Tag Archives: wav

Hi Res Audio Explanation & Video

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What Is Hi-Res Audio – The History of Digital Audio

Hi-Res audio has now become a standard feature when looking for a new audio device, whether that’s headphones, earphones or portable players. It has also become a rating for high quality music files. That little gold logo has become very important… but what does it mean?

Audio Formats

To understand what hi-res audio is, it’s worth having a basic understanding of digital audio and how it’s recorded. The majority of music we listen to these days, at some point during the recording and mastering process, has been made into digital audio. Once upon a time, audio was recorded onto tape and then cut straight onto vinyl, a completely analogue process.

Nowadays music is mainly recorded onto computer drives using software like Protools, Ableton or Logic. Tapes are still sometimes used to record onto, but they tend to be transferred onto the drive as well. The recorded audio is converted into digital audio and then stored on the drive to be edited in the software.

Historically, digital audio has been available in a number of different file types. MP3 and AAC are not hi-res formats. They are early developed file types that compresses audio data in order to achieve small file sizes: convenient for storing on devices with minimal storage, while compromising on sound quality. Nowadays this compression is used on streaming services such as Spotify and Apple Music, so it’s worth knowing that however convenient they are, the sound quality will be compromised.

There are four main file types which are capable of storing hi-res audio. They are WAV, AIFF, FLAC and ALAC. The quality of these file types can range from 16bit CD quality audio up to the highest hi-res audio quality. WAV and AIFF are raw, uncompressed formats which are not commonly used for general listening due to the very large file sizes. FLAC and ALAC are the most common formats for hi-res audio. They are both lossless compression formats, which means the file sizes are much smaller and they can store metadata, which is all the information about the piece of music.

Hi Res Audio

Bit Depth and Sample Rate

Now the complicated part. Before hi-res audio became mainstream, music was typically recorded with a bit depth of 24bits and a sample rate of 44.1khz or 48khz. The bit depth determines the number of bits of information in each sample and the signal to noise ratio, while the sample rate determines the number of samples of audio taken per second. If you want to know more about bit depth and sample rates, I would suggest you do some research online, as there are a lot of articles on this. Alternatively, you can ask us down below and we’ll do our best to answer.

The digital audio on a CD is always 16bits and 44.1khz.  This is a standard process for CD, and was calculated by very smart people to get the best from this format. Before hi-res audio was a format we could easily listen to, CD’s gave us the best digital audio quality, with Super Audio CD’s providing the hi-res audio of its time and an early glimpse of DSD audio.  We’ll save that for another video. Now thanks to portable audio players having high quality DAC chips and also very large, expandable storage, hi-res audio is something we can all experience wherever we want.

Unlike CD quality, hi-res audio has a minimum bit depth of 24bits and a sample rate of up to 192khz. To achieve this, the audio has to be recorded at a much higher sample rate than was done before. This requires a lot more storage, as the data is much larger.

The upside to this is that the higher bit rate provides more dB of dynamic range, meaning the 24bit recording has a dynamic range of 144dB compared to the 96dB provided by the 16bit CD recording. The result is more headroom for peaks at the recording stage, avoiding the risk of clipping. It also gives a greater separation between the recorded audio and the noise floor.

Using a larger sample rate will increase the amount of samples taken of the audio per second, and this is where it gets tricky. The higher the sample rate, the higher frequencies a system can record. So a sample rate of 44.1khz reproduces frequencies of up to roughly 20khz, and increasing the sample rate will increase the frequencies that can be produced. Technically this seems like a no-brainer as more information can be captured during the recording process, making sure to grab all the detail possible.

Conclusion

The argument to this is that we can only hear frequencies up to 20khz, and that’s pushing it. So why would we need more? Well that seems to be a subject where no definite answer has been determined. Please feel free to give your opinions to this below.

Right, here we are. Is hi-res audio worth all the fuss? If you have a very good set of headphones or earphones, and you use them with a very nice portable player or plug them into a high end home system, then I’d say that you will notice the difference between CD and hi-res audio. On the other hand, if you listen to music on your phone using the earphones supplied with it, or you listen to your music wirelessly, CD quality will probably be as good as you need. Saying that, most people still listen to Spotify and seem very happy with it, so what do I know? And don’t even get me started on vinyl or we’ll be here all week.

