What is Hi-Res Audio? All you need to know about Hi-Res Audio

We often encounter the phrase high resolution on video transceivers and rarely hear about audio resolution. In fact, there is still a concept of high-resolution audio, which is Hi-Res Audio. So what is Hi-Res Audio? Let’s learn all about Hi-Res Audio with Tnhelearning.edu.vn in this article!

What is Hi-Res Audio? Hi-Res Audio Music Specifications

Hi-Res Audio (HAR) stands for high-resolution audio, is a concept used to describe audio formats with high quality definition (HD), beyond the quality of Compact Disc Digital Audio – CD (Quality Standard for Digital Music). Currently, the term Hi-Res Audio has been recognized by experts as a common audio standard.

Hi-Res Audio Music Specifications

Currently, there is no specific parameter to specify exactly for Hi-Res Audio music. Accordingly, Hi-Res Audio music must be high quality audio with a sampling rate (Sampling rate) and bit depth (Bit depth) higher than the standard level of 44.1kHz/16 bit of Compact Disc Digital Audio. (CD).

The usual frequencies we still encounter of Hi-Res Audio music are 96kHz or 192kHz at 24 bits, but sometimes there are still some recordings with very special sampling frequencies like 88.2kHz or 176.4kHz .

The History of Hi-Res . Audio

In 1995, researchers released compatible high-definition digital to kickstart the development of high-resolution quality audio.

Following the success, in turn, other quality audio optical disc formats were born such as DAD (1988), SACD (1999) and DVD-Audio (2000) to show the dominance over CD music quality, but still not really outstanding.

At the beginning of the 21st century, a great transformation in the music market with the increase of online music retail, the need to enjoy high quality music became more and more popular, HDtracks took advantage of the opportunity and introduced it to public high resolution audio download feature and get a lot of support.

Following the development was the introduction of Pure Audio Blu-ray (2009) and High Fidelity Pure Audio (2013).

In 2014, Hi-Res was officially launched to users and recognized by the Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industry Association led by Sony Corporation.

Up to now, Hi-Res has increasingly asserted its superiority and become the most popular audio standard in the music market.

Formats of Hi-Res Audio

Hi-Res Audio gives users a variety of file formats to have more choices during use. Hi-Res Audio is popular with both compressed and uncompressed formats.

Formats of Hi-Res Audio (Compressed) include:

• FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec): This is the standard audio file format that you often encounter when downloading high-quality music albums. This format is widely supported, except for Apple.
• ALAC (Apple Lossless Audio Codec): This is Apple’s audio file format, similar to FLAC, which makes it easy to download music on iTunes and iOS.

Formats of Hi-Res Audio (Uncompressed Format) include:

• WAV: Standard format for CDs. Free sound but large capacity. Support for secondary information (album name, artist, title) is poor.
• AIFF: Like ALAC, AIFF is Apple’s separate audio format with better secondary information support.
• DSD: Used for Super Audio CD, but not too famous.
• MQA: A relatively new format used to stream high-quality music, but its support is still relatively limited.

Distinguish Hi-Res Audio and Hi-Res Music

We often hear about two concepts, Hi-Res Audio, Hi-Res Music and many people mistakenly think they are the same or the same. However, in reality these are two completely different concepts.

• Hi-Res Audio: Established in 2013 by Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industry Association.
• Hi-Res Music: Founded in 2014 by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) along with several other organizations such as CEA, DEG, and Recording Academy Producers & Engineers Wing.

The biggest difference between the two is that Hi-Res Music has a lower standard sound level (44.1 kHz/24 bit or higher) than Hi-Res Music (96kHz/24 bit or higher).

Difference between Hi-Res and CD

The biggest difference and you can easily see is that Hi-Res has better audio resolution quality than CD. Specifically:

• CD has a standard sampling frequency and data bit depth of 44.1kHz/16 bit.
• Hi-Res has quality beyond the CD standard threshold of 96kHz/24bit or 192kHz/24bit,…

Thus, the sound created by Hi-Res will be better than CD, the song will be more delicate and emotional. The sound quality of Hi-Res is considered close to the quality that artists and sound engineers use in the studio.

Some things to keep in mind when choosing Hi-Res . audio

Hardware and software decoding

Hi-Res has a very high audio resolution, so it requires a very high quality encoder to be able to transmit all those great sounds. You will need to invest a lot in hardware and decoding software to enjoy the sound quality from Hi-Res.

Storage capacity

High sound quality means that Hi-Res music is also very large in size up to several Gb/Album. Therefore, storing Hi-Res also needs a very large capacity and users need to consider if they want to choose this format for storage.

Besides, to listen to music on your phone, you need to download additional software to decode DAC / Amp to be able to listen.

Cost of Hi-Res . music

This is a high-quality music line and it requires a lot of money to use because you need to spend a large amount of money to invest in hardware and decoder including accessories such as headphones, music players. ,… In addition, many exclusive songs you need to pay to be able to listen to high quality.

Object

Hi-Res is a high-end music genre, it is aimed at true Audiophiles. In addition to paying to be able to own high-quality music, you need to have an extremely high musical ability to see the sophistication and class that Hi-Res brings.

Dedicated devices that support Hi-Res . files

Tablet

Although not yet popular, a tablet is also a specialized device that can help you enjoy the great sound of Hi-Res. Some names that can be mentioned such as Samsung Galaxy Tab S4, Onkyo Granbeat, Huawei Mediapad M5, … will support you to enjoy top-notch music.

Desktop

A desktop set will definitely be the best device to help you quickly and efficiently download and store Hi-Res music.

Smartphone

Smartphones are also one of the devices that can help you listen to songs with high-resolution sound quality from Hi-Res. However, only some flagship Android smartphones can meet this desire, so you need to find out carefully before choosing to buy!

Player

It is not too difficult for you to find, the music player and it will make it easy for you to enjoy high-quality Hi-Res music. You can find reputable brands in the audio industry such as Sony, Hifiman, Astell&Kern, Fiio,…

Hopefully, after reading this article, you have the knowledge of Hi-Res Audio high-resolution audio. Thank you for reading the article, see you in the next post!