What is high resolution audio?
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When it comes to music, Hi-Res Audio, also called Hi-Res Audio, is harder to find. The main way most of us listen to music is by streaming to portable devices like smartphones. While very convenient, this trend has set us back in terms of what we consider a good music listening experience.
By this we mean that the file formats used by streaming services are of lower quality. Compared to CD format, MP3 files and music streaming from iTunes, Yandex.Music, Spotify and other services simply contain less data to create music. To put music in a format that can be easily streamed and give listeners the ability to store many songs on a portable music player or smartphone, 80% of the information present in the original recording can be removed.
What is Hi-Res Audio?
Due to the proliferation of the experience of listening to low-quality music, a strategy has been put in place to bring back high-quality two-channel audio by expanding the capabilities of downloadable and playable music to match or exceed CD quality. This initiative is called Hi-Res Audio, Hi-Res Music or HRA. For the purposes of this article, we are referring to the most common term: High Resolution Audio.
CD quality benchmark
The CD format is considered the benchmark that separates low-resolution audio from high-resolution audio. Technically speaking, Audio CD is an uncompressed digital format that is represented by 16-bit PCM with a sample rate of 44.1 kHz.
Anything below the CD breakpoint, such as MP3, AAC, WMA, and other highly compressed formats, is considered low-resolution audio, and anything above is considered high-resolution audio.
Hi-Res Audio Formats
High-resolution audio is provided on physical media in HDCD, SACD, and DVD-Audio formats. However, with many no longer using physical media, a strategic step has been taken to provide listeners with the ability to access high-definition audio through downloads and streaming.
Non-physical high-resolution digital audio formats include ALAC, AIFF, FLAC, WAV, DSD (the same format used in SACDs), and PCM (with a higher sample rate and bits than CDs).
