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Focus on 24/192 Misguided?.....

As I've upgraded by digital front end over the last few years, like most people I've been focused on 24/192 and related 'hi rez' digital playback and music to get the most from my system. However, I read this pretty thought provoking article on why this may be a very bad idea:
http://people.xiph.org/~xiphmont/demo/neil-young.html

Maybe it's best to just focus on as good a redbook solution as you can, although there seem to be some merits to SACD, if for nothing else the attention to recording quality.
128x128outlier
oldears
208 posts
 
Well written, interesting, provacitive. This coincides with my recent experience with forays into SACD & DVD-A. The overriding contribution to good sound (IMHO)is what I would call the production values( the care and equipment used in recordng & mastering). I have some dual sided DAD(24/96 PCM) and DVD-A (24/192 MLP) discs. I hear no advantage to the 192 sides. I consider the DADs proposed by Halverson & Classic Records to have been an ideal solution to improving the 16/44.1 standard, but of course it was never supported by the big players because it did not afford copy protection. I also find it very difficult to identify before purchasing "true" high def material actually encoded with 24/96 PCM, DSD, or even high speed analog tape with digital remastering. It seems to me these "high def" discs do offer improved sound, but only with the proviso cited in this article that the production values are also high def.
realremo
455 posts
 
I don't own any high res files, because none of the music I listen to is available in 24/96, but I am considering the purchase of several classical titles in 24/96 since I bought a DAC that can process the signal. The true answer to something like this is an A/B test between the same track at 16/44.1 and 24/96, and I plan to do this if I can. In the meantime, I can say that the 192kHz setting on my PS Audio DL III helps remove some high frequency noise and reduces listener fatigue. I am currently battling this HF noise in my DAC-direct-to-amp setup. But this has nothing to do with 24/96 files, all my stuff is Redbook...now I'm wondering if the 24/96 USB/SPDIF converter is inserting "audible intermodulation of the ultrasonics!"
timlub
1,649 posts
 
I can only comment that I'd much rather listen to good 16/44 vs mediocre or poor hi res regardless of frequency, bit and sample rate... Although really good recordings on high res are wonderful...Recording quality is a higher factor. Than resolution once you get up to 16/44. I've posted a hi res quesion on the computer forum, like any feedback that I can get.
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