What is lossless sound quality Part 2


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What is lossless sound quality Part 2

lossless audio

The principle of these audio compression methods is to preserve places that are easily heard by the human ear as much as possible.

 

Music Lossless

 

In conventional fixed bit rate (CBR) mode, the audible data in the audio is removed and is easier for the human ear to hear. The more information that is withheld, the less information that is withheld when the part is inaudible. As the complexity of the sound increases, the degree of deterioration in sound quality becomes more apparent. For example, when listening to pure voice Performances and performances combined with background music, pure compressed music for vocals, sounds less degraded than the original file.

As for the lossless sound quality offered by the current streaming platform, there are many formats, but in fact, strictly speaking, these formats, including flac and ALAC, belong to lossless compression (non-destructive data compression) in place of lossless sound quality in a strict sense. The performance is almost the same as WAVE, but the file size is small, the decoding speed is fast, and at the same time, it can be used in streaming services. Therefore, it is also the representative format of lossless sound quality entering the era of non-optical disc media, and it is also the current music streaming service.

In addition, Tidal’s MQA is a more controversial format, because although MQA is general lossless audio reduction, it focuses on making high quality music files higher than CD quality so that they are similar to files. CD-quality flac. original high-quality sound format, but the point of controversy is whether the higher compression ratio can maintain the same real listening experience as the original high-quality sound quality has been controversial, and MQA requires a specific device to perform the hardware decoding. many devices are still only able to do MQA decoding through software.

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▲Today’s so-called High-Resolution Audio generally refers to sound quality above CD, but to be certified, the device must support 24-bit, 96kHz format processing capability.

However, since MP3 and AAC are previously planned destructive music compression formats, their purpose is to compress CD-level sound quality into smaller files, so most of the encoding specifications are presented in one presentation. 16-bit 44.1 kHz or 16-bit 48 kHz CD-level audio, but MQA is a format with a reduced file size that blocks high-quality sound. Basically, the MQA format will be equivalent to PCM 24-bit or top music.

In fact, with that said, current music file formats that don’t emphasize high-quality streaming services, whether presented in MP3 or AAC, are called lossy-compressed music, while high-quality, lossless streaming quality is compressed without loss. music. As for the music heard by traditional vehicles like vinyl and CD, it is called lossless music. In theory, non-destructively compressed lossless music and lossless music should have the same sound quality.

Does lossless sound quality have to be good? Does compressed sound have to be bad?
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▲ Although Apple Music has released lossless sound quality, its marketing focus is on spatial audio

When the Japanese audio industry started promoting high-quality music, many people jumped up and said that high-quality sound was useless. When Apple Music launched the premium sound format, its executives also said that he was one of the people who couldn’t tell the difference, noting that Apple launched the premium sound service to serve one of those hundred people. ; Before we talk about high-quality sound, let’s go back and talk about the current state of digital music on today’s playback devices. .


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What is lossless sound quality

What is lossless sound quality

lossless

There is no comparison, no harm, if lossless sound quality and high sound quality are necessary, and what differences in hearing can Bit-Perfect bring without going through SRC

lossless & lossless audio

mp3

CD

KKBOX

flac

spotify

high resolution

dolby atmos

Apple

apple music

CAA

360 reality audio

SRC

spatial audio

Bit-Perfect

Although lossless sound quality and high-quality streaming services have been on the market for a while, as have true wireless earphones, Apple isn’t the first to make waves in the market, with Apple’s launch of so-called high-fidelity compressed sound quality. in Apple Music, in fact, after the lossless compression commonly known in Taiwan’s audio industry, lossless sound quality and high sound quality have instantly become a hot topic discussed by many people, but if the benefits of lossless sound quality are really obvious, the author will spend some space from the theoretical concept to the practical level. The differences are briefly described, but the following arguments focus on being easy to understand, so some of the descriptions are not entirely accurate.

What is lossless sound quality? What is the sound quality of the music we usually listen to?
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▲ Both AAC and MP3 are destructive compression, while FLAC and ALAC are lossless compression

Before we go into the details, let’s talk about what is called lossless sound quality; From the author’s concept and cognition, the so-called lossless sound quality is a relative word rather than an absolute word. The main source is the relative word born due to the emergence of the MP3 music compression format. ; After the music industry entered the digital format, digital music files were generally recorded through PCM encoding, and WAVE files were generally used on CDs. The time and space situation of MP3 was Due to the fact that the capacity of the hard disk was generally not large at that time, in order to be limited in the limited space, a large amount of music data is stored in the storage space and you may need to compress the files. .

The reason why MP3 cannot be called a lossless format is because its essence is to compress the original WAVE file with a limited bit rate by combining concepts such as the psychology of sound. In bitrate compression mode, compared to the original WAVE file, the bitrate is at least 1:4 to 12:1. The higher the bitrate, the greater the amount of information retained. For example, AAC format also uses similar audio psychology for compression, but the efficiency is better than MP3. Therefore, the lossless sound quality of most streaming platforms today is mostly AAC as the mainstream.

