Our guide to hi-res audio – what it is and why you should listen to it
If you have even a passing interest in listening to digital music – whether it’s playing CDS or streaming Spotify on your smartphone – you will probably have heard of the term “high-resolution audio” (or “hi-res audio”). In the past few years, hi-res audio has slowly but surely hit the mainstream, thanks to the release of more products, streaming services and even smartphones that support the hi-res audio standards. Once an audiophile niche, the hi-res party now seems to be event everyone wants to get into.
Why should you care? Well, if you want the best music experience possible, or at least better sound quality than you’re used to, we think that hi-res audio is worth getting into.
It can be a daunting prospect, and there are many factors involved: what exactly constitutes hi-res audio? What do all these different file formats and numbers mean? Where can you get high-quality files, and what devices do you need to play them on? Where do you even begin?
That’s where we come in – our handy guide will take you through the ins and outs of hi-res audio. By the end, we hope you’ll know everything you need to know (and then some) about hi-res audio and be well on your way to enjoying your brand new sonic lifestyle.
WHAT IS HI-RES AUDIO?
Unlike high-definition video, there is no single universal standard for hi-res audio. The Digital Entertainment Group, Consumer Electronics Association and The Recording Academy, together with major record labels, have formally defined high-resolution audio as being: “Lossless audio that is capable of reproducing the full range of sound from recordings that have been mastered from better-than-cd quality music sources.”
In its simplest terms, hi-res audio tends to refer to music files that have a higher sampling frequency and/or bit depth than CD – which is specified at 16-bit/44.1khz.
Sampling frequency (or sample rate) refers to the number of times samples of the signal are taken per second during the analogue to digital conversion process. The more bits there are, the more accurately the signal can be measured in the first instance, so going from 16-bit to 24-bit can deliver a noticeable leap in quality.
High-resolution audio files usually use a sampling frequency of 96khz or 192khz at 24-bit. You can also have 44.1khz, 88.2khz and 176.4khz files too.
No great loss
Hi-res audio does come with a downside, though: file size. A hi-res file can typically be tens of megabytes in size, and a few tracks can quickly eat up the storage on your device. They can also be cumbersome to stream over wi-fi and mobile data.
That’s not all: there are also several different hi-res audio file formats to choose from, all of which have their own compatibility requirements. These include the popular FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) and ALAC (Apple Lossless Audio Codec) formats, both of which are compressed in a way which means that, in theory, no information is lost. Other formats include the uncompressed WAV and AIFF formats, DSD (the format used for Super Audio CDS), and the new MQA (Master Quality Authenticated).
The relative merits of each of the formats can be argued, but the most crucial issue will be the file’s compatibility with your chosen audio products and software.
“A FEW HI-RES TRACKS CAN QUICKLY EAT UP YOUR STORAGE”