Philosophy of Sound

Curt A

OK folks. I have to ask a question. Given good equipment... I have a NAD C368 plus a few Pulse 2i's, all hardwired, just how much difference can your ear hear between 320K, FLAC, or other high res?

I can tell the difference when I am listening to internet radio or Sirius vs listening to HiFi on Deezer or CD quality on Tidal... but anything beyond that, frankly I can't tell the difference.

I am a senior and unfortunately have hearing aids. So when I want the best quality, I take them off and turn up the volume. My spouse just has to live with it since headphones do not do the trick.

All that being said, BlueSound has provided me with unequaled sound quality in every room (and in the covered porch) in my house.

Question: I go to see Walter Trout in concert and I will tell you, he actually sounds better on my NAD... with Hifi or CD quality.

So, what is your break point? How much difference do you hear and why?

Thanks

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  • Alex

    While a lot of this varies depending on the recording, in general I can tell the difference:

    - Between premium (but still lossy obviously) Spotify 'very high quality' setting and CD quality Tidal and Qobuz

    - Between CD quality and hi res streams on both Tidal and Qobuz. Again, this can vary depending on the recording, and does sometimes require careful listening, but overall I do feel there is an improvement in SQ with high res. Especially with good recordings.

    - Comparing Tidal and Qobuz hi res, I feel Qobuz has a slight edge but, really, it's not night and day by any means and honestly most of the time it's very hard to tell at all.

    - If we use JEITA/JAS definition of high res audio (minimum of 96 kHz sample rate and 24-bit depth), to my ears and on my equipment there is very little, if any, difference above that.

    - Lastly I will say that I have a Marantz SACD player which, even though is over ten years old, consistently tops all of the above. There is quite a noticeable difference.

    For reference, I have a Powernode 2i connected to a pair of Wharfedale Evo 4.2 speakers.

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