Is this absolute nonsense? Streamers degrade audio

[Greenman]

Our ears do not have the same fidelity as our eyes.

I’m not even sure what you mean here? Our eyes can see about an octave of visible light (400–790 terahertz), we can hear around 10 Octaves, so I’m not sure what ‘fidelity’ means in this case.

 

[voodooless]

I’m not even sure what you mean here? Our eyes can see about an octave of visible light (400–790 terahertz), we can hear around 10 Octaves, so I’m not sure what ‘fidelity’ means in this case.

That several hundred THz more frequencies than the audio band

As for dynamic range, that’s pretty comparable to audio: about 20 bits of sound or light

 

[Deleted member 21219]

You are very lucky then that you can be satisfied that your £100 Dac and £200 amp playing Spotify can ably compete with a £10000+ system playing HI Def, certainly should save you some money.

There's at least a 50/50 chance (if not more) that the lower priced system can not only ably compete, but thoroughly best the ten thousand pound system. The reason is "intent".

Many of the the multi-thousand pound systems are aimed at gullible audiophiles ( some people call them "audiophools") who have been duped into thinking that more money equates to better performance. Not only that, but in order to sell, some expensive products, promoted as "high-end", are deliberately designed to produce a non-neutral (or inaccurate) sound. The customer will (usually) notice this, and the sales personnel can then say, "See? I told you so! This unit is much, much better!"

Honest? No. Effective? To too great a degree, I must admit yes, it is.

So without tests and measurements to weed out the dishonest or underperforming gear, the buyer is taking a gamble.

Jim

 

[antcollinet]

That several hundred THz more frequencies than the audio band

As for dynamic range, that’s pretty comparable to audio: about 20 bits of sound or light

And even that 20bits is a stretch. It assumes your ears can withstand 120dB without damage. For sustainable dynamic range, we're probably maxing out at around the 16bits of CD. Perhaps with peaks to 18 bits if not continuous.

 

[PHD]

He is right about streaming companies trying to save space and upsampling lossy/compressed music. Not sure about all of them, but Tidal did get caught doing so, including mp3 to FLAC MQA automatic conversion... That's one service I wouldn't trust anymore...

 

[voodooless]

And even that 20bits is a stretch. It assumes your ears can withstand 120dB without damage. For sustainable dynamic range, we're probably maxing out at around the 16bits of CD. Perhaps with peaks to 18 bits if not continuous.

Same goes for your eyes, the brightest lights will also damage them. And the eye has a helper, the iris: it actively limits light entering the inner eye, helping increase dynamic range.

 

[Killingbeans]

You are very lucky then that you can be satisfied that your £100 Dac and £200 amp playing Spotify can ably compete with a £10000+ system playing HI Def, certainly should save you some money.

Why not both? A £10000+ system with a £100 DAC and a £200 amp* would probably be absolutely amazing, assuming the last £9700+ was spent on speakers, multi-subs, room treatment and DSP.

Even better, £10000+ worth of active speakers containing DACs and amps as a "freebie". If the self noise is low enough, I'll take that deal any day of the week

So called "Hi def" music is for bats and dolphins, not humans

*Finding a £200 amp with enough power surplus and load indifference might be a tall order, but should be doable if second hand purchases are allowed.

 

[Jimbob54]

He is right about streaming companies trying to save space and upsampling lossy/compressed music. Not sure about all of them, but Tidal did get caught doing so, including mp3 to FLAC MQA automatic conversion... That's one service I wouldn't trust anymore...

Got a link /source for that mp3 to mqa conversion.bit please?

 

[PHD]

Got a link /source for that mp3 to mqa conversion.bit please?

I've seen at least 3 threads about this issue, which I cannot find right now, but there is also the Goldensound (ex-ASR member) video where he claimed that he posted his low-res music on Tidal as an artist and they've upgraded it into master quality/MQA... Another guy downloaded some FLAC files from TIdal servers using 3rd party app and tested their spectrum using a tool called Faking the funk or something like that. They all failed the lossless property tests... I'll try to find those posts..

 

[Don Hills]

... And the eye has a helper, the iris: it actively limits light entering the inner eye, helping increase dynamic range.

It's the same for ears, there are muscles that tighten at high sound levels and reduce the movement of the bones coupling sound from eardrum to inner ear. They protect you from deafening yourself when you shout.

 

[Beave]

It's the same for ears, there are muscles that tighten at high sound levels and reduce the movement of the bones coupling sound from eardrum to inner ear. They protect you from deafening yourself when you shout.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tensor_tympani_muscle

 

[Jimbob54]

I've seen at least 3 threads about this issue, which I cannot find right now, but there is also the Goldensound (ex-ASR member) video where he claimed that he posted his low-res music on Tidal as an artist and they've upgraded it into master quality/MQA... Another guy downloaded some FLAC files from TIdal servers using 3rd party app and tested their spectrum using a tool called Faking the funk or something like that. They all failed the lossless property tests... I'll try to find those posts..

I may be mistaken but I don't think any of Goldensound's investigations involved tidal serving up a file provided to them as mp3 as mqa. His investigations showed mqa was not lossless (yup) and that if the file provided is mqa, their middle tier hifi would serve you a 16/44 undecoded mqa file. Even if the source file was 24 bit https://goldensound.audio/2021/11/29/tidal-hifi-is-not-lossless/

Things have recently moved on in tidal land, for better or worse remains to be seen https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...of-masters-wheres-mqa-gone.46944/post-1676268

 

[AdrianusG]

I’m not even sure what you mean here? Our eyes can see about an octave of visible light (400–790 terahertz), we can hear around 10 Octaves, so I’m not sure what ‘fidelity’ means in this case.

That's the thing,

the difference between a movie on Blu-ray vs DVD viewed on a good 4K television set is immediately evident, with music, High-Res vs CD vs Mp3 (320) not so much or not at all in many cases, at least not to me.

 

[antcollinet]

That's the thing,

the difference between a movie on Blu-ray vs DVD viewed on a good 4K television set is immediately evident, with music, High-Res vs CD vs Mp3 (320) not so much or not at all in many cases, at least not to me.

That is about resolution - it has nothing to do with (electro magnetic spectrum) bandwidth.

 

[AdrianusG]

Oops, sorry for that, perhaps i posted in wrong forum

nice weekend anyways.