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Help with PCM, 96khz/24bit, 176.4khz/24bit FLAC, DSD, Double DSD, Quad DSD, MQA, WAV, etc

I am considering downloading some musical files and am very confused on the above formats.   Is it better to download 96khz/24bit files or DSD Files?  

The Reference Recordings website offers several options including 176.4khz/24bit FLAC or 176.4khz/24bit WAV.   Several other options are available but these seems to be the best.

HIGH RES Audio exclusively offers high-resolution music downloads in Studio Master Quality in FLAC, ALAC, DSD, DXD-FLAC and MQA format.

All my current albums are stored in AIFF format on my Aurender N10 Music Server.  I might be willing to experiment with some of the above formats but I am more interested in listening to the music than spending time deciding on the best format.  These above formats might sound better than my PCM albums but is the sound quality really that much improved?  

Audio technology is continuing to improve and, it seems, new formats and solutions are always being introduced, such as MQA albums.   What new formats can we expect next?

If I decide to decide to download some files, what formats should I be using?  Your suggestions and comments are welcomed.  


hgeifman
marktomaras
544 posts
 
It is easier if you separate the terms. It's really not too terribly complex.

PCM & DSD are the two fundamentally different digital philosophies, and within both, you have different resolutions.

PCM 
16 bit 44khz is CD quality
24/88
24/96
24/176
24/192
these are all increasing resolutions in the sampling.

DSD, double, and quad DSD are a similar representation of higher resolutions in the DSD path.

so that is the way that the digital music is created in its analog to digital conversion from the master tapes as it were.  Now we have to save the file and choose a format of the file itself.

WAV - windows based, fully uncompressed file.
AIFF - mac based, fully uncompressed file.
FLAC - windows based, lossless compression
ALAC - mac based, lossless compression
MQA - newest kid on the block, promises lossless compression but delivers a smaller file size compared to FLAC and ALAC.  After the file's oragami is unfolded, you can get a high res PCM file.

so, what should you buy? Depends on your gear.  I have a dac that can handle 24/192 PCM. It cannot handle DSD.  If I buy high res files for use today, I would buy 24/96 or higher. If I buy for the future, I can buy DSD and my software (Roon) can translate the DSD file to a PCM format that my DAC can handle.

As for MQA, I am streaming those from Tidal, and my Dac is unfolding them and they yield a high res file.

hope this helps!
hgeifman OP
2,240 posts
 
@marktomaras,

Thank you for your excellent explanation above.  It was very helpful and answers my questions. 

I am not ready to commit to DSD files but I will download some Hi Res WAV files to see how they sound.  Thanks again. 

hgeifman OP
2,240 posts
 
Its been suggested I used the FLAC file format and not WAV files.  I plan on downloading Hi Res files from www.hdtracks.com.   
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