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Yesterday I did some comparisons between 96kHz and 192kHz on my MAC Mini

The sound card in my Mac Mini is the Intel High Definition Audio 0x83847680 which does 192 kHz/32-bit quality for two channels, and 96 kHz/32-bit for up to eight channels. It comes standard, I've done no upgrading.

I can now confirm iTunes 8.0.2 does do 32 Bit music files, something no consumer physical format can do.

I compared the 96kHz and 192kHz sound samples from Acousence and here are my impressions. The 192kHz samples had more ambiance, notes have a longer decay, the bass is fuller and the strings are even smoother plus it sounds more live. I can "feel" the music on my skin almost as vividly as when I listen to live music.

I also compared these samples to my DSD recorded Exton SACD of Mahler's 6th with Ashkenazy and the Czech Philharmonic recorded in the House of Artist, Prague. The SACD and the 192kHz download were very close, the 192kHz download had more of the "live" feel on my skin but the percussion was more tingling exciting on the SACD, the string tone was actually smoother on the 192kHz. I would have to hear more examples but overall I think 192kHz music files may be sonically as good as or superior to SACD. I also have 192kHz PCM on DVD-Audios but I thought the music files easily beat those. I wonder if a DSD music file would also beat an SACD?

The 32 Bit 192kHz music file was a Jazz recording from Unipheye Music and sounded very real, there may be a further advantage to 32 Bit, I'd have to hear a few classical works before forming an opinion.
http://www.unipheyemusic.com/filetest.cfm

Some of these files are quite huge and I may be looking at external memory sooner than expected.

24 Bit 96kHz 4608 kbps WAV audio file
24 Bit 192kHz 9216 kbps WAV audio file
32 Bit 192kHz 12288 kbps WAV audio file

The 32 Bit 192kHz is almost 100 times larger than 128 kpbs MP3, that's a lot of memory. I will down the road need an external memory device that is whisper quiet as I live in a studio apartment and I understand many of them are noisy. Any ideas?

The performance of my little MAC mini was quite amazing considering I was using the analog outputs using a Stereo Mini to two RCA Monster Cable using one of the AUX inputs on my tubed pre-amp.

Give me high resolution or remain silent,
Teresa

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Topic - Yesterday I did some comparisons between 96kHz and 192kHz on my MAC Mini - Teresa 18:28:35 02/08/09 (86)
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