Call it the Apple effect. Since the Californian giant has been promoting it on its Apple Music platform, high-fidelity, HD or “lossless” digital music, as you choose, has become increasingly sought after by music lovers – with or without the famous apple…
MP3, CD, HD…
Because beyond the musical source, the equipment used counts for a lot in the sound quality obtained. If you use a cheap Bluetooth headset, the difference will be inaudible between a song found on a CD, which is digitized on his PC in MP3 format or which comes from an online source, even if we promise sound quality ” HD “. The Bluetooth protocol limits the bit rate of a stereo music source. Even the most recent versions of Bluetooth compatible with Sony’s LDAC codec are not entirely faithful to high resolution.
In other words, even with the newest AirPods Pro 2 paired with the latest iPhone, it will be impossible to fully distinguish between “premium quality” or “lossless” 24-bit streams of 48 or 192 kilohertz… except on your wireless bill. wire, if you are streaming from your cellular network. A song of the best quality contains up to five times more bytes than an MP3 file.
AirPlay, Dolby Atmos, spatialized sound…
In announcing in 2021 the arrival of lossless music on its music platform, Apple did not give a ton of ways to take full advantage of it from a stereo. Apple TV and HomePod speakers can play a lossless format limited to 48 kilohertz. The high-resolution (192 kHz) lossless format must necessarily pass from a mobile or cable PC to a digital-to-analog decoder (called a “DAC”). It is routed to an amplifier and then to the speakers of your choice. The AirPlay wireless protocol is limited to CD-like sound quality (16-bit and 44.1 kHz).
In the age of wireless technologies and webcasting, this is cumbersome. Boucherville-based ultra-high-end sound equipment maker Simaudio offers another solution: its Moon ACE all-in-one home music player only needs a pair of speakers to produce sound. of the highest possible quality. The device is not given. It costs $5200. But it’s entry-level at Simaudio, which sells systems costing up to $100,000 and more. The Moon ACE has the advantage of connecting via wifi to HD music services, including Deezer, Tidal and Qobuz.
Properly configured, two speakers connected to a system like the Moon ACE will create a stereophonic sound environment much more pleasant to the ear than many systems offering spatialized or pseudo-surround sound. We hear a lot these days about “spatial sound” like Dolby Atmos, which is touted as a way to enhance the musical experience in one’s headphones or in a listening room at home.
In headphones, okay. For film or video, of course. For music at home, not sure, says Dominique Poupart, who preaches a little for his parish. Simaudio’s product manager isn’t necessarily wrong: Simaudio’s listening room in Boucherville and its stereo speakers prove that you don’t need a dozen speakers to have plenty of them. ears…
“For true Dolby Atmos sound, you need a room with at least ten speakers, while two good speakers well placed in a room with good acoustics will provide the same immersion. At the same budget, two good speakers with two amps will be of much better quality than twelve speakers with twelve amps. »
Spotify, Qobuz, Sonos…
As for music services, the big news in Quebec will be the arrival next month of the French application Qobuz, which attempted a first failed foray into the country in the middle of the last decade. This time would be the good one, they say. The particularity of Qobuz is its broadcasting in a high resolution format at 192 kHz. Tidal HiFi Plus offers the same sound quality, just like Amazon Music Unlimited.
To date, the only platform lagging behind in high-quality streaming is Spotify, which promised streaming at the same speed as CD playback months ago and could finally fulfill its promise this year. Hopefully, the folks at Spotify will up the ante by upping their offering to the highest resolution sound format, accessible directly through third-party smart speakers.
Because for the moment, people who want to taste digital music in a high-resolution format and who don’t want to completely empty their little pig have the option of pairing a pair of Sonos speakers with Apple Music. Or for even less, a pair of Echo speakers at Amazon Music Unlimited.
Here again, the question that is likely to come up most often is: do you really hear the difference?