Audio Formats - What Does What and What It All Means

Ed Selley

There are more formats, codecs and buzzwords around audio than ever before - we try and hack through the mire to give you the basics.
Read the article.

Gordon2147

Hi Ed
Thanks for the run through, appears I am familiar with this motley crew. I prefer to use WAV for CD rips, just so I have everything, not that there is a significantly discernible difference to FLAC. Not particularly fussed about metadata, I generally browse the web when listening to music.

A question for you, I didn't think Apt-X is a format, I thought it was a transmission method, could you enlighten me on that.

RichardG

DVD-A could carry 192/24 over stereo I recall.

Shame that format bombed.  I've got quite a few that I still play via an early Pioneer universal player which hasn't failed me in 15 years of use!

dannnielll

Minor correction.  It is high data rate MP3 etc that has " not a significantly discernible difference " to WAV. In the case of FLAC there is no difference to WAV ... It is the difference between the weight of a  first edition hardback novel and the paperback version. .. MP3 on the other hand,is the abridged Readers Digest version..all the main plots are there, but the subtle interplay between minor characters omitted.
There is one improvement that WAV has over FLAC... It is more universal

dannnielll

Ed is correct,  from my reading LDAC and Apt-X do modify the content of the higher frequency components by reducing the resolution ,in addition to doing some FLAC like compression,so they would be distinct formats. Apparently with a Redbook CD the highest speed LDAC can just get bye without reducing resolution,but beyond 16 bit 44k or if the transmission rates are compromised, it progressively removes hf resolution

SonOfSJ

@Ed Selley I don't really use the various audio formats (at home I either listen to the radio or television or play Blu-rays) and I have no mobile devices, but I'm sure that there are many people who will find the article very useful as a reference. Thank you.

addyeddy

Big fan of Blu Ray audio, SACD and DVD-A here. I can really tell a difference with any of them over an ordinary CD, and some of the surround mixes created for these formats are wonderful. Lucky to have an Oppo that will play them all.

Jokerr

Totally superb Article.

After many years of trying different Formats to me I decided on AIFF. I ripped all my CD’s in AIFF and very happy with it. AIFF to my ears sounds the same as WAV and FLAC, but much better than AAC or ALAC.

Sufc1989

MP3 320k is what I download for my music. Sounds good on all devices, and not much difference between CD for my ears. I do use this format when I’m playing out if there aren’t any 1s and 2s available for my vinyl!

Gordon2147

Thanks for the reply dannnielll
It seems I have confused the meaning of Format and transmission method. I was expecting to read that I could store a file in an "Apt-X" format with a suffix such as MP3 and FLAC have (.mp3/.flac for example), and as such Apt-X is an on the fly format as it compresses as it receives data that is then transmitted using bluetooth?
If I have got that wrong would appreciate a source I could go to read up on it.

As I understood it LDAC tops out at around 990 Kb/s, so it has to remove something from the data it receives however it is still going to sound good in comparison to other algorithms over bluetooth.

All the best