Hidizs AP100 Review – A Sturdy Source Of Solid Sound!

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Verdict

The Hidizs AP100 is a great media player. I look forward to future firmware updates but in the meantime the UI is quite useable, and the unit gives a clean, uncluttered sound with a decent amount of power. This is an amazing first effort which begs the question; whatever next from Hidizs?

Pros

  • Built to last
  • Neat, useful carry case
  • Large clear display
  • Firmware can be updated
  • Sounds superb at this price point
  • Internal data/file storage

Cons

  • Button layout may need getting used to
  • Micro SD card could be easier to insert and remove

If you like your brand names to look like the first line of an optician’s eye chart, the Hidizs is certainly worth considering – the name might take some getting used to, but it’s plain to see that this player is getting some covetous glances! The Hidizs AP100 has some stiff competition in the low-cost DAP (Digital Audio Player) market, not least from FiiO’s ‘X’ range. The Hidizs AP100 appears to be a halfway house between the Fiio X3 and X5 in terms of size and cost.

Key Features

Inputs and outputs are well represented; both headphone and line-out sockets are present on the top and a separate 3.5mm coaxial in and coaxial out can be found at the base of the unit. Volume buttons are side by side on the front, and on the left side there are both the source/SRC and EQ buttons. Being capable of playback at up to 24bit/192KHz, the SRC button can select the bitrate the player works at. The EQ button scrolls through available presets, and the user can define their own preferred EQ settings.

The case is a really nice design; it is enough to protect the AP100 without bulking it out, and has an understated look much like the player itself. The case is made from a synthetic leather-like material which looks quite durable.

The battery lasts a good long while, and although no precise measurements were taken, there was a good amount of playing time between the ‘low battery’ warning and the player turning off – maybe an hour or two. My experience with the Fiio X3 gives little chance to enjoy music before the unit runs out of power – perhaps 20 minutes at most. Helpfully, the status of the battery is given as a percentage on the screen when charging the unit, so we can make an informed choice of whether to leave the unit charging or to take our chanced with what power is there.

First Impressions

The buttons on the Hidizs AP100 are lovely to press; there’s a great chunky feel to them and they are good solid buttons which will last. Someone said that they are reminiscent of Gameboy buttons – certainly the placement of the volume buttons on the AP100 give a flavour, but they are the kind of buttons that let you know they’ve been pressed – there’s no doubt involved as with touch screens and wheels. The only problem is that Hidizs saw fit to add separate buttons for ‘fast forward/rewind’ – usually the same buttons are used for track skip and forward/rewind, but not on the AP100. Also the ‘back’ button is on the right of the other navigation controls, which makes it feel like a forward/select button; this may lead to a few wrong turns for the uninitiated but it’s easy to get used to.

Sound Quality

Compared to the Fiio X3, the AP100 is a little more accurate and coolish but this is not to say that the AP100 is harsh. Listening to unyielding and brittle-sounding early 80s pop such as Duran Duran is fine on the AP100 but the X3 just gives it a bit more warmth and roundness to a presentation – the AP100 wins in terms of detail.

Compared to the Fiio X5, the sound is extremely similar; the X5 comes across as just a little smoother up top. Soundstage and imaging are similar, but with just a hint of edge to the sound on the AP100 which brings up harmonics a little more.

Added to that, the AP100 holds enough wherewithal to power some less than sprightly headphones such as the HifiMAN HE-400 very well, so the need for a separate amp is lessened.

Summary

An excellent player with a bulletproof design. Solid and reliable, the Hidizs AP100 gives a similarly solid sound and user experience. The sound quality and power gives amazing results, however less sensitive headphones may need a little help. The Beyerdynamic T1, at 600 ohms/102 dB gets up to a good level, but quieter recordings will be lacking in headroom. In our opinion, it bridges the gap between Fiio’s offerings and Astell and Kern’s AK100 but at a very favourable price.

Score 9.0

Return to : Best high resolution audio players to buy in 2015 – Expert Reviews

FiiO X5 Portable High Resolution Digital Audio Player – Announcement

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The Hifiheadphones team is pleased to announce the new Digital Audio Player & DAC from FiiO, the X5 is now available to be purchased on our website.

