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More => Old Versions => Media Center 17 => Topic started by: Metalman on May 16, 2012, 08:50:18 pm

Title: the difference between pre-upsampled and real time upsampling
Post by: Metalman on May 16, 2012, 08:50:18 pm

Hi everyone i am trying some upsampling for improved sound quality and was reading an article in TAS and i am confused. It is from the Absolute Sound's series of articles on computer audio. They address the issue of "pre-upsampling" vs "real-time upsampling" of audio data. It was clear from their report and confirmed by their own listening tests using MC that pre-upsampling 44kHz/16-bit CD quality files, regardless of the original format, resulted in an overall improvement in the sound compared with real-time upsampling.  So my question is how do i set MC to do the pre-upsampling? thanks!!   ?

Title: Re: the difference between pre-upsampled and real time upsampling
Post by: Maxxwire on May 17, 2012, 05:55:42 am

http://i468.photobucket.com/albums/rr44/Maxxwire_Photos/AQ/JRiverR8Brain_Banner.jpg
You can use the free r8brain Sample Rate Converter (http://www.voxengo.com/product/r8brain/) to pre-upsample your Music and then play it in JRiver, but as a result the pre-upsampled files will take additional space on the drive...

http://i468.photobucket.com/albums/rr44/Maxxwire_Photos/AQ/JRiverR8Brain_X3_F_.jpg

Title: Re: the difference between pre-upsampled and real time upsampling
Post by: Alex B on May 17, 2012, 06:27:20 am

metalman,

What makes you think that upsampling would improve audio quality? Do you have a specific audio quality problem that seems to be cured when you set a higher sample rate?

Title: Re: the difference between pre-upsampled and real time upsampling
Post by: fooze on May 17, 2012, 06:35:35 am

Can you link to this report?

Title: Re: the difference between pre-upsampled and real time upsampling
Post by: JimH on May 17, 2012, 07:28:24 am

Quote from: fooze on May 17, 2012, 06:35:35 am

Can you link to this report?

I don't believe it was ever published online.  More here under "Reviews".

http://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Audiophile_Info

Title: Re: the difference between pre-upsampled and real time upsampling
Post by: fooze on May 17, 2012, 07:59:03 am

Quote from: metalman on May 16, 2012, 08:50:18 pm

It is from the Absolute Sound's series of articles on computer audio. They address the issue of "pre-upsampling" vs "real-time upsampling" of audio data. It was clear from their report and confirmed by their own listening tests using MC that pre-upsampling 44kHz/16-bit CD quality files, regardless of the original format, resulted in an overall improvement in the sound compared with real-time upsampling.

Quote from: http://www.audiostream.com/content/dbpoweramps-flac-lossless-uncompressed-wish-come-true#comment-492937

The first is that I read the Absolute Sound's series of articles on computer audio. They address the issue of "pre-upsampling" vs "real-time upsampling" of audio data. It was clear from their report and confirmed by my own listening tests that pre-upsampling 44kHz/16-bit CD quality files, regardless of the original format, resulted in an overall improvement in the sound compared with real-time upsampling.

Why are these so similar?  ?

Title: Re: the difference between pre-upsampled and real time upsampling
Post by: Matt on May 17, 2012, 08:38:29 am

There's no reason to pre-upsample vs real-time upsample.  The only thing that matters is the upsampling algorithm.

Media Center has an audiophile grade upsampler.  It sounds transparent and instrument tests very well.

There's no easy way to explain why upsampling would help sound unless you're overcoming a shortcoming of your DAC.  So I don't recommend it with good hardware, but listen for yourself and pick what you like best.