Tag: are digital audio players worth it

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How different is the sound quality of Dolby TrueHD and Dolby Digital?

The audio format for enjoying a Blu-ray home theater is Dolby TrueHD (including Atmos).

If you want to enjoy a home theater with a subscription service (monthly video distribution), I think it is Dolby Digital Plus (E-AC-3) or Dolby Digital (AC-3).

So this time

⭐ Dolby TrueHD (Blu-ray)

⭐ Dolby Digital Plus (Netflix and Amazon Prime Video audio distribution)

⭐ Dolby Digital (standard sound used on 5.1ch DVD)

I am going to compare the same work with different audio formats.

Well,

Of course, Dolby TrueHD is lossless in terms of specifications (compressed audio, but returns to the original data during playback), so there is no deterioration in the sound and the sound quality is high.

It is not interesting to compare them numerically, and you can find out by examining them.

I’ll tell you that I felt this way auditory … ✨

The software I chose to compare it to hearing is impressive with powerful surround sound ⬇️

Warner Home Video

Mad Max: Fury Road [Blu-ray]

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Dolby TrueHD and Dolby Digital hearing comparison environment
ITU-R 5.1 channel
First, they are all unified for true 5.1 channel surround sound.

I’ll do it in a room like this.

It is a super discount system with a total of approximately 30,000 yen, including used ones.

You can fully enjoy the movie even with 5.1 channels of such ordinary people if you adjust the demon.

Details ⬇️

[Dream Home Theater] A Complete Guide to Enjoying NETFLIX and Amazon Prime Video in 5.1ch Surround Sound
* How about the amount of money if you have used it? … Do you feel that your dreams are suddenly getting closer to reality when they tell you the amount of money? …
Dolby TrueHD plays Blu-ray discs on Blu-ray players.

Dolby Digital Plus plays Fire TV Stick 4K directly to AV amplifier on Netflix ⬇️

Do you know what the Fire TV Stick is? It is in the middle.
When buying an HDMI cable, it is easier to understand the connection if you buy a connector with a different color as shown in the picture.

If supported by the Netflix Mad Max 👆 system, the 5.1 screen will display correctly
Dolby Digital connects to an AV amplifier from a desktop computer with a coaxial digital cable and plays with the Windows 10 Netflix app 👇

This is hard to understand, but because it is a personal computer with no HDMI output, it is coaxial digital …
Dolby Digital Plus can only be sent with HDMI ver1.3 or higher, so it will be Dolby Digital.
Well, does my house have three surround formats? You can try (codec).

Suddenly the difference in sound quality between Dolby Digital and Dolby Digital Plus is quite small …

It seems that Dolby Digital Plus is an extension of Dolby Digital, and the difference is small.

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About “good sound” and “good sound standard” Part 3

Not necessarily bad.

… With this flow, it seems like a story like “Don’t be fooled by such prejudice!” .

However, since music is something that humans enjoy, I think there is no problem for people to “enjoy” music in the end.

… However, at least on the side of “playing” music, I would like to have other criteria of judgment based on the knowledge of this area.

A point of view that can be used as a standard for “good sound”.
So what are the views that can be used as a standard for “good sound”?

These are some of the things I can think of.

Rich tones

(The piano sound is seen with a spectrum analyzer. You can see multiple harmonics (thin parts of the mountain))
“Intonations” and is, when a sound sounded, the sound that comes out in resonance-assistant is.

All the “sounds” that exist in nature, including the sounds of musical instruments, are “sounds that are a mixture of various sounds.”

* Click here for more details ↓

Full comment! What is “harmonic”? ?? [Basics of music and music theory learned from scratch]
Whatever “how you relate to music”, like playing an instrument, composing or editing the voice, it is useful … but I will explain the “nuances” that are often overlooked in an easy to understand way.

khufrudamonotes.com
2020.03.02

Harmonics, Words and Body Culture Magazine

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Sound quality is judged by the way this “overtone” sounds.

Compared to the same type of musical instrument, the “harmonic” sound that balances the shape of the sound and,
“Harmonic” is a sound that sounded a lot I think in many cases it is evaluated that it is “good sound” it will.

