lucretius

The usage document, "StartUsage-V2.2.3E.pdf", appears to be from an earlier version (i.e. not V22.4E). Is this correct?

That will NEVER change! 😀

I never found the MQA files to sound better than any of the other formats in the 2L benchmark files. I think at best, one can argue that the MQA track sounds the same as some of the other formats. And where the MQA version sounds the same as a hi-res format, it is likely that the Redbook version also sounds the same as that hi-res format. Where that is the case, then why choose the MQA version over the Redbook version? Avoid the MQA tax and keep PCM alive.

Sometimes CD quality tracks sound better than the 24bit/96KHz (or 24/192) track from HDtracks -- different masters. And sometimes they sound the same. Many times, the hi-res files contain only noise in the upper frequencies -- perhaps it's inaudible or perhaps it has an adverse effect on the electronics, resulting in audible distortion. When it comes to MQA, clearly there is added noise (inaudible or not) and peaks are always near 0 dbfs.

I guess it has something to do with throwing shit at the wall and hoping some of it will stick? But with MQA, one should stand back from the wall to avoid getting one's shoes dirty.

I note your use of the past tense. 🙂

Hopefully, the claims adjuster isn't savey enough to discover the "tweek".

It's a bitch.

So that explains why I always listen to my music loud -- I let my brain do the EQ.

The words spoken by every "mature" audiophile. 🙂

I assume you are talking about 320 Kbps MP3s (and especially not 48 or 96 Kbps as found on some internet radio streams)? As an aside, I always wondered why most audio engineers and mixers are mature/old people. Why is this if they can’t hear as good? Maybe they can hear "good enough"?

I would love to have been there for the blind testing. 🙂

This is really good news!

And despite this, JRiver and Foobar2000 do sound the same, LOL. Blind testing! I'm not sure why anyone would think loading a track into system memory first would make a difference; it's not like the bits can go directly from the storage device to the DAC -- a chunk of the file/track would need to be held in a buffer in any case.

The discussion was about using different player software in bit-perfect mode and not about changing DACs or DAC filters.