Hi-Res - Does it matter? Blind Test by Mark Waldrep

[Samuel T Cogley]

It's interesting to me that sometimes the argument is "I don't believe you hear that" and sometimes it's "I don't believe you don't hear that"

 

I'd just like to point out the operative word in both cases is "believe".  😎

[Samuel T Cogley]

1 hour ago, mansr said:

A classic example is Duke Nukem Forever, although it did eventually materialise.

 

I can say first hand that Duke Nukem Forever was not worth the wait.  It was just awful.  By the time it was actually released, game software tech had advanced so much that DNF was an instant relic.  But looping back to the topic, I think a strong case could be made that "demand for hi-res audio" is itself vaporware, but of course I'm slightly re-purposing the word to describe consumer demand rather than software availability.

 

Having a fair amount of hands on experience with hi-res material on a host of hardware (fixed and portable), my experience is that hi-res can sound amazing under the right set of circumstances.  But I've never heard hi-res in a portable setting that bested quality Redbook mastering on the same device.  That's why I think hi-res on portable devices is pretty much a scam (looking to you, MQA).