Since it seems Kees Schouhamer himself answered some points :-D just briefly:
The bit depth and sampling rate for the CD format were never a compromise. You can mathematically prove you can *perfectly* reconfigure any analog signal if you sample it at twice the frequency. And the best golden ear human hearing is 20Hz-20kHz. So yes, 44kHz covers it. The 16 bit depth is harder to prove mathematically, but an SNR of 96dB is pretty darn awesome. It wasn't a compromise - they implemented the format when the technology was able to produce practically perfect sound, not earlier - and it was very costly at first. Lots of experts and musicians were also there to make sure the format was "perfect", Herbert von Karajan was notoriously perfectionist, for example. And, while I know the theory, to me what matters is listening to music. I have listened to music long enough to know what sounds good or bad... to *me*, and don't need crutches. I go "this is as good as it will ever sound, and boy is the music sweet" - done. I do recall some DDD CDs in the late 80s that sounded horribly sharp to me, but hey, I was glad to never buy vinyl again, and never looked back. Then, very importantly, when I got my first Squeezebox (I think it was 2004 or 2005) and discovered the awesome convenience of streaming music, and merely using my high end CD player (an Accuphase) as a DAC... I spent many, many hours testing and convincing myself there was zero difference between the CD and the streamed flac. I also established the vast majority of recordings didn't even merit flac. I did rip all my jazz and classical CDs to flac no matter what, though, for archive accuracy and because yes, psychologically it mattered to me there was no loss in any way. Jazz and classical is where I really obsess over sound. I also collected R&B and salsa and some hip hop, and for those... 320k is plenty and very often overkill. So that's how I ripped them because it made things more universal when it came to listening to music on early MP3 players that were storage constrained. A decision I have never second guessed. I just checked my library, and I own over 4k albums (all legally too, I like to support my favorite artists or their estate). I'd guess only 30% of them are flac, I's be surprised if even 10% truly deserve to be. And it's not because I buy a lot of crap music, but many albums from even great labels are not recorded with the obsessive, meticulous engineering that allows one to really hear differences. And yes, I do have songs where I can quickly and with 100% accuracy tell if I am listening to the CD-quality or the 320k version of it, but that's more of a party trick, it doesn't impact my enjoyment of the music at all, both sound awesome really. Now - give me 192 and I'll start to raise my eyebrows with such well-engineered tracks... So it's not that I am not discerning, it's simply that I know when I am happy. And convenience is a HUGE factor there - it brought the CD (and its superior sound quality to boot), then the Squeezebox of course... and now Spotify, the library is unbeatable. Queue management bothers me as a purist that wants strict control, especially at home. And honestly, other than for listening at home 320k or sometimes in the office (good headphones and good DAC), even 320k is overkill. I certainly don't really need it when I am in the gym or go for a long walk... but hey it's nice to have. Most importantly though - to each their own when it comes to their ways of enjoying music, more power to all music aficionados and their very own ways. I never tell anyone else how they should enjoy their music, but in turn I don't like to be told I should not enjoy listening to music they way I chose to. ;-) ...pablo Server: Win10 and LMS 8.1.0 System: SB Touch --optical->- Benchmark DAC2HGC --AnalysisPlus Oval Copper XLR->- NAD M22 Power Amp --AnalysisPlus Black Mesh Oval->- KEF Reference 1 Other Rooms: 2x SB Boom; 1x SB Radio; 1x SB Classic-> NAD D7050 -> Totem DreamCatcher + Velodyne Minivee Sub Computer audio: workstation --USB->- audioengine D1 -> Grado RS1/Shure 1540 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ pablolie's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=3816 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=114009 _______________________________________________ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/discuss
