HiRes makes no sense?

[Proud Audiophile]

No.
I’m saying that some hi-res music is audibly and dramatically distorted when played through my older powered speakers and, separately, a version 1 heos link based system. This same music is simultaneously playing cleanly through my AV10/Buckeye system.
I don’t know what limitation(s) in the chain are causing this malfunction when reproducing Hi-Res music.
These same devices don’t exhibit this behavior when playing CD quality files.
I won’t be intentionally reproducing the distortion so my observations are limited.
I don’t have measurements - if that’s the gate for your consideration (which I respect) then simply ignore this.

That shouldn't be the "gate for consideration". Gross distortion is auditable to anyone. There must be a playback issue with the gear

Someone with more knowledge then me will figure it out for you.

Looks like someone just did before I could even post. At least I got it kind of right.

 

[JKinAK]

Your Denon Heos Version 1 doesn't support HiRes.

Exactly.
Which is why I stated in post 157 “The point I was making is that it’s obvious that not all hi-res files play correctly on many older powered speakers so CD quality digital music (which does play correctly) sounds much better than hi-res files on these devices.”

 

[Chrispy]

Exactly.
Which is why I stated in post 157 “The point I was making is that it’s obvious that not all hi-res files play correctly on many older powered speakers so CD quality digital music (which does play correctly) sounds much better than hi-res files on these devices.”

Why would it be the powered speakers rather than the dac having some fault in attempting to play such files?

 

[MAB]

Exactly.
Which is why I stated in post 157 “The point I was making is that it’s obvious that not all hi-res files play correctly on many older powered speakers so CD quality digital music (which does play correctly) sounds much better than hi-res files on these devices.”

I got it now. You attempted to play HiRes on gear that wasn't compatible and it sounded bad.
Post 157 didn't clarify it. Reading the manual would have. In which case you might have been able to write more clearly that you were trying to play incompatible files and they sounded bad.

 

[pablolie]

I got it now. You attempted to play HiRes on gear that wasn't compatible and it sounded bad.
Post 157 didn't clarify it. Reading the manual would have. In which case you might have been able to write more clearly that you were trying to play incompatible files and they sounded bad.

Wouldn't "incompatible" mean files not play at all?
And... don't competent systems play "HiRes" at lower resolution? I know that's what my ancient Lyrion music server does automatically. And some Spotify lossless files claim to be 24 bit and never ever pose an issue.
I do have several albums that are 24/192 and have never posed an issue, ever.
I actually don't think they sound better, and I don't believe for a single second that HiRes automatically correlates with a suddenly appearing better master, in fact it's very often been proven many are just artificially upsampled RedBook files selling for an inflated price.

 

[JKinAK]

Why would it be the powered speakers rather than the dac having some fault in attempting to play such files?

These are Heos 7 speakers and a v1 Heos link via WiFi and each speaker/device has its own DAC.

You attempted to play HiRes on gear that wasn't compatible and it sounded bad.

Yep.
Older gear hitting its limits. Interestingly not on all songs… I had recently subscribed to Qobuz and heard a number of pieces that casually sounded fine before cacophony struck.
Fortunately, Qobuz allows you to choose default max audio quality… seems to be a global setting vs per playback device.

 

[Chrispy]

These are Heos 7 speakers and a v1 Heos link via WiFi and each speaker/device has its own DAC.

Yep.
Older gear hitting its limits. Interestingly not on all songs… I had recently subscribed to Qobuz and heard a number of pieces that casually sounded fine before cacophony struck.
Fortunately, Qobuz allows you to choose default max audio quality… seems to be a global setting vs per playback device.

Then its the dac at fault. It should downsample seamlessly....or simply not play if not capable. Heos, meh (don't even use it in my Denon gear).

 

[antcollinet]

Where did I say anyone can tell the difference in a practical listening session?

The question is can one differentiate 16bit vs. 24 bit? Yes or no?

The answer is Yes.

You can also do it by measuring the noise floor - which effectively is what you are doing by turning it up until it is audible. Measurements turn stuff we can't see or hear into stuff we can see or hear. In this case - simple amplification, like looking at something through a microscope - or telescope.

Either way, it still falls neatly into the category of "makes no sense". Or in Monty's words "very silly indeed"

 

[sq225917]

If you think sacd sounds different pop over to 2l.no, go to the downloads section, there's a bunch of files recorded simultaneously at different max data rates, dsd and pcm. With no additional mastering added.

Worth doing a blind test on these known true files.

 

[danadam]

If you think sacd sounds different pop over to 2l.no, go to the downloads section, there's a bunch of files recorded simultaneously at different max data rates, dsd and pcm. With no additional mastering added.

Worth doing a blind test on these known true files.

Do you mean https://www.2l.no/hires/ :

or something else? Can you give direct link?

 

[john61ct]

The answer is individual choice based on individual reasoning. For me, f*ck yeah, why wouldn't I, I'm not paying extra for hi-res.

I agree with that framing.

But when my multichannel playback system DA/AD conversion using ADAT, requires paying double per channel or more to go from 48 to 96kHz, the same logic causes me to say f*ck no.

 

[PristineSound]

I agree with that framing.

But when my multichannel playback system DA/AD conversion using ADAT, requires paying double per channel or more to go from 48 to 96kHz, the same logic causes me to say f*ck no.

My answer would be the same as yours if I was in your position.

 

[vintologi]

I did some measurement and nothing that there was basically no output above 23 Khz. At first i was thinking "maybe it's my amplifier being no good" but nope that wasn't it. It was pipewire applying a sampling rate of 48 KS/s (i assume) even though i set it to 192 KS/s (it displayed that as the sampling rate) or it was doing something else stupid.

No wonder i couldn't hear any difference when i tried testing earlier. What a waste of time.

Switching back to pulseaudio fixed it. Probably for the better since i ended up not using easyeffects for anything anyway.

 

[RexrothPigeon]

no output above 23 Khz

very disappointing for your neighborhood bats
luckily you can't hear up there at least

 

[vintologi]

very disappointing for your neighborhood bats
luckily you can't hear up there at least

There are 4 Roe Deer that sometimes show up outside that may benefit from that extended frequency range.

It's also necessary for me in order to test for the audible impact on my own.

Testing mic used: earthworks M30 gen2