Download 96khz 24 Bit Music ~UPD~

I'm using Poweramp with the Fiio KA5 DAC/AMP ( ) which supports up to 32bit/768khz. When I try to listen to 96khz+ music, Poweramp tells me that it is being downsampled to 96khz on the output device (the last item in the chain, see screenshots). The DAC itself is just telling me that its playing at 96khz.

This doesn't happen on the Fiio Music App (where the sample rate is adjusted to match the song, and 96khz+ songs play fine), Neutron (where I can just set it to either the highest or change based on song, again 96khz+ works fine), Windows (limited to 384, but it works fine), or Linux (limited to 192, but it works fine).

Download 96khz 24 Bit Music

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It also depends on the processing you are applying to mix. Many plug-ins circumvent this by up-sampling their process and many recent EQs have non-cramped curves to match how an analog EQ works. There is also the issue of SRC conversion inside of the samplers. If the music is heavily relying on sampler instruments it may or may not be worth it depending on the libraries used.

First a bit more on the sub-devices, as promised. If your sound card supports hardware sound mixing, then the playback device will have multiple sub-devices. If it doesn't support hardware mixing, it will have only one sub-device - sub0. But even if it does have multiple sub-devices, it is rather certain that only sub0 is going to be used. That's because most (all?) modern operating systems use software sound mixing. Ubuntu, for instance, currently uses PulseAudio sound server, which does software mixing before it sends the sound further down the operating system. With hardware mixing, sound from multiple sources (multiple music players, for instance), would go to different sub-devices, and then the sound card would do the mixing in hardware. With software mixing, the sound from all sources goes to the sub0 sub-device. Just something to keep in mind - remember to look at the hw_params file in the correct sub-device.

Knowing all the above, we can start ruling out potential suspects. We can really rule out automatically any sort of music player, as the only thing they do is they just open the sound file, decode it if it is encoded in some format other than PCM, and send the read/decoded content to, for instance, a sound server.

So we are left with the layers between the sound card's hardware driver and the music player - ALSA and PulseAudio. It is somewhat difficult to replace ALSA (for testing purposes) with some other sound sub-system (yet doable), but it is fairly easy to temporarily disable PulseAudio, which will force our music player to talk directly to ALSA. In order to achieve this, we execute the following commands from the terminal (as a normal user):

Now you need to restart your music player, start the playback of your music file, and again look into the /proc/asound/card0/pcm0p/sub0/hw_params file. And this time you will see the correct values, which proves that, contrary to some opinions floating around the 'net, PulseAudio does downsample the sound.

I did my testing using a high resolution music file (24bit, 96kHz) that I found on a Sony website ( -res/sample1/v1/en/index.html), played it back in VLC and saw in the hw_params file that the sound card reports that it is being fed with data in S16_LE format, at 48000 rate. Then I've disabled PulseAudio, restarted VLC and played back the same file - this time the hw_params file reported format to be FLOAT_LE (floating point, which by definition is 32-bit, so actually upscaled from 24bit, probably by ALSA), and rate to be 96000 (so exactly what it should be).

... technology has surpassed the capability of human hearing for a long time already. Unfortunately, people tend to focus on the technology side versus its application (the listener). Just because something could be recorded at 128-bit/384 KHz, doesn't mean a listener would know or care. 44.1 was chosen because it exceeds human hearing, and no one's ears have gotten any more capable. As we age, hearing deteriorates even without loudness damage (ironic that musicians tend to do this intentionally) ... for the longest time I forgot where I had seen this, but it was on an episode of "Brain Games"

Another interesting test is to use a brick wall EQ (or steep as you can get) as a HPF, set it way high initially (well over 10KHz), play a tune and see how low you need to drop the threshold before you can identify the song. It is more fun as a party trick but is an eye opener for where the crux of music is located.

After years of niche positioning in the music world, high-resolution audio (or 'hi-res audio') finally hit the mainstream thanks to a huge raft of support from streaming services (such as Apple Music, Tidal and Amazon Music) and products (from smartphones to most digital hi-fi components) alike.

But should you care about hi-res audio? If you want the best digital music experience possible or at least better sound quality than you're currently used to (and why wouldn't you?), then yes; hi-res audio is definitely worth investigating.

