Audio: Listen to this article.
Hey Guys, I'd planned on publishing a definitive immersive audio article this week, but the more I wrote, the more I struggled to organize the information in a way that's best for the most people. Immersive audio playback in HiFi is in its infancy, yet there are a few very different ways to go about playback. I hope to have it in an easily digestible format next week.
A couple weeks ago I wrote about the best Pearl Jam shows I'd ever seen, here in Minnesota. This week, the band started releasing for purchase and download the live shows from the 2023 tour. I purchased both MN shows as 24 bit / 96 kHz FLAC downloads for $20 each about 30 seconds after they were released.
As a kid listening to Pearl Jam albums in my room in the 1990s, I wouldn't have believed that some day I'd be able to purchase high resolution versions of the live shows I attended, about three weeks after the show. Today it still amazes me that this is possible, more so than even products like AI or Apple VisionPRo. Perhaps it's because people have always talked about science fiction type scenarios or products and AI or Apple VisioPro could fit into those categories. But, seeing Pearl Jam shows, then having high resolution versions of those shows, officially released by the band, to listen to forever? No way!
Needless to say, I've been listening non-stop and hearing things I definitely didn't hear while enjoying the shows live in person. The performances aren't perfect, but there's much more beauty in the imperfection. It's also pretty neat to listen to the show from August 31, 2023, that I attended with my daughter, while we're driving to school in the morning. Hearing her say, "I remember that part Dad!" is priceless.
As cool as Taylor Swift shows may be, I have a feeling that they'd all sound identical if released as albums. Pearl Jam shows on the other hand are all different. The band play over 100 different songs during this short eight show 2023 tour. Even the repeated tracks were a little different, and that's something I love.
I'll probably "have" to purchase the high resolution versions of every show from this tour :~)
Anyway, back to my immersive audio writing and trying to figure out how best to provide the information. Don't get me wrong, I love writing about it and helping to educate people, but it's a bit overwhelming at the moment.
P.S. Oh yeah, I forgot to write about my new favorite NAS, the QNAP TS-i410X industrial grade NAS. I touched on it in my article about saving a 20,000 song library from a failed QNAP. I spent a couple days with this new unit and I totally love it. It's completely fanless and built like a tank. The power cable attaches to the DC input of the NAS by screwing it in, assuring it won't come loose.
I put four 8TB SSDs into a TS-i410X and connected it to my 10 Gbps switch. The speed was very good, although its Intel Atom x6425E 4-core/4-thread processor isn't robust enough to handle a 20,000 track Roon library if running Roon direcly on the NAS. THis specific NAS has the 20,000 tracks, but Roon is run on a much more powerful i7 NUC with 32GB of RAM.
I'm very impressed and want one of these QNAP TS-i410X units for myself.
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