Frequency band balance
The human audible range is said to be 20Hz to 20000Hz, and the
Music is basically made using sounds in this range.

Especially when judging the sound quality of a song, I feel like a song that sounds well balanced is often said to sound good in
rather than one whose sound is skewed towards a specific area.

Of course, it depends on the genre and arrangement, so this is not always the case.
However, I basically judge the sound quality based on this standard when mixing.

S / N ratio
Signal-to-noise ratio and is, “Signal (signal) and noise is the ratio of (noise).”

When you turn up the volume of quiet music, do you sometimes hear the noise “Sir —“?

Basically that sound is a sound (noise) that is not originally necessary for music, isn’t it?

In other words, it appears that the one with the lowest possible noise component is considered “good sound”.

dynamic
I think that the dynamics mentioned earlier in the sound pressure war theme is also an element related to “good sound”.

A sound source that naturally hears the difference in volume between low and loud sounds in a song can be said to be a “better sound” than sound unnaturally compressed by the maximizer.

For example, in the performance of the orchestra
“the flute section is playing a person and the volume of the”,
“the whole orchestra section is playing the volume of”
Isn’t it funny as a musical expression that you were the same?

Due to the strong (dynamic) volume difference, performance will be sharpened.

However, some “rock and hard music has evolved from the direction of narrowing the dynamics, like” distorting the guitar “and giving it more power, so that the narrower the final dynamic, the more powerful it will be.” Some people seem to think.

However, now that loudness normalization is applied to all distribution platforms, I believe that “even rock and loud music must be mixed and mastered to ensure sufficient dynamics.”

This is because, “for each of the compression of the instrument part as a sound creation and”, “squash the dynamics of the entire sound source of the Morotomo sound completely different implications” does not appear to be a representation musically significant because.

If the sound pressure is adjusted to an appropriate level, the volume cannot be lowered from the platform side and dynamics can be ensured.

I think this video will be helpful too.

Consistency with trends

The sound arrangements also have trends of the time.

For example, many ’80s pop songs have a fairly deep reverb on the drums.

However, these songs are rarely seen these days.

Also, in recent years, a method called a subwoofer that mixes ultra-low-frequency sounds has become popular, producing b

About “good sound” and “good sound standard” Part 2

Volume bias

Humans tend to hear “good sound” when sound is loud.

For example, the sound of a live performance sounds great, doesn’t it?
Of course, there will be good performances and productions. However, simple loudness is also involved.

It can be said that this bias is also the cause of the “sound pressure war *”.

* What is sound pressure warfare?

Loudness War-Wikipedia

ja.wikipedia.org
There is a device called Maximizer that squashes the “dynamics (volume difference in a song)” and increases the “sound pressure (sense of volume of the whole song)”.

“Dynamics” is a necessary element for delicate musical expression.
However, it is difficult for the average listener (or even a musician?) To see the difference.

On the other hand, if you increase the sound pressure, it sounds easy to understand and eye-catching (= does it lead to sales?). So since
Maximizer was developed, the “sound pressure” of various songs has increased.

As a result, the streets were flooded with songs that lost their dynamics in exchange for sound pressure.

The word that ridiculed this trend is “Sound Pressure War (Loudness War)”.

Analysis of differences between songs from Showa VS Heisei Hit [Data analysis with Spotify API and Python]
I compared and analyzed the data of the songs included in the official Spotify playlists “Showa Pops” and “Heisei Pop History”! !! What’s the difference between Showa and Heisei’s hit songs? ??

khufrudamonotes.com
2021.02.26
However, in recent years on Youtube and Spotify, as an important delivery platform for loudness normalization (system to lower the sound source that was too high a sound pressure VOLUME forcibly) has been introduced.

↑ By the way, you can check how much the volume of the sound source uploaded to YouTube is controlled from “Detailed statistics” in the menu that appears by right clicking on the playback screen.

You can see that this song is automatically reduced to 64% of the original data.

(When I mixed this sound source, it was a transitional period where loudness normalization was extended, so I put it on a sound pressure level, but I think now was not a good decision.)

