Life used to be quite easy once. There were LP records, tapes, later – CDs. You could search for your Holy Grail by messing around with different cartridges, tubes, wires, tapes. Not anymore. CDs have diversified into “standard CD”, SACD, DVD, Blue Ray etc. Instead of the usual 16/44 now we have 24/44, 16/48, 24/96, 24/192 etc…. Completely different.
Despite my still very strong preference for well recorded LPs (with SACD sometimes breathing down their neck) I feel that it’s about time to investigate those different formats to see what they can do and what they can’t. However, some questions have emerged that I could not get straight answers. Perhaps someone could enlighten me regarding few technical issues regarding digital audio.
1) If I have an audio file (say, flac) marked as 24/96K, can I play it on my SACD player (Marantz SA-15 ser.1) with that resolution? It seems that the SACD player has only two modes – CD and SACD. The standard CD mode, as far as I understand, is 16/44K, whereas the SACD is an entirely different story – DSD 1/2.8M . So, will this player play the 24/96 flac file as a proper 24/96 or it will be trimmed down to the SACD player’s CD standard mode of 16/44? While playing, the player is showing the CD mode active.
2) If I play that file through a PC, how the resolution is determined – solely by the soundcard specification, or the playback software matters as well? I know that there are soundcards with different resolution, but does software have any relevance here?
3) If a soundcard has resolution of 24/192, I guess, it should play lower resolution files as well, shouldn’t it? What about higher resolution files?
Despite my still very strong preference for well recorded LPs (with SACD sometimes breathing down their neck) I feel that it’s about time to investigate those different formats to see what they can do and what they can’t. However, some questions have emerged that I could not get straight answers. Perhaps someone could enlighten me regarding few technical issues regarding digital audio.
1) If I have an audio file (say, flac) marked as 24/96K, can I play it on my SACD player (Marantz SA-15 ser.1) with that resolution? It seems that the SACD player has only two modes – CD and SACD. The standard CD mode, as far as I understand, is 16/44K, whereas the SACD is an entirely different story – DSD 1/2.8M . So, will this player play the 24/96 flac file as a proper 24/96 or it will be trimmed down to the SACD player’s CD standard mode of 16/44? While playing, the player is showing the CD mode active.
2) If I play that file through a PC, how the resolution is determined – solely by the soundcard specification, or the playback software matters as well? I know that there are soundcards with different resolution, but does software have any relevance here?
3) If a soundcard has resolution of 24/192, I guess, it should play lower resolution files as well, shouldn’t it? What about higher resolution files?