Re: Why bother with lossy encoding?

On 15 March 2017 at 10:39, Stephane Ascoet
<[email protected]> wrote:
> Le 15/03/2017 11:30, Steve the Fiddle a écrit :
>> Just a quick technical point: Increasing the sample rate of
>> ("upsampling") a recording, does not and can not improved the quality
>> of the encoded sound. Once the sound has been recorded in digital
>> format, that is "it", that data contains specific audio information,
>> and any subtle musical nuances that are missing are gone forever. It
>> is physically impossible to magically restore audio information that
>> is missing from the original.
>>
>> The difference that sample rate makes, is that it limits the maximum
>> frequency that can be represented by the data. Uncompressed PCM data
>> has an absolute limit to the frequencies that it can represent. The
>> limit is half the sample rate (known as the "Nyquist frequency"). So
>> for audio CDs, (sample rate 44100 Hz), audio frequencies must be below
>> 22050 Hz. The only difference that a higher sample rate makes is that
>> it could theoretically represent frequencies above 22050 Hz, but if
>> the original recording is on CD, then there are no audio frequencies
>> above 22050 Hz, and upsampling cannot change that, (other than by
>> adding distortion).
>>
>> Steve
>>
> This is a technical point of view. But, as I already wrote it years ago
> on this list, I can really ear a difference. The sound is more warm.

Yes, as I wrote, this is a technical point. I'm only talking about
actual physical facts, not "alternative" facts.

There are many reasons why upsampling may sound "different". The
additional sample rate conversion step could introduce losses for a
number of reasons, and that "difference" in sound may be preferable to
some listeners, just as some listeners prefer the "sizzle" sound of
low quality MP3s
(http://radar.oreilly.com/2009/03/the-sizzling-sound-of-music.html).
This should not, in my opinion, be confused with "sound quality" in
the sense of "accurate reproduction of sound".

There is no right or wrong about personal preference, Some people
prefer vinyl or even compact cassettes. Some prefer CDs and some
prefer MP3s. Some prefer Camembert and some prefer Stilton. Some
prefer Rock and some prefer Jazz. Thank heavens we're not all clones
;-)

Steve

>
>
> --
> Sincerely, Stephane Ascoet
>
>
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