That's where we come in. Our handy guide will take you through the ins and outs of hi-res audio. By the end, we hope you'll know everything you need to know (and then some) and will be well on your way to enjoying your new and improved music listening lifestyle.

MP3 (not hi-res): Popular, lossy compressed format ensures small file size, but far from the best sound quality. Convenient for storing music on smartphones and iPods, but doesn't support hi-res.

The hi-res 24-bit/96kHz or 24-bit/192kHz files should, therefore, more closely replicate the sound quality the musicians and engineers were working with in the studio. And they could be that very same recorded file, too. These files are labelled as "Studio Masters" in some cases.

Hi-res audio can be streamed wirelessly between phones and headphones/speakers that support the latest Bluetooth codecs (such as aptX HD, aptX Adaptive and LDAC), but not truly losslessly (i.e not without compression). Qualcomm claims to have found a way to transmit CD-quality music losslessly with its upcoming Snapdragon Sound aptX Lossless solution, and MQA's SCL6 could also pave the way for better on-the-go quality, but it could be some time before portable hi-res playback over non-wi-fi means materialises.

Portable music players

Alternatively, there are plenty of dedicated portable hi-res music players such as Sony Walkmans, Astell & Kerns, FiiOs and Cowons that offer more storage space and far better sound quality than a multi-tasking smartphone. The vast majority these days support PCM files up to 192kHz or 384kHz, as well as DSD and often MQA.

Desktop

For a desktop solution, your laptop (Windows, Mac, Linux) is a prime source for storing and playing hi-res music (after all, this is where you'll be downloading the tunes from hi-res download sites anyway), but make sure the software you use to play music also supports hi-res playback. Apple Music, for instance, doesn't support it, even if your MacBook does, so you'll need to download separate music-playing software. The likes of Channel D's Pure Music and Amarra are worth considering for a Mac. On a PC? Try JRiver Media Center. Roon is an increasingly popular (paid-for) music management platform worth considering if you listen to music from several sources and on various (Roon-compatible) kit.

Music streamers

If you're after a proper hi-fi setup, you'll need to look into music streamers that support hi-res, and highly recommendable contenders include the Bluesound Node, Cambridge CXN V2 and Arcam ST60. This is a particularly recommendable route if you'll be storing your growing hi-res library on a NAS (Network Attached Storage, essentially a hard drive with processing built-in), which we would recommend. That said, all of them also offer direct access to music streaming services, many of which, as discussed, now support hi-res audio.

Now that you're armed with all this information on hi-res music, your next question should be: where can I get all these glorious hi-res music tracks? The easiest, cheapest and most accessible way is to stream the hi-res libraries of Tidal, Apple, Amazon or Qobuz. More on that below. But if you want to own your own curated hi-res library, there are currently a handful of download sites that let you buy and download single tracks and full albums in various hi-res formats. There are also plenty of US and European sites, though not all of them let you purchase from the UK.

7Digital (UK/US)

With a strong catalogue offering hi-res music from all genres and a website that makes buying music easy, 7digital is an excellent all-rounder. There's an accurate search function and the website is simple to navigate. You can easily spot hi-res recordings thanks to a '24bit FLAC' badge on an album or song's thumbnail, and there's also a dedicated hi-res section. The sole drawback is that it only offers downloads in the FLAC format. Prices are affordable, though, and you can buy individual tracks as well as full albums.

HDtracks (UK/US)

HDtracks may be one of the most established hi-res download stores, but it's in need of a refresh in looks and catalogue. It can feel aimed at an older audience (there's a strong focus on jazz, classical and dad rock), which can be off-putting for wider audiences, especially fans of more current, popular music. On the other hand, whereas other download sites offer FLAC as default, HDtracks lets you choose between FLAC, ALAC, WAV and AIFF (and the sampling rate for each) before downloading. There's a selection of DSD and MQA tracks too, which is great for audiophiles.

Tidal Masters

Tidal and MQA's partnership has brought us one step closer to mainstream hi-res music streaming. You'll need to subscribe to Tidal's HiFi Plus tier to unlock the Masters section, and then you can stream hi-res MQA files through the desktop app and Android/iOS mobile apps. 2351a5e196