Ultimately, hi-res represents a huge opportunity for record labels and online stores alike, as music lovers seek to re-buy their favorite albums the same way movie buffs have done for DVD and Blu-ray formats. It would not surprise me to see a “Beats” section within iTunes by the end of 2015, catering specifically to the hi-res crowd. Apple hasn’t announced any plans for hi-res hardware or music downloads from iTunes, but can such a move be far off? With its recent Beats acquisition, it has the perfect platform and marketing vehicle for hi-res audio. Which brings us to the elephant in the room: Apple. But Sony is so far the only company go all-in with the hi-res format, offering support across a broad array of devices including smartphones, tablets, tabletop units and wireless Hi-Fi speakers.Ĭlearly these companies hope to sell more products based on the promise of better sound. LG’s smartphones have been 24-bit capable since the G2, as have Samsung’s Galaxy Note series since the third generation. It became a smash hit on the crowdfunding scene earlier this year, despite its Toblerone-shaped body and $399 price tag. That honor is shared by many including Neil Young and his peculiarly-named Pono Player. Sony isn’t the only company to jump on the 24-bit audio bandwagon. But suffice it say, when companies like Sony refer to “high-resolution” audio, they’re talking about support for the best, 24-bit category of audio file. I’ve simplified the information above to keep from getting bogged down in technical details (such as bit rate and sampling frequencies), which the audiophiles among you will have noticed, so here’s a great resource in case you’d like to learn more. If you’re a real stickler, then technically, 24-bit uncompressed files such as DSD, AIFF, WAV, and PCM are even better, but honestly, there’s really no need for these at the consumer level.Ībove: In this graphic created by Sony, you can see a comparison between the original analog wave of a sound recording (left), the sampling performed of that sound for CD-quality digital (middle), and the higher-resolution sampling performed by hi-res 24-bit digital files (right). But, as with 16-bit lossless files, computers can handle them with the right software. As you no doubt guessed, file sizes are larger still, and playback support is limited to just a few devices on the market. These use the same codecs as their 16-bit cousins, but their use of 24-bit sample sizes means that they actually deliver better-than-CD quality audio, with the caveat that the original master recording must be used to create the file (you can’t create better-than-CD if a CD is your source). If you want these files, you’ll have to encode them yourself from a CD, as very few online stores offer them.īEST: Lossless, compressed, 24-bit audio. Support for these files varies by device, though computers and smartphones can typically play them through the use of third party software. File sizes are up to 10 times larger than the equivalent MP3/AAC format. These files are considered CD quality because although they compress the data, they nonetheless preserve all of the audio information available in the source. Designed to produce a small file size by only preserving most (but not all) of the audio information available in the source, such as a CD, MP3/AAC files are almost universally supported by consumer audio players, smartphones, and every online music store.īETTER: Lossless, compressed, 16-bit audio, typically encoded into ALAC (Apple Lossless), FLAC, WAV, or AIFF formats. This type of digital audio dominates the consumer landscape. GOOD: Lossy, compressed audio, which usually means MP3 or AAC files. In the post-CD world of digital audio, there is a type of good-better-best comparison that can be made between the current set of technologies, to wit: But let’s slow down for a moment and do a quick 101 on what hi-res means, and then we can discuss the NWZ-A17, Sony’s new hi-res audio player.
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