I agree hdtracks is a minefield, and their own sampler tracks are a spectacular own-goal. DOYR.
I buy a lot of newer music. Often that's originally recorded at 24/44, 24/88, 24/96. Occasionally these original numbers are available for download and I buy them (usually from Qobuz or 7digital). In these cases I see down-sampling to 16/44 as an additional step that I don't need. It might not be audibly better but hey, it's measurably better. (On a similar note, why should I insert an extra line stage when I don't need it, no matter how transparent it is? That would be bloody-minded IMO. If I need it, fine, but if I don't?) IMV it depends. - Some DACs have sub-par up-sampling (can be fixed with source up-sampling). But some DACs have good digital filtering and can up-sample well themselves. So 16/44 could sound worse than hi-rez when the playback system is not up-sampling well. - Some 16/44 had dodgy anti-aliasing filter applied, in these cases the equivalent hi-rez could sound better. All that said, I believe if you have access to good up-sampling and a well-made 16/44 recording then there's probably nothing audible. So, I'm relaxed generally about 16/44 which, please note, is the majority of what I have. Check it, add to it! http://www.dr.loudness-war.info/ SB Touch ------------------------------------------------------------------------ darrenyeats's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=10799 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=108499 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/audiophiles
