New Blu-Ray format music

[Daverz]

Higher sampling rates may sound better for reasons that have more to do with the way the signal is reconstructed by the DAC than the presence of higher frequencies.

I keep meaning to do a blind test by downsampling some 96/24 files, but any differences may have more to do with the downsampling algorithm (sox) and the DACs available to me.

[bigshot]

Why would dogs have hearing up to 60 kHz if there is nothing to hear above 16 kHz

Try as I might, I can't seem to get my dog to listen to orchestral music. I put on Beethoven and she goes straight to sleep in my lap.

[jut1972]

if anyone is interested in seeing if they can hear any difference between 16 and 24 bit

http://www.bowers-wilkins.co.uk/Society_of_Sound/Society_of_Sound/Music/download-lossless-sound.html

register for a trial account and you can download a few files to have a play.  It's a great service by the way.

[Parsifal]

Try as I might, I can't seem to get my dog to listen to orchestral music. I put on Beethoven and she goes straight to sleep in my lap.

To your dog, with its extended frequency sensitivity, your state-of-the-art stereo sounds like a cheap AM radio. 

[bigshot]

She can save up her dog biscuits and buy her own stereo!

[jut1972]

She can save up her dog biscuits and buy her own stereo!

It's a myth dogs like high frequencies.  They prefer woofers.

#getscoat

[Parsifal]

I do have the impression that pure DSD recordings tend to sound good, and now I think I know why.  The PCM data is a very direct mathematical representation of the audio waveform, in contrast with the DSD data.  As a result, software for mixing, performing frequency equalization, compressing or otherwise manipulating audio signals typically operate on PCM data.  So I suspect pure DSD recordings sound good because if they have not been converted to PCM they have not been processed.  The sound on the disc is very close to a pure microphone feed.

[Baroque Obama]

if anyone is interested in seeing if they can hear any difference between 16 and 24 bit

http://www.bowers-wilkins.co.uk/Society_of_Sound/Society_of_Sound/Music/download-lossless-sound.html

register for a trial account and you can download a few files to have a play.  It's a great service by the way.

Playing a 24 bit file from your a doesn't mean that you are playing it in 24 bit. First, your sound card should support it. Then you should enable 24 bit and the right sampling rate. Many media players that can play 24 bit files (foobar) and sound cards are capable of converting 24 bit files to 16 bit on-the-go. So you would think that you are hearing 24 bit but you will be listening to 16 bit. The trick in sound systems is the limit is your lowest component, not the highest.
24 bit won't make a lot of different in hearing quality for pop or rock music but true 24 bit classical music sound makes a huge difference in hearing the dynamics. Make sure that your system supports 24 bit in every component. If the depth is 24 bit, the sampling rate shouldn't not increase the quality of what you hear over 44.1 kilohertz.

[Baroque Obama]

The trouble is your handy chart may well have been made with conventional audio equipment which is insensitive to sound above 16 kHz.   Why would dogs have hearing up to 60 kHz if there is nothing to hear above 16 kHz?

The reason audio reproduction above 20 kHz is not useful is because the human ear can't detect it, not because the sound is not there.

Ear is not the only organ to detect sound. Skin plays a role, too. In addition to this, I recommend you to probe the effects of infrasonics in humans, too. The fun way to begin should be googling its utilization in the movie 'Paranormal Activity'.