This is not your ordinary music player. With impressive processing power the portable FiiO X5 digital audio player supports DSD, APE, FLAC, ALAC, WMA and WAV lossless music formats up to 192kHz/24-bit. This is the most complete set of supported formats to date among Hi-Fi DAPs. With the X5, music lovers need not worry about lack of format support or format conversion.

As well as being a high resolution portable music player, FiiO X5 also doubles up as a dedicated digital-to-analogue converter with line or digital output from PC or MAC. The asynchronous USB DAC also supports 192kHz/24bit. Users can adjust the X5’s equalizer according to their preferences, tailoring the X5’s sound output to different headphones and music genres to produce their ideal sound.

Inside the casing the X5 is packing a lot of punch with four Texas Instruments opamps and Burr Brown DAC as well as dual TI Flagship DAC Chip for headphone output. The X5 comes with three output ports: headphone out, line out and coaxial digital output. Apart from connecting directly to headphones, you can also connect it to other DACs and amps. Dual TF card slots offer a storage capacity up to 128GB, with future firmware upgrades supporting up to 1024GB.

TI Flagship DAC Chip
High resolution music playback
WAV, APE, AAC, WMA, ALAC, FLAC lossless music format supported
DSD playback (DSD playback function will be added and optimised in pending firmware upgrade)
USB OTG support (OTG support will be added and optimised in pending firmware upgrade)
Dual TF card slots (up to 1024GB storage capacity with future firmware upgrades)
Asynchronous DAC
Aviation aluminium CNC unibody technology
Headphone out, Line out, coaxial output socket
Japan original imported high resolution IPS screen
3700mAh lithium polymer battery with 12 hours playtime

To purchase the unit, please visit our website:

Buy FiiO X5 Portable High Resolution Digital Audio Player

Lossless Audio – How To Get Started

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Lossless Audio – How To Get Started

For a few years now, we have enjoyed the convenience of lossy music files as opposed to carting around a portable CD or cassette player. The drawback of course is that we can only use equipment which does not reveal the flaws within these music files. Try listening to a 128kbps music file with the headphones you received with the player and it’ll sound acceptable. Try again with some Shure 535s, and the appalling drivel you’ve been listening to is revealed in all its wishy washy glory.

These headphones are very kind to low quality audio. Any flaws are likely not noticed by the listener.

So what if you want to get rid of those compression artefacts? If you want to keep those nice headphones, you need to think about raising your game.

Perhaps the simplest solution is to raise the data rate of the music you’re buying or encoding to 320kbps – this will not require any new equipment, other than a larger memory card on your device perhaps. Your media player should not need to be changed.

Lossless formats do not include MP3. However high the settings are, a certain amount of the original information is still lost.

The first lossless format I came across was monkey’s audio (.ape) about 10 years ago. At the time it seemed to be an equivalent of .zip or .rar files; it would squash the music down to half the original size for storage, but my computer could not play it back in real time – it needed to decompress the files again before playing. Even so, after decompression the music files were identical to the original files, with no loss of information. Nowadays, my computer is up to the job and can play back Monkey’s Audio files in real time. I have some ‘Gorillaz’ playing just now.

Other lossless formats include Windows Media Audio Lossless (.wma, but not all .wma versions) and the open-source Apple format (.m4a) along with perhaps the most well-known, FLAC (.flac).

Not all portable music players can handle these filetypes, so do check before committing to a particular filetype, or player. Some are more versatile than others; for instance the Astell & Kern AK100 plays WAV, AIFF, FLAC, ALAC and APE as well as some lossy formats, which is a large range of formats. However my humble Sony Walkman will not bother with anything but .mp3/.mp4/.wma – if I want lossless I have to carry around the full uncompressed .wav file, and with 8Gb memory this is not a great option.

The Astell&Kern AK120 is certainly no slouch when it comes to lossless quality.

Another great player is the Fiio X3, and with the forthcoming X5, Fiio is worth keeping your eye on as regards players. It supports .dsd, .ape, .flac, .alac, .wma and .wav. and can also be used as a DAC.

 

Please check out our youtube video DACs, Sample Rates and how to use Audio Files