Therefore, it can be said that it makes no sense to increase the sound pressure for people now.

In fact, the loudness normalization gives the impression that the overall sound pressure war is a bit more subdued than it was at one point.

However, in the main music scene, there are still many songs set to high SPL.

(It seems to be due to simple ignorance or, in the case of Japan, the CD business is still half-way.)

About “good sound” and “good sound standard”

Musicians and music lovers often argue about “good sound” and “good sound standards”.

This time, it can be difficult to answer this question completely … Lol
However, I would like to introduce some information that may be a helpful line to think about.

First of all, there is no absolute rule for “good sound”
There should be no absolutely correct answer for “good sound”.

… That is why it can be said that it is the history of history. smile

Super difficult problem! Music rating check! !!
There are a total of 5 questions that rate your ears. Those who can answer all the questions correctly are those with first-class ears. ??

① Implicit understanding that “good sound” = “high quality sound of musical instruments and equipment”

② However, the difference is not clear to anyone listening.

It is made up of elements.

(Indeed, “good sound” and the sound of “high-quality equipment and musical instruments if you’re out of it is a lot.
But, always, “the sound of high-end musical instruments and equipment” is “better sound” is not a.)

Human cognition is skewed
Bias means “prejudice” or “biased opinion”.

Human beings have a skewed perception in several parts.

If you look at handsome men and pretty women, the halo effect
that makes you look good on your personality and skills is famous for the car effect, which attracts more support for what’s in fashion.

And there is also a bias in the way you hear the sound.

Bias due to appearance and surrounding information.

What is DAP?

How is it different from an MP3 player?

In the early 2000s, when MP3 players became a pandemic, and only 10 years later, the music player industry has undergone a remarkable evolution. Today we would like to introduce you to the current state of digital audio players (DAP), including MP3 players!

What is an MP3 player?

As young customers may not know, about 10 years ago, MP3s became a huge success as a compression method. Many cheap textured DAPs were released, and it was so influential that it became a prize for UFO hunters and a must-have for the younger generation.

It’s no longer called an MP3 player

There are many models on the market today that can play WAV, FLAC, and other uncompressed sound sources, as well as “high-resolution sound sources” that have more data than CDs. These music players are called digital audio players or DAPs (DAPs) for short. It is no longer often called an MP3 player.

Changes in the way you listen to music.

What has changed in the last 10 years? I feel like the way I listen to music has changed overwhelmingly.

About 10 years ago, I basically bought a CD, converted it to MP3 on a PC, put music on an MP3 player, and took it with me. I think most of my musical life was like this.

Currently, you can only listen to music on YouTube, listen to Apple Music on your iPhone without buying a CD, or listen to Spotify, AWA, Google Play Music, etc. on your Android device. And the lifestyle changes are remarkable. Many people have switched their smartphones to listen to music instead of MP3 and DAP players.

If you like the sound, dap
Our staff, Dai-chan, and his favorite machine NW-ZX300
Our staff, Dai-chan, and your favorite machine NW-ZX300

Of course, there are products with good sound even on smartphones, such as “GRANBEAT” and “Xperia”, which can be said to be smartphones that are particular when it comes to sound. However, DAP is a terminal specialized in music! There are a lot of good things for sound, such as battery capacity, memory capacity, sound quality trends, supported file formats, installed DAC chip performance, and difference in power section of the amplifier.

What is high resolution? Part 2

Let’s compare the high resolution and sound quality of a CD

This is a video of the famous Star Wars background music, played alternately in high resolution sound quality and CD sound quality, and distributed left and right. Watching with large speakers and headphones is recommended.

Without watching the video of this video, it is now high resolution! CD sound quality now! I wonder how many people can know.

To be honest, I couldn’t tell the difference. Hmmm, does high resolution sound smoother in the high range? I just felt that. Is it because the headphones are around 5,000 yen?

It was a result that I couldn’t get enough of, so I found an interesting video when I was researching various videos.

This video whose sound quality increases with the passage of time.

kbps is the so-called “bit rate”, which is the product of the number of bits (bit) and the sampling frequency (kHz) explained above.

In this video, the bit rate gradually increases from 32 kbps to 160 kbps as you go. At first the sound quality is like a radio, but at the end the sound quality is clear and I am impressed. It seems that the sound quality is MP3 at 128 kbps. With this, I can see the difference in sound.

By the way, the sound source of the CD is
44.1 kHz / 16 bit = 1.411 kbps and the high resolution sound source is 96 kHz / 24 bit = 4.608 kbps.

So you can see how loud the audio is, by the way, when you listen to it in Hi-Res audio, it looks like this.

Is there a difference between the sound quality of a CD and high resolution?
Some people may tell the difference, but honestly, I can’t tell the difference between high resolution and CD sound quality.

Somehow even if the sound quality gets louder than this it is indistinguishable to my ears. I thought, so I looked it up.

It’s quite a manic and professional story, so if you chew it roughly

When listening to this video, how high frequency could you hear?

I think it is around 16000Khz, the high resolution also covers high frequencies above 20000kHz at the end of the video.

“The high resolution covers the range that I can’t hear, so I can’t really tell the difference.”

The result was that.

So hi-res sound quality doesn’t mean a thing? Deny the high resolution! It’s not that people who understand it can tell the difference, and some people can tell the difference if it’s their favorite song.

Like a live orchestra, you can enjoy not only your ears but also the vibration of the air, so it may be different if you listen at a high volume.

Each person has their own sense of it and each person has their own tastes of it.

It is best to listen at the bitrate / environment where you feel the best sound.

What is high resolution?

What is the abbreviation for Hi-Res First?

High Resolution is an abbreviation for “High Resolution Audio”. Literally translated, it is “high resolution”. It is straight.

First of all, the digital music we always hear from CDs and smartphones is

Sampling frequency (kHz)
Number of quantization bits (bit)

Sound quality is determined by these two. It is easy. I will briefly explain these two.

Sampling frequency (kHz)
The sample rate (sample rate) is sampling, which is a process necessary to convert analog waveforms such as speech into digital data, and it is the sample rate per unit of time. The unit is generally Hz, but sps (sample per second) can also be used.

wikipedia sample rate

When recording sound digitally, how finely is it recorded per second? It is a unit.

Sound is the vibration of the air. You can listen to the sound by recording the vibration of the air and transmitting the recording to the speaker.

Of course, the more finely chopped and recorded, the softer the sound quality will be. The more frames per second of animation, the more viscous it is.

Generally, the sampling frequency of a CD is 44.1 kHz, which records the vibration of sound at 44100 times per second. This means that · · ·

40,000 times per second!

Number of quantization bits (bit)
In information theory and signal processing, analog data (continuous quantity), such as sampled discrete time signals, is roughly represented by discrete values, such as digital data. The number of bits used to represent a value is called the number of quantization bits, and generally increasing it to broaden the range of values ​​that can be taken as discrete values ​​reduces quantization error and improves quantization precision. .

wikipedia quantification

Earlier, I wrote that the sampling frequency (kHz) is “I am recording the vibration of the sound in increments of ●● times per second!”.

So what is the number of quantization bits (bit)? It is a unit of “how much information is recorded when recording?” .

You are recording very finely in one second, but you are only recording if the recorded content is high or low! In that case, it doesn’t make a lot of sense.

It is better to record many times, but if you record a lot of information such as “volume and pitch width” during recording, the sound reproduction rate will increase.

Generally, the number of quantization bits (bit) on a CD is 16 bits. This means that each time the sound is measured, it is recorded at a level of 65,536 steps.

So what about high resolution?
Generally, I wrote that the sound source of the CD is 44.1 kHz / 16 bit, but what is the high resolution?

It is said that “96 kHz / 24 bit” and “192 kHz / 24 bit” are the main sources of high resolution audio.

It’s amazing, just looking at the numbers, it’s about twice that of a CD. Since a lot of information is recorded, the file size is also large compared to a normal CD, the difference is 6.5 times!

Now the main topic is finally from here. There are several videos on Youtube to see if you can listen to the high resolution sound louder than this normal CD sound source with your ears.

[For beginners] The depth is too deep! Part 3

What are Network Players and Digital Streaming Players?

A network player is a device that plays music over a network such as the Internet.

Purchased music is stored on a hard drive called NAS on the network and, once purchased, can be listened to over the Internet from a network player without having to start a computer.

The reason for putting data on the network is that the capacity of high resolution audio sources is very large. And you can listen to your favorite songs with the operability as if you were listening to music on your smartphone by accessing it with your smartphone.

Digital Audio Commentary Summary
Since the range is too wide to write in a word as digital audio, I explained from analog, digital, and hi-res.

Recently, with the expansion of the Internet, it has become possible to easily listen to high-quality music by streaming playback from a smartphone, or to listen to high-quality music at home with a network player.

Also, we are in an era where high-resolution audio sources can be carried on smartphones.

[2019 Edition] Recommended Audio Shopping Store Rankings
1st place audio buyer

Business travel area Business travel fee / evaluation Overnight support Professionals are enrolled Purchase in store Maximum quantity
All the country free Correspondence until 22:00 ◯ 1 store 80 million yen
Align everyone’s mouth from O Dia mania who has a commitment “convinced was to give me a presentation the price” eat with, audio specialist shopping store, “Mr. Kaitoriya audio”

The upper limit of same day cash purchase is 80 million yen! (Isn’t that too awesome? Lol)

We are also actively buying high-priced equipment that are enthusiastic, and I think we are the best in the country to buy expensive audio equipment.

On top of that, buying the business trip that is rushed in as little as 30 minutes can be a considerable backlog for large products like audio.

Of course, assessment costs and business trip costs are free too, so you can apply with confidence.

[Official] Audio Buyer

2nd place Otoya
Otoya

Business Travel Area Business Travel Fee / Assessment Overnight Support Professionals Enrolled In-Store Purchase Packing Kit
All the country free Until 20:30 ◯ All the country free
The characteristics are the speed of response and the stores spread across the country, from Hokkaido to Kyushu.

Professional evaluation by professional eyes. Of course, the negotiations are fine too.

Of course, assessment costs and business trip costs are also free, so you can apply with confidence.

[Official] Otoya

3rd place loud sound
Loud sound

Business Travel Area Business Travel Fee / Assessment Overnight Support Professionals Enrolled In-Store Purchase Packing Kit
Some are not supported for free Until 20:00 ◯ Some are not supported for free
It is a bit inferior to the previous two stores in terms of responsiveness, but it is also a good store specializing in audio purchases.

It supports a wide range of models, from the latest models to the old ones.

It is a bit disappointing that there is only one store, but other than that it is a specialty store.

[Official] Loud sound

Click here to sort by purchase method
Store purchase in store classification
Business Travel Shopping Store Classification
Classification of home purchases
* Please refer to “[2019] Full recommended audio purchase site rating” for how to select the purchase store rating.

[For beginners] The depth is too deep! Part 2

Feedback on the digital audio player

What is a CD?
It is a device that converts the digital signal recorded on the CD into analog information that can be played from the speaker.

Some CD players include portable CD players that can be transported and radio CD cassette players that integrate CDs, cassettes, and speakers. There are also players that read SACD (Super Audio CD), which are almost four times larger than CDs.

What is a D / A converter / digital transport?
D / A converter is also called digital transport in the sense of digital / analog converter. Recently, the acronym DAC has become more common.

Whether it is an analog or digital recording, you must convert it to analog to play it through the speakers. The D / A converter plays that role, and it is an electronic circuit that converts digital signals to analog signals. Most of the D / A converters are installed in the player, but the digitized signal is restored to analog, but the sound quality changes a lot with a single D / A converter. So you can enjoy the difference in sound by purchasing it. as a single device instead of the DAC installed in the player.

The market price ranges from 10,000 yen to 300,000 yen, and if you look up, there is no end.

What is a system component?
Short for system component, sometimes abbreviated as syscon. Components mean combining, and system components mean building an audio system by combining players, amplifiers, tuners, speakers, etc.

The system component is also excellent in expandability and customizability. You can create an ideal audio environment by incorporating your favorite system, such as Type A for the player, Type B for the amplifier, and Type A for the speaker.

What is a digital player?
The term digital audio player is commonly used.

CD and MD players are also digital audio players, but when it comes to digital audio players, iPods sold by Apple and those sold by SONY and ONKYO are typical digital audio players.

Of course, smartphones also have the function of digital audio players, but if you want to enjoy as a digital audio player, the ones that support high resolution are preferable. However, the price difference is tremendous, from 20,000 yen below to 600,000 yen above.

What is a universal network player?
The universal player can also play CDs, DVDs, Blu-ray discs, SACDs, and a wide variety of recording media. The one that is highly rated as an audio player is probably the universal network player sold by Oppo.

It is considered the highest performing record player ever and is said to have sound quality comparable to that of players in the same price range.

[For beginners] The depth is too deep!

A story about digital audio

Digital audio feedback
As a definition of audio, the playing environment of “player”, “amplifier” and “speaker” is generally referred to as audio.

And digital audio is a device that converts digitized sound to analog and reproduces it.

CD players and iPods also offer excellent digital audio.

Table of Contents
What is analog audio?
The difference between analog and digital
High-resolution sound source that takes advantage of analog and digital technology.
Feedback on the digital audio player
What is a CD?
What is a D / A converter / digital transport?
What is a system component?
What is a digital player?
What is a universal network player?
What are Network Players and Digital Streaming Players?
Digital Audio Commentary Summary
What is analog audio?
The word digital audio came up, but I will also write about analog audio.

As for analog audio, old discs are analog recording media and the equipment that can play those discs is analog audio. The analog signal is sent to a turntable, etc., it is passed through an amplifier, and the sound flows from the speaker.

Record (analog signal) → player (analog signal) → amplifier, speaker
As the name implies, digital audio converts digital recording media, such as digitally recorded CDs, to analog and plays them back.

CD (digital signal) → player (converts digital signal to analog) → amplifier, speaker
Why don’t you reproduce the digitized version digitally? I believe that. Since the speaker, which is the sound output, is analog, it is not possible to reproduce digitized information.

The difference between analog and digital
A characteristic of discs, which are analog recording media, is that recorded sound is recorded with a sense of air and presence. It is characterized by the fact that fine noises and the sound of spinning recording tapes are recorded, and that warm, deep sounds and spaciousness are created. It is around here that it is said that it is hot to hear.

As a characteristic of CD, which is a digital recording medium, data below 20 Hz and 20 kHz, which is said to be inaudible to the human ear, is truncated and converted to data. It is a frequency that is said to be inaudible to the human ear, but is actually experienced correctly.

In addition, since the signal, once digitized, returns to analog and is reproduced, the sensation of air and depth will be less than that of a record.

So why did the times change to CDs?

There are several reasons, but the first is that you need a system that is suitable to reproduce analog sound correctly, while digital can reproduce beautiful enough sound even with a low-priced audio system. Therefore, when the CD was released, the sound was clear and beautiful! The public said it, but in reality, the records have more information and they sound better.

High-resolution sound source that takes advantage of analog and digital technology.
The high resolution word I hear often these days. High resolution is said to be the removal of good quality digital and analog audio.

High resolution means high resolution, and the amount of information that a high resolution sound source has is said to be about 6.5 times the amount of information that a CD has. Since it contains information that cannot be put on a CD, even if it is not a disc, it is possible to clearly express the outline of the sound, such as the thickness and depth of all sound.

Also, the unit of quantity of high resolution information is expressed in XX kHz and XX bits. The higher the kHz value, the greater the range that can be reproduced, and the higher the bit value, the finer and smaller the sound can be reproduced. The main high resolution sound sources are “96 kHz / 24 bit” and “192 kHz / 24 bit”, and the amount of information on the CD is “44.1 kHz / 16 bit”.

The difference between CD and Hi-Res Audio source is clear when you compare them.

Of course, when comparing listening, headphones are required with a solid sound system, but in contrast to the feeling that a CD is listening to the ear, the high-resolution sound source allows sound to flow directly from the ear. to the brain.

We have introduced analog, digital and high resolution, so below we will introduce the players who play them.