Vote Your Ranking -If you have an opinion on this digital subject


There have been many statements made about this question here and on other forums stating differing opinions as which SQ is better :

 

1.-Red book CD

2.-Streamed High resolution files- i.e. Tidal/Qobuz

3.-Downloaded files purchased in Super Hi Res-Acoustic Sounds

4.-Red Book CDs ripped and stored for playback as files

 

Everyone may have an opinion on their preference

but is there any actual evidence of this? I suppose the only

way to produce evidence would be via blind testing and

survey results.

 

So please list in your preferred order the numbers

1,2,3,4  with the 1st being the best/ 4 the worst SQ 

 

Audiophiles may have an idea of their preference

but is there any actual evidence? I suppose the only

way to produce evidence would be via blind testing and

survey results. 

 

Does anyone have some hard facts as it relates to this query? 

 

Thank You.

 

chorus

Funny enough, I can think of at least one site that bans A/B testing as a prerequisite for “proof.”

The thing is that everyone’s system and listening acuity is quite different.

On my system, things far less than the 1-4 you posted make an audible difference.

one is uncompressing flac files to WAV, which makes a larger difference sometimes than 44.1 vs. hires. But each jump to better files is audible. Even the drive I play the files off makes a small difference in sound quality (hardware Raid sounds better than software based raid).

 

I believe all is quite variable as to the result depending on how each is accomplished within the context of a single system.