Hi/High Resolution Audio EXPLAINED - Is it worth it? (192kHz/96kHz & 24-bit) - YouTube

Hi, it's HandyAndy Tech Tips here, and today I'm going to be giving you the truth on high-res

audio files. You know, those files which are very expensive, which are supposedly better-than-CD

quality, and which pop up on many websites, including the store for Neil Young's infamous

Toblerone-shaped Pono player. Now, if you've got a good eye for detail, you might notice

that, throughout this video, little numbers will pop up in the corner of your screen - like

this one! So, if you want any more info on any of the topics that I talk about, just

go to the area in the description that begins with the number! There, you'll find links

and additional info. Now, back to the most important question - are high-res files any

better? Well, to understand this, first we need to know about these two numbers here.

What you see on the screen now is CD-quality audio - 16-bit, 44.1kHz. But if you're buying

high-res tracks, you're likely to see 24-bit as the first number, and the last number might

be something like 96kHz or 192kHz. So, what do these things mean? The first one, 16-bit,

is what we call the "bit depth" of the recording, and essentially what it controls is the dynamic

range - that is, the loudest and quietest possible sounds that can be reproduced. Examples

of high dynamic range music include classical recordings, which have a large difference

between the loud and quiet sections, which probably makes them annoying to listen to

in the car. Now, the important thing to know is that CD, or 16-bit audio, can support up

to 96 decibels of dynamic range. Whereas 24-bit, high-res files can support 144 decibels. So,

can you notice the difference? No. Now, 96 decibels of dynamics is more than enough.

In fact, I'm pretty sure that even the most dynamic classical music recordings still wouldn't

use all of that range. And neither would any pop or rock albums released during the past

20 years. Because, over that time, a phenomenon called the "loudness war" has taken over the

music industry. The idea is that the louder a single or an album is mastered, the more

copies it will sell, so music producers have been bumping up the volume. But the problem

is that that results in a loss of dynamics. In fact, most pop albums today use less than

1/10th of the potential dynamic range on a 16-bit recording. So, there's not really much

point going to 24-bit if even 16-bit's potential is being wasted. So that's the bit depth covered,

but what about the other number? Well, that's called the sampling rate, and it tells you

the highest possible frequency that can be represented. You might know that other animals

are capable of hearing far higher frequencies than us humans can. For example, most bats

are capable of detecting frequencies up to 80kHz, but unfortunately, humans don't quite

go that far, we can only hear up to 20kHz. But what about at the other end of the frequency

spectrum, the really low bass? Well, around 15 or 20Hz is probably the limit of our hearing

there. So, with these two figures in mind, it makes perfect sense that a CD-quality audio

file is sampled at 44.1kHz. Why? Well, there's something called the Nyquist theorem. You

don't need to worry about it too much, but essentially what it says is that the maximum

reproducible frequency - eg. the highest frequency you can possibly record - is half of the

sampling rate. So, if we have 44.1kHz, and divide that in half, the maximum frequency

is 22.05kHz. And look at that, the frequency range that's covered is almost exactly the

same as the range of human hearing. Now, think about it, if 44.1kHz covers the entire audible

frequency spectrum, then why would we need any higher sampling rates, like 96k or 192?

The answer? We don't. And, with that, I think we've just disproven all of the so-called

benefits of high-res audio. The improvement in the dynamic range is not necessary, the

improvement in the frequency range is not necessary. And honestly, unless an album is

released with completely different mastering than its CD equivalent, it will sound - wait

for this - exactly the same! Anyway, I'm HandyAndy and I hope you enjoyed this video! If you

did like it, then please subscribe to my channel and leave a comment below.