Hi resolution audio and extended treble response!

[RandomEar]

Hi randomear, thank you very much for the tip. I still copy and paste the address bar. That's very old school, I need to change that. I was a bit unsure because of the German article https://www.mobilefidelity-magazin.de/macht-den-hi-res-schwindel-sichtbar-xivero-musicscope. Let me translate this part:


"Unfortunately, not all files that we put under MusicScope were flawless. For example, a 176.4 kHz / 24-bit AIFF file of Michael Jackson's "Thriller" had always seemed suspicious to us because the sound was really lacking for a Hi-Res recording. Reading it into MusicScope supported this suspicion:
XiVero MusicScope Bitmonitor The Bit Monitor shows that only 16 bits are used out of the specified 24 bits in "Thriller". It appears that the upper harmonics spectrum has been slightly extended with the use of a maximizer, which MusicScope's automatic detection does not understand (hence the unusual threshold of 35.1 kHz, which would mean a sampling rate of 70.2 kHz), but which suggests the very clear step at about 22 kHz, i.e., the cutoff frequency of a CD. To fill the rest of the frequency spectrum up to 176.4 kHz, the file seems to have been initially converted to DSD, which shows the typical increase outside the audible range, and then converted back to PCM. Looking at the Bit Monitor shows that only 16 of the 24 bits are effectively used. It appears that clever forgers were indeed at work here."

This is why I'm asking for advice here in the forum. Amir's video was very plausible to me. I will describe my Screenshots as noise shaping.
Thanks

OK, I think I get it now. Actually had to check, what a maximizer is:

An audio maximizer is like a limiter on steroids, specifically designed to bring a full mix to an optimum loudness level and control its peak digital level.

[Source]

It looks like the guys from mobilefidelity-magazin.de also don't know in detail what happened to that upmix of Thriller. It certainly sounds plausible to me that the label took a 44.1/16 red book master, ran it through a DSD-based mixing setup and then converted it back into PCM for release. That would also explain why only 16 bits are actually used, although the file is 24 bit. Maybe anything above 22.05 kHz is nothing but noise pushed by the maximizer. I don't think that overtones/harmonics not present in the original 44.1/16 recording can just "pop up" out of nowhere in the remaster, even when using a maximizer. That information simple isn't there. Those supposed overtones might be imaging artifacts. But at this point, I'm honestly just spitballing. I suppose one of the mixing engineers on the forum would be more qualified to answer this

 

[maxaudio]

It looks like the guys from mobilefidelity-magazin.de also don't know in detail what happened to that upmix of Thriller. It certainly sounds plausible to me that the label took a 44.1/16 red book master, ran it through a DSD-based mixing setup and then converted it back into PCM for release. That would also explain why only 16 bits are actually used, although the file is 24 bit. Maybe anything above 22.05 kHz is nothing but noise pushed by the maximizer. I don't think that overtones/harmonics not present in the original 44.1/16 recording can just "pop up" out of nowhere in the remaster, even when using a maximizer. That information simple isn't there. Those supposed overtones might be imaging artifacts. But at this point, I'm honestly just spitballing. I suppose one of the mixing engineers on the forum would be more qualified to answer this

Yes, I also think that, with the article, it is a speculation, but apparently it is a common method that has occurred before, as in the example of Thriller, where it was converted from CD -> DSD -> PCM. The 16 bits then make sense to be analyzed at the end.

Hifi Statement in Germany once wrote a statement: "A high-resolution file without signal components above 22 kilohertz was loaded into Cubase, and the Maximizer VST plug-in was activated. This allows even and odd harmonics to be generated. The intensity of these was chosen so that the manipulation is almost inaudible, which MusicScope recognized."

I'm attaching three short videos with three analyses: The music content is present. Perhaps there is aggressive noise shaping since the hi-res frequency range still contains music signals.
Musicscope

Thanks for the awesome responds for my

 

[voodooless]

Yes, I also think that, with the article, it is a speculation, but apparently it is a common method that has occurred before, as in the example of Thriller, where it was converted from CD -> DSD -> PCM. The 16 bits then make sense to be analyzed at the end.

I don’t see how that makes sense unless the DSD to PCM conversation was done with only 16 bit precision. A 24 bit conversion would simply yield 24 bits of resolution. You may end up with a higher noise level overall, but you don’t really know the source noise level, so that could just be normal.