Photo mentions KKBOX, FLAC format, 16bit/48kHz, related to KKBox, including kkbox Hi-Res, Hi-Res Audio, KKBox, Streaming Media, Hi-Fi

▲ Although the waveform of digital music in PCM format will appear jagged, but as the sampling rate increases, it will be closer to the analog arc curve

The “good sound” experience of Apple Music will change! Part 2

The “good sound” experience of Apple Music will change! Part 2

Lossless

How to Enjoy Lossless Audio on Your iPhone or Mac
Learn how to create an environment to enjoy “good sound” with lossless audio from Apple Music.

First, the staples of player playback are the iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple TV. When listening with HomePod, high-quality sound reproduction in compressed AAC format will be performed at the beginning of the service, but it appears that lossless support via software update is planned in the future.

You can also enjoy lossless audio with the Android version of “Apple Music App”. The browser version of Apple Music does not support either of the two new services as of June.

The first way to enjoy Apple Music lossless audio on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac is to “listen to the built-in speakers.” In particular, the new iMac has an integrated sound system consisting of six speaker units and an amplifier, which should make Apple Music’s lossless audio sound powerful.

With a powerful sound system, the iMac pairs well with Apple Music’s lossless surround audio services.

While it seems that you can enjoy powerful sound even with iPhone and iPad speakers, it is not suitable for listening while moving when you go out. I would like to listen using the AirPods series which is more compatible with each one, but since the Bluetooth audio codec compatible with the iPhone and AirPods series cannot transmit while maintaining the quality equivalent to lossless playback, compression will be applied. In that case, it would be more efficient to listen to the original AAC format distribution.

If you want to enjoy lossless audio on your iPhone or iPad, you can use headphones that can be connected to Lightning, such as the wired “EarPods with Lightning connector” headphones that are currently sold as an option. Alternatively, you can listen with analog-connected wired headphones or with headphones through an adapter with a built-in DAC, such as the Lightning / 3.5mm Headphone Jack Adapter. Also, if you use a headphone amplifier with a built-in USB-DAC function released by audio manufacturers, including Mac, you can enjoy richer lossless audio reproduction.

It is convenient to have a DAC-equipped headset that can be connected directly to the Lightning terminal.

For Apple TV, you can enjoy lossless audio by connecting it to a sound bar or surround sound amplifier with an HDMI cable. Ideal when you want to listen to music slowly in a home theater or audio room.

Many Android devices are equipped with a 3.5mm headphone jack, so you can create a lossless audio playback environment more easily.

Also began the distribution of “high resolution” beyond the losses without losses.
The lossless distribution of Apple Music includes files provided at 44.1 kHz / 16-bit, which has the same sound quality as a CD, and 48 kHz / 24-bit, which Apple calls “lossless with a sound quality greater than that of a CD “. The latter appears to have more than 7 million titles. You can check the detailed information of the song by touching the “Lossless” badge displayed on the music app’s playback screen.

The “good sound” experience of Apple Music will change!

The “good sound” experience of Apple Music will change!

lossless audio

Explaining the charm of the lossless environment

Lossless

Hear studio-produced sounds with more luxurious sound quality
How to Enjoy Lossless Audio on Your iPhone or Mac
Also began the distribution of “high resolution” beyond the losses without losses.
Enjoy immersive playback with Apple Music
Compatible with various headphones / earphones and sound bars
“Good sound” is the standard for Apple Music sounds you hear on your iPhone.
Starting in June, two new “good sound experiences” will be added to Apple Music, Apple’s flat-rate music distribution service. “Lossless Audio” and “Dolby Atmos Spatial Audio”. I would like to explain the contents of the service and the environment necessary to enjoy it.

We’ll explain the new “lossless audio” and “Dolby Atmos spatial audio” added to Apple Music.

Hear studio-produced sounds with more luxurious sound quality
Currently, the sound quality of Apple Music can be listened to while reducing the consumption of data capacity by using mobile communication transmission by iPhone / iPad while maintaining the quality of the sound source produced by the creator in the studio. to the user’s hand as It is. It is balanced and distributed as a 256 kbps AAC format file.

Newly added lossless audio is a technology for enjoying music playback in true-to-original sound quality, without loss due to compression processing. Apple Music uses “ALAC” (Apple Lossless Audio Codec), a lossless compression codec system that can be compressed and then decompressed while ensuring the quality of the original sound source.

As of the end of May 2021, Apple Music has more than 75 million songs distributed, but all songs in the catalog will be available in lossless audio, except for radio audio and music video. This Apple Music update will be available to subscribers in all 167 countries and territories around the world for the same monthly fee.

Apple Music is currently deployed in 167 countries and regions around the world. You can enjoy it at the same price even after adding a new service.

Enjoying lossless audio is very easy. For iPhone / iPad, you will be able to select lossless sound quality for mobile communication transmission, Wi-Fi and download in “Music” of the settings application. The default setting is “Off”, so you must set the necessary parts for each of the three listening methods to lossless.

Even if the lossless audio service starts, you can still choose to deliver in the traditional AAC format. This is because if you select lossless audio, especially in a mobile communication streaming environment, the bit rate will reach 1.4 Mbps or more during playback, and it will “gig down” at a faster speed than before. .

You can also download the songs you want to listen to on a device like an iPhone with lossless quality and listen to them offline. However, even in this case, the size of the lossless data will be larger than the distribution file in normal AAC format, so it seems necessary to adjust it according to the storage capacity of the iPhone or iPad.