The Dawn of High Resolution Audio

The recent trend of sound quality enthusiasts are moving forward to high quality digital audio file called High Resolution Audio (Hires).

From Wikipedia:

There is no standard definition for what constitutes high-resolution audio,^[3] but it is generally used to describe audio signals with bandwidth and/or dynamic range greater than that of Compact Disc Digital Audio (CD-DA).^[2] This includes pulse-code modulation (PCM) encoded audio with sampling rates greater than 44100 Hz and with bit-depths greater than 16,^[2] or their equivalents using other encoding techniques such as pulse-density modulation (PDM).^[3]

Although there is no firm definition, Sony describes high-resolution audio devices as those that deliver audio that’s clearer, sharper and more complex than other music sources and closer to the original.^[4]

High-resolution audio file formats include FLAC, ALAC, WAV, AIFF and DSD, the format used by Super Audio Compact Discs(SACD).^[3] It should be noted, however, that audio encoded into one of these file formats is not necessarily high-resolution audio. For example, a WAV file could contain audio sampled at 11,025 Hz and quantized at eight bits, which is lower quality than CD-DA.

What kind of digital file categorize as Hires? 

1. Has higher sampling and or quality beyond usual CD sampling of 44.1 Khz

2. At least the same or much bigger data size than CD for the same song (LossLess Format) 

3. Need decent and modern DAC to play that can play various digital Lossless format (No Philips TDA 1541 could convert Hires files)

Hires has been evolving for about since 90's to Millenium era, but since the market at that moment were fulfilled with low quality lossy compressed mp3 (thanks to the iPod era) a lot of people ignored their existences. But after the dawn of some High Quality Digital Audio Portable and Network Access Storage. The Hires format immediately recognized as better solution to enhance the musical experiences of so called audiophile. Some highend manufacturer sees this as opportunity to provide gears for the purpose.

What makes the Hires format potentially becoming the future format?
1. Higher quality and smooth sound as long as the recording properly taken.
2. Easy to get (you can buy and download the file right into your personal file)
3. Portability (you can listen to it anywhere with the right device).

The very same album can download with various quality and various format

But on the contrary there are some arguments about that
1. Some people can not differentiate the quality with the same song between Hires vs CD
2. Some people prefer physical format (Vinyl Art Work for example)
3. Some copyright issue of file sharing or illegal copying.

So the decision is yours whether or not jump in to the wagon of Hires Audio, because I do...

Asawendo, July 2016