. Why? Because commercial recordings, that are all mixed, edited and mastered, cannot be made in the DSD format. For mixing, editing and mastering the DSD file has to be converted into the analog or PCM domain, and then converted back to DSD for distribution. As we know analog is not high resolution, it is standard resolution. And converting a standard resolution file to DSD does not improve its fidelity and give you more detail and resolution.
When converting DSD to PCM for mixing, editing and mastering and then converting it back to DSD the fidelity also does not improve, because the dynamic range of DSD is limited to 99 dB only and therefore does not qualify for High Res. The dynamic range that PCM can deliver is 130 dB... the dynamic range of human hearing. The only way to get High Resolution from DSD is using 11.2 MHz/1bit DSD, convert it to DXD (352.8 or 384 kHz PCM) for mixing, editing and mastering and then convert it back to High Res DSD. It's a method used by the audiophile label 2L and a few others. But those recordings are very very rare. And this method will certainly never be used for commercial recordings.
I have reworked the chart of my last post a bit.
Here goes:
MAIL 1
Often, when I talk to my customers about High Resolution or High Definition Digital Audio I'm getting the impression that there is a lot of misunderstanding about this topic. Therefore let me try to clarify a bit.
1) High Res or HD music files is music recorded, mixed and mastered entirely in the digital domain at 24bit/96kHz or higher.
1.1) Digital PCM recordings, if done well at 24bit/96dB, can have a dynamic range of up to 130 dB. This equals the capability of the human hearing capacity (130 dB = threshold of pain).
1.2) Digital recordings done at 24bit/96dB or higher contain ultra sonic frequencies up to 48 kHz, which, as we all know, do play a great role in the fidelity, resolution and openness of recorded music.
2) Music that was recorded, mixed and mastered in the analog domain and then converted to digital 24bit/44.1kHz or higher does not qualify for being High Resolution or High Definition.
2.1) Because of it's limitation in dynamic range to approx 65 dB analog tape can deliver only half the dynamic range of a High Res/HD recordings done at 24bit/96kHz or higher and therefore does not qualify being of High Resolution/High Definition.
2.2) Bandwidth of analog tape is limited to approx. 20 kHz and does not contain ultra sonic frequencies like 24bit/96kHz (or higher) recordings, and therefore does not qualify to be of High Resolution/High Definition.
3) Music that was recorded, mixed and mastered in the digital domain but at 16bit/44.1kHz (standard CD-quality) and then converted to digital 24bit/44.1kHz or higher does not qualify for being of High Resolution or High Definition.
3.1) Because of it's limitation in dynamic range to approx 90dB digital files of standard resolution (16bit/44.1kHz aka CD-quality) can not deliver the dynamic range of High Res/HD recordings at 24bit/96kHz or higher and therefore do not qualify being of High Resolution/High Definition. It is only standard resolution.
3.2) Bandwidth of standard resolution recordings (CD-quality) is limited to 22.05 kHz and does not contain ultra sonic frequencies like 24bit/96kHz (or higher) recordings, and therefore do not qualify to be of High Resolution/High Definition.
Presently all the major record companies are converting their back catalogues to 24/44.1, 48, 88.2, 96 or 192 files and call them High Res or HD Music Files. This is absolute nonsense and not genuine, because most of these back catalogue recordings were either recorded, mixed and mastered on analog tape or to digital but at standard resolution CD-quality (16/44.1). And because of the shortcoming over genuine native High Resolution/High Definition digital recordings, those files cannot be called High Res or HD. So be aware when you download such music files. These are just as good as a CD, nothing more! The only difference to a CD or LP is, that
a) the vendors charge you an extra premium for being High Resolution/High Definition, which is a lie but big business for the vendors and record companies
b) the extra large file size only crowds your hard disk with empty zeroes and ones without any additional information.
Try to locate genuine, native High Resolution/High Definition Music Files and buy these.....it's worth it!
MAIL 2
After the above, I got a lot of responses thanking me for this clarification. Still some were confused about what is and what is not High Resolution or High Definition (both the terms are still used and no decision how these new formats should be called is made). So I have prepared a chart
listing all the formats in the 3 categories (low, standard and high resolution/definition). Still quite confusing. But when you filter out the most commonly used formats, which are MP3, Vinyl, CD, and PCM downloads at the different sample rates, it becomes a bit clearer. I hope this clarifies even further.
MAIL 3
In June 2014 the Japan Audio Society (JAS) has published a list of what actually defines High Res Audio productions to adopt Sony's High Res Audio Logo.
You would have all seen this logo somewhere on download sites:
And there is the list published by JAS:
This clearly confirms what I had written in my post before. That the whole recording process must take place in the digital domain using a format of 96kHz/24bits or above.
And the equipment used must be able to capture and transmit frequencies of 40 kHz or above.
That means only high bandwidth amplifiers qualify for being capable of transmitting HD-Audio. Conventional tube amps with their bandwidth limiting output transformers certainly do not qualify, except OTL tube amplifiers because these do not use output transformers.
Further it is interesting to see that the DSD (Direct Stream Digital) format finds no mention in this list. Why? Because commercial recordings, that are all mixed, edited and mastered, cannot be made in the DSD format. For mixing, editing and mastering the DSD file has to be converted into the analog or PCM domain, and then converted back to DSD for distribution. As we know analog is not high resolution, it is standard resolution. And converting a standard resolution file to DSD does not improve its fidelity and give you more detail and resolution.
When converting DSD to PCM for mixing, editing and mastering and then converting it back to DSD the fidelity also does not improve, because the dynamic range of DSD is limited to 99 dB only and therefore does not qualify for High Res. The dynamic range that PCM can deliver is 130 dB... the dynamic range of human hearing. The only way to get High Resolution from DSD is using 11.2 MHz/1bit DSD, convert it to DXD (352.8 or 384 kHz PCM) for mixing, editing and mastering and then convert it back to High Res DSD. It's a method used by the audiophile label 2L and a few others. But those recordings are very very rare. And this method will certainly never be used for commercial recordings.
I have reworked the chart of my last post a bit.
hyeah:
