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Three steps to quality sound.

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Three steps to quality sound.

Sound Quality

We all listen to music every day, but did you ever think about the fact that you’ve probably never heard your favorite bands, albums, and songs? That it was just an empty shell of a “real” melody?

Sound Quality

If this question is interesting to you, you want to feel new emotions from compositions that you already know, then you are welcome.
Three steps to quality sound
First, let’s find out what makes high-quality sound. I won’t delve into technical definitions, after all, this article isn’t about numbers, but I’ll try to describe the main postulates that will hopefully help you open up music from a slightly different angle.

Step 1: Headphones
I focused on headphones, not speakers or an audio system, as headphones are the cheapest way to play music and get to know the world of good sound. To get similar sound quality from an audio system, you will have to spend an amount several times, or even tens of times more than the cost of decent “ears”.
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B&W and Beats, headphones for a completely different kind of music
Many believe that it is the purchase of expensive headphones that guarantees high quality sound, but this is only partially true. In fact, buying expensive hearing aids without thinking is not the best solution. First of all, the make and model should be chosen based on your musical preferences, not price. Almost all headphones (except booster headphones) have their own “sound color”, which means that the models are perfect for listening to jazz and classical music, and quite often do some nasty work with D&B or hard rock. Find the right headphones for you and the genres you love to avoid muffled sound or overly overbearing bass (hi Beats).
You have finally chosen and purchased headphones and are now ready to enter a wonderful new world of good sound! But don’t be too quick to rejoice, this was just the first step …
Step 2: Source
Today, almost everyone has a sound source in their pocket: their smartphone. However, the quality of this font tends to be poor. It doesn’t matter iPhone, Sony or Samsung, sound is almost equally common everywhere. If you plan to listen to music from your phone, then you can safely remove your expensive high-impedance headphones, which you have chosen so carefully, their potential will simply remain untapped.
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To get the most out of your headphones, you need the right equipment. It can be a Hi-End player (Sony, Astell & Kern, COWON), amplifier, DAC or sound card.
You don’t have to start with expensive hardware. Trust me, even a portable amplifier or USB-DAC is enough to get you started.
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AudioQuest DragonFly: Miniature USB DAC, great value for money.

Step 3: Source
And now we come to the main point, without which even buying an expensive source and headphones is useless. If you want quality sound, forget about MP3 and streaming services (except Tidal, maybe). Only no losses! And stock up on hard drive space, you’ll need it …
Lossless Data Compression (Engl. Lossless Data Compression) – A method of data compression (video, audio, graphics, documents sent in digital format), whereby encoded data can be recovered with unique bit precision.
If lossless is lossless compression, then as you understand, there is lossy compression. You are most likely listening to the latter. I will not dwell on the characteristics of lossless and lossy in detail, I will limit myself to listing their fundamental differences and basic formats.
Lossless: FLAC; A THE C; APE
lossy: MP3; AAC; WMA; OGG

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Sound quality

Sound quality

Sound quality

The lower the bit rate, the worse the sound quality of the compressed and recoded file. The audio bit rate is measured in kilobytes per second. To clarify what sound is, depending on its bitrate, the following table sheds light on this issue:

800 bps – 800 bps – minimum quality for voice to be recognizable.
8 kbps – 8 kbps – the quality of telephone voice transmission.
32 kbps – 32 kbps – AM quality.
96 kbps – 96 kbps – FM quality.
128-160 kbps – 128-160 kbps – quality standard.
192 kbps to 192 kbps digital streaming with DAB quality (digital audio streaming). Become the new standard for MP3 music. At the same time bitrate, only professionals can tell the difference in sound.
224-320 kbps – 224-320 kbps – quality close to CD quality.
1411 kbps – 1411 kbps – PCM audio format, similar to CD “Compact Disc Digital Audio”.
Of course, you must remember and understand that the sound will depend on one more characteristic of digital sound, such as the sampling frequency, which is responsible for representing the spectrum of the signal.

If we talked about each of the audio formats, we would be here all day. Of course, you have other responsibilities and a lot of music to produce. This is the best use for each of these formats. They take up a lot of hard disk space. For one simple reason: it has the best of both worlds.

They are compressed, which makes them easier to handle in terms of size. But they also offer a nice, rich sound. If you’re listening to streaming music, chances are you are. They are useful for transferring multiple files at the same time, navigating an entire directory, or quickly sharing and linking tracks.

8,000 Hz: telephone, enough to talk, Nellymoser codec;
1,025 Hz;
22,050 Hz – radio;
44 100 Hz – used on audio CD;
48,000 Hz – DVD, DAT.
96,000 Hz – DVD-Audio (MLP 5.1)
192,000 Hz – DVD Audio (MLP 2.0)
2822 400 Hz – SACD Super audio CD 5.1
The most common format, especially on the Internet, is MP3. It uses a compression algorithm in such a way that, while reducing the size of the data required to reproduce the recording and ensuring the quality of playback, the loss of sound quality is minimal. The file size depends on the compression ratio, so when you create an MP3 at an average bit rate of 128 kbps, the result is a file that is approximately 1/10 the size of the original CD-Audio file.

By the way, don’t forget any format.
Try and judge for yourself. Choosing the correct format depends on each context. So think about what kind of sound you are sharing and where you are sharing it. Are you using the correct format? So make smart decisions and use the correct format. Digital audio can be saved in various formats. Each of them corresponds to a specific file extension that contains it.

It is not an audio format itself, so its functions are described separately. There are a large number of audio formats. Typically, the format type matches the file extension. Certain types of files are assigned a specific codec. In simple terms, the format can be compared to a container in which a video or sound signal can be stored using a given codec. If you don’t know which program to use to open format or other audio, we recommend that you use our audio converter. It is compatible with almost all existing formats.

For comparison, I will give information about the Wav format, which supports high-quality sound. With a sample rate of 44100 Hz, its bit rate is 1411 kb / s and 1 minute of a file recorded in this format occupies approximately 10 m of hard disk space.

So what are the most common audio formats today?

This group of formats records and compresses audio in a way that preserves its exact original quality when decoded. In lossy compression, the sound undergoes some modification. For example, compression cuts audio frequencies that are not audible to the human ear. When decoded, the file will differ from the original in terms of the information stored in it, but it sounds almost the same.

Sound quality

Sound quality

Sound Quality

When it comes to sound quality, not only do opinions differ, they often lead the discussion to a dead end.

Sound Quality

As a general rule, the reason for this is a different understanding of the concept of quality. In this article, we will try to answer the fundamental questions and give clear definitions, which can undoubtedly help to bring these discussions to a common denominator.

But first, you need to give a clear definition of the concept of quality. The simplest way to do this is to establish a series of requirements for certain characteristics and processes, and subsequently identify the degree of compliance with them in relation to the characteristics of the result obtained. This definition originates from a slightly different area, but all of the above is also true in relation to sound. For example, even in the development phase, set the maximum allowable amount of harmonic distortions introduced into the audio signal as a result of either manipulation. Based on this, we can say that the closer the characteristics of the result are to the predetermined requirements, the higher the quality. However, some manufacturers may misuse this definition to make their products better than they really are. So purely hypothetical, by setting a low bar in principle you can theoretically improve the quality, at least on paper. This trick is often used by manufacturers of hi-fi equipment in the lower price segment, stating:

First of all, before starting a conversation about sound quality, this concept should be divided into two separate categories, which, on the one hand, are closely interconnected, and on the other hand, describe various aspects, both technical and aesthetic, and by therefore, they are often confused.

Audio quality

The concept of audio refers to all objects connected in one way or another and participating in the process of transmitting, processing and storing signals, whether in analog or digital form, that represent the original acoustic signal. An example of this can be both the sound source and the connection cables, mixers, equalizers, amplifiers, processors and speaker systems. Audio quality is determined by the degree of fidelity in the representation of the original audio signal, regardless of the deliberate nature of the manipulation (see below). Used in this case, the terms can be, for example, impedance, dynamic range, level, frequency range, volatility, signal-to-noise ratio and the like.

Sound quality

It describes the subjective judgment of what an individual listener heard, and is therefore often based on individual preferences, biases, and even biases. Furthermore, even visual aspects can influence subjective perception and judgment about sound quality. Looser terms are used when talking about sound quality, such as warmth, transparency, detail, density, brightness, or opacity.

To determine the sound quality of an audio system, you must first consider the sound quality of the source, as if there is no audio system between the listener and the sound source. Thus, for example, the sound quality of an instrument is made up of a combination of factors such as the melody of the composition, the virtuosity of the musician and, of course, the characteristic features of the instrument itself.

What is needed to improve the quality of the digital sound we hear?

What is needed to improve the quality of the digital sound we hear?

Sound Quality

Best Headphones

Sound Quality

The simplest way is not digital. The biggest improvement in sound quality for the money is a good pair of headphones. In-ear headphones, open or closed headphones – For the most part, it doesn’t matter. They don’t even have to be expensive, although expensive headphones can be worth it.

Remember that some headphones are expensive because they are well made, they are durable and they sound great. Others are expensive because they are $ 20 headphones that are styled for a few hundred dollars, are advertised, and carry a brand name. I won’t give any specific recommendations, but I will say that you most likely won’t find good headphones in big hardware stores, even if they specialize in stereos.

Lossless compression format

It can be considered true that a properly encoded OGG (or MP3 or AAC) file will be indistinguishable from the original at a moderate level of quantization.

But what about badly encoded files?

Twenty years ago, all MP3 encoders were very poor by modern standards. Many of these faulty encoders are still in use, presumably because their licenses are cheap and most people don’t know or care about the difference in sound. Why would companies spend money and fix something when people don’t even know it’s not working well enough?

Moving to newer formats, like Vorbis or AAC, will fundamentally change nothing. For example, many companies and individuals have used (and continue to use) FFmpeg’s low-quality standard Vorbis encoder because it comes with FFmpeg by default and they don’t care how bad it is. AAC has an even longer history of widespread low-quality encoders used for lossy compression of all major formats.

Lossless compressed formats, such as FLAC, eliminate any possibility of damage to sound quality [23] from a faulty encoder, or even a good one that has been used incorrectly.

The second reason for the proliferation of lossless formats is to avoid future losses. Each encoding and recoding loses more and more information, even if the first encoding was perfect, it is very likely that audio artifacts will appear after the second encoding. This is important for anyone looking to remix or try out music. This is especially important to us codec researchers, we need clear sound to work.

Best Master Records

In the BAS test I mentioned earlier, it was mentioned in passing that the SACD version of the recording can sound significantly better than the CD. This is not due to the increased sample rate or quantization level, but rather the fact that a higher quality master disc is used to create the SACD. When recording to CD-R, SACD still sounds as good as the original SACD and better than CD, because the original sound used to record the SACD was better. Good mastering and production techniques obviously contribute to the quality of the music [24].

Recently covered in the press “Mastering for iTunes” and other similar initiatives by other labels are somewhat encouraging. What remains to be seen is whether Apple and others will actually “tackle the problem” or if it is just bait to sell music to consumers they already have, but at a higher price.

Environment

Another “sales trick” that I would fall in love with is the “great” recordings. Unfortunately, there are some technical dangers here.

Discreet, old-fashioned “surround” sound with multiple channels (5.1, 7.1, etc.) is a technical relic, used as early as the 1960s in movie theaters. However, the surround picture is limited and the sound from nearby speakers is distorted when the listener moves out of position or sits in the wrong position initially.

We can repair and build excellent and reliable positioning systems using tools like Ambisonics. The cost of surround sound equipment and the fact that a recording encoded for a natural sound field sounds bad when played in stereo and cannot be artificially recreated correctly is a problem. It is very difficult to fake ambiphonic sound or holographic audio, the effect will be like 3D – it becomes a tasteless trick and shakes 5% of the population.

Binaural audio is also very complex. You can’t copy it because it sounds different to different people. People unconsciously move their heads to better track the source of the sound, without which they cannot determine its location. This cannot be accounted for in a binaural recording, although it can still be achieved in a fixed setting.

MP3 CO-INVENTOR CREATES A SOUND RATING

MP3 CO-INVENTOR CREATES A SOUND RATING

Sound Quality

Why CDs, SACDs, and Downloads are Ahead and FM Radio and Internet are Left Behind
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Dr. rer. nat. hc mult. Karlheinz Brandenburg, Head of the Department of Electronic Media Technology at TU Ilmenau, Director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Media Technology (IDMT)
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Dr. rer. nat. hc mult. Karlheinz Brandenburg, Head of the Department of Electronic Media Technology at TU Ilmenau, Director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Media Technology (IDMT) [Source: TU Ilmenau]

sound quality

“We can wage a real war of faith to get the best sound quality,” says MP3 co-inventor Prof. Dr. Karlheinz Brandenburg. Together with Meinungsbarometer.info, the researcher has created an exclusive and for the first time a sound ranking of all popular music playback formats. A test with surprising results.

Which medium, which transmission path offers the best sound theoretically / physically?
Sound quality is very subjective: what is still acceptable to one ears sounds strange to others. The quality that is heard also depends on the specific piece of music that is being listened to; some processes have clear weaknesses. When digital data reduction methods are used (i.e. streaming / downloading from portals / DAB / Internet radio / DVB), there is a massive dependence on the codec used (i.e. .mp3 or AAC or Dolby Digital or FLAC .. .), but also of the bit rate used. Basically the following applies: Theoretically, there are only restrictions on the perfect subjective quality for: streaming FM, LP and variants with data reduction with too low bit rate, i.e. .mp3 (some interference for certain music material are always audible). If all done correctly, the following methods work perfectly for listening tests: CD, SACD, Download / Stream using so-called “lossless” encoding methods (for example, FLAC), and AAC at high bit rates (as in iTunes Music Shop). The differences with DTS or Dolby Digital or .mp3 at 256 or 320 kbit / s are very small. Radio via DVB-C or DVB-S is often preferable to FM radio (because dynamic compression is not used), even if you listen to the same program.

How does it look in common practice?
We can wage a real war of faith for the best sound quality. Since the brain’s expectation plays an important role (“vinyl records sound better”), the answer will vary from person to person. We can identify some “quality sinners”: dynamic compression, bit rates that are too low, especially with Internet radio, some of which sound horrible, and errors in the encoders, which can cause audible interference depending on the playback device. My personal order (good to bad) with well-made recordings and corresponding bit rates is:

1) CD (the reference) / SACD / Download (lossless codec)

2) Download (good “lossy” codec)

3) Radio via DVB / streaming (depending on bit rate)

4) DAB + / LP

5) FM / Internet radio (relatively high bit rate, good codec)

6) Internet radio (wrong bit rate for codec)

Will data reduction music formats, such as mp3, lose importance in the future as increasing amounts of data can be moved on the Internet?
I’ve known the plot since 1983, before .mp3 was invented. There are still many applications where the amount of data transferred is economically important. Also, all end devices understand .mp3 so it will survive. On the other hand, data reduction music formats are now almost non-existent in the studio and in the feed.

What music formats and platforms do you think will gain relevance in the future and which ones will lose? Are there new music formats or platforms on the horizon?
“Object-oriented” music formats have been debated for 15 years. Now there is a transition to practice with Dolby Athmos in the cinema (which is already frequently found) and the MPEG-H standard for home and broadcast applications (still under discussion in the relevant committees). These formats not only allow for greater flexibility in terms of the playback arrangement (number and placement of speakers), but also much better surround sound than previous surround systems. Many such systems already exist in the field of large-scale sound reinforcement (Bregenz Festival, planetariums, opera). All of these examples can also be found as a research focus of our Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Media Technology.

We are currently seeing efforts to improve the sound quality of Internet radio and broadcast systems. Often this is less of a codec problem and more of an operational problem. We have lived for decades with the fact that FM radio sound is significantly affected by compressors (which make stations louder).