Does Hi-Res Audio Have a Future?

[DavidMcRoy]

Is it late enough in the game to determine whether there are enough people who can hear a difference and appreciate it to assure continued hardware manufacturing and software production and distribution? I, for one seem to hear "a difference," but it's so marginal that I barely care about it. (Dolby Atmos is where I'm at.)

 

[_thelaughingman]

Nope!! Not in this day and age of highly compressed streaming.

 

[hucifer]

People will always be swayed by the belief that bigger numbers sound better, so yes.

 

[Blumlein 88]

Should it have a future? No, certainly nothing beyond 96 khz. Does it have a future? Yes, probably always a niche, but it is one I doubt ever goes away. People want to believe, and music companies love getting to charge extra for hi-rez.

 

[Bleib]

Audio bandwidth is cheap compared to video so yeah.

 

[VintageFlanker]

Does Hi-Res Audio Have a Future?

Marketing does have a future, so does Hi-Res.

 

[Ifrit]

Somehow I don't think Atmos and other immersive have a future, not on a mass scale. Just another gimmick, until new "better" thing will come out so Dolby can patent it.
Hi Res, as vinyl and tape, will remain a niche product.

 

[Bleib]

Somehow I don't think Atmos and other immersive have a future, not on a mass scale. Just another gimmick, until new "better" thing will come out so Dolby can patent it.
Hi Res, as vinyl and tape, will remain a niche product.

Me neither. 2 channel is everywhere but multichannel isn't.

 

[Doodski]

Me neither. 2 channel is everywhere but multichannel isn't.

2 ch has economy and it is difficult to economize when purchasing a surround sound system as well as the size of the gear gets a bit much for many peeps with surround sound. 2 ch will be around for a long time.

 

[levimax]

I would be curious to know the numbers but between sound bars and smart speakers it seems to me the majority of music today is listened to as mono. Regarding Hi-res.... marketing will assure it's survival..

 

[krabapple]

It will always have a place in audio production. And that's the place it really matters. It's standard now.

At home, eh, mixing and mastering are still 99.9% more important than the container format.

And surround audio has been offered on home video releases for more than 20 years now, and continues to be offered there and on cable and streaming services. Theres a reason for that. Anyone who thinks it has no future is laughably out of touch.

 

[DavidMcRoy]

2 ch has economy and it is difficult to economize when purchasing a surround sound system as well as the size of the gear gets a bit much for many peeps with surround sound. 2 ch will be around for a long time.

I certainly agree that 2-channel will continue to dominate the mass market, for all the obvious practical reasons.

 

[TonyJZX]

im of the opinion you cant change peoples' minds when their livelihood depends on them not being cognizant of certain facts

if i'm selling cigarettes i'm going to say it doesnt cause lung cancer

if i'm selling leaded petrol then i'm saying lead doesnt cause mental illness

and so people like this need to maintain the facade

also people need to accept certain methods... i first thought Amir's insistence of doing on MONO spin tests was dumb... for Danny's reasoning

and yet once i read the explanation it made sense. This is what people have to do, get their core beliefs challenged with reason and then change.

 

[Palladium]

Somehow I don't think Atmos and other immersive have a future, not on a mass scale. Just another gimmick, until new "better" thing will come out so Dolby can patent it.
Hi Res, as vinyl and tape, will remain a niche product.

Even traditional 2-channel Hi-Fi is pretty niche as it stands now, I personally know of nobody having it besides me.

Also, IIRC Apple Airpods outsell the rest of the audio market combined.

 

[GaryH]

I, for one seem to hear "a difference"

Foobar ABX Comparator blind test log + verifiable checksum or it didn't happen

 

[Ifrit]

Also, IIRC Apple Airpods outsell the rest of the audio market combined.

Then the majority of Atmos content is going to be cosumed through those. Hardly a valid selling point for 7.1.4 with 128 objects in the mix...

Even traditional 2-channel Hi-Fi is pretty niche as it stands now, I personally know of nobody having it besides me.

Not the case for me, a lot of people with decent stereo setups. Only one who has OK 5.1 system and not a single soul with even 5.1.2. Few people who work with immersive, though. Just because it's required.

 

[Palladium]

Then the majority of Atmos content is going to be cosumed through those. Hardly a valid selling point for 7.1.4 with 128 objects in the mix...

Not the case for me, a lot of people with decent stereo setups. Only one who has OK 5.1 system and not a single soul with even 5.1.2. Few people who work with immersive, though. Just because it's required.

Over here in Singapore, room sizes had been steadily declining to the point any decent 2Ch will have problems stretching their legs, much less multi.

 

[Ifrit]

Over here in Singapore, room sizes had been steadily declining to the point any decent 2Ch will have problems stretching their legs, much less multi.

That's whole another topic of issues, valid ones.

 

[restorer-john]

also people need to accept certain methods... i first thought Amir's insistence of doing on MONO spin tests was dumb... for Danny's reasoning

and yet once i read the explanation it made sense. This is what people have to do, get their core beliefs challenged with reason and then change.

People don't 'need' to accept anybody's methods, especially when it comes to loudspeakers.

Amir only insists on listening in mono for his subjective part of the review as far as I understand it. His choice, some pretty reasonable reasoning behind it, but not enough to proclaim such 'tests' as the be all and end all. And, to his credit, he doesn't make such outlandish claims.

 

[DavidMcRoy]

Foobar ABX Comparator blind test log + verifiable checksum or it didn't happen

Absolutely agree.