http://archimago.blogspot.com/2025/03/hdmi-musings-high-speed-cables-data.html Archimago's Musings A 'more objective' take for Rational Audiophiles. Among other topics! X/Twitter: @Archimago E-Mail: archimagosmusings(at)outlook.com [Some items linked to affiliate accounts - I may receive gift certs from qualifying purchases.] Saturday, 1 March 2025 HDMI Musings: high speed cables, data rates, YCbCr color subsampling, Dolby Vision MEL/FEL, optical cables and +5V injection. [HDMI] Hey folks, for this post, I thought it would be good to dive a little more into the world of AV technologies after discussing the nVidia Shield TV Pro last week. While "classic" audiophile technology (ie. standard hi-fi analog and digital 2-channel stereo without special DSP advancements) has matured nicely already, this isn't quite the case with modern digital video tech. While many (probably most) features have settled, we can see ongoing evolution of the High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) standard to be mindful of - for example the recent announcement of HDMI 2.2 at CES2025 expanding capabilities well beyond the needs of today. As usual, it'll take time (years) for this standard to be incorporated into TVs and source devices like GPUs (latest nVidia RTX 5080/5090 are HDMI 2.1b) or something like VR devices being at the forefront of potential generational gains. For more than 20 years, with each significant revision of the HDMI standard, we're seeing doubling of data speed with HDMI 2.2 now aiming at just shy of 100 gigabits-per-second (96Gbps), twice of the 48Gbps bit rate in current HDMI 2.1 products. This recent update makes HDMI the fastest of all currently-announced consumer Audio-Video connection standards, the one wire that basically does it all - hi-res video (with high dynamic and frame rate), hi-res audio (up to 32 PCM channels at 24/192, with DSD to 8-channel of DSD256), HDCP copy protection, audio return channel, even ethernet (100Mbps). This level of sophistication (and licensing costs) could make it difficult for small companies with limited R&D capabilities to get in the game with custom designs. This is probably in part why the cottage industry audiophile companies rarely use HDMI other than selling overprices cables (like AudioQuest). Plus frankly, basic 2-channel audio doesn't need the higher technical capabilities anyway (which is basically what Paul McGowan says). Let's run through a few thoughts about HDMI that might be good to know as general knowledge as tech enthusiasts. I'll provide a few links of interest, touch on tech stuff like color spaces and subsampling, and things you might want to try if you're running longer high-speed HDMI connections and potentially noticing issues. I. High speed HDMI, the variants HDMI cables have basically looked the same since their release in 2002. They all have 19 pins on the connectors: [HDMI] Source. For HDMI compliance, the +5V pin sink on the "sink" end should not draw more than 55mA. And voltage should be regulated between 4.7-5.3V (~250mW). HDMI2.1b now has a HDMI Cable Power feature to provide up to 300mA (1.5W) for active cables. However, they need to conform to specifications in order to accurately pass along the data at high gigabits/second speeds based on TMDS signaling (note the 4 differential TMDS signal pin pairs). It is in these HDMI cables where we see companies apply techniques to minimize interference (like crosstalk, EMI), optimize conductivity (high purity copper wiring), improve durability, and use stringent manufacturing standards to achieve verifiably reliable performance. We can look at the official HDMI Cables Resource page to see the various cable classifications. As of this writing in early 2025, we have 3 cable speed grades: HDMI Standard (10.2 Gbps), HDMI High Speed (18 Gbps), and HDMI Ultra High Speed (48Gbps). Higher speed cables are backwards compatible with the slower ones. With the introduction of HDMI 2.2, we'll be seeing "Ultra96" cables certified for 96Gbps coming. Certification is important! The bulk of these gigabits-per-second communications for audio and video are unidirectional and non-error-corrected which is why one can see data errors show up in the image, or worse, disconnection if the data loss is severe (data errors will show up in a form similar to discussion of poor USB transmission years ago). One technical detail worth noting is that the Gbps numbers above signify "bit rate" which is higher than the actual "data rate" (often ~80% of bit rate). Data rate is the actual information passed along from transmitting to receiving device to be processed. So the actual data rates look like this for the various HDMI standards: HDMI 1.0-1.2 (2002) 3.96Gbps HDMI 1.3-1.4 (2006) 8.16Gbps HDMI 2.0 (2013) 14.40Gbps HDMI 2.1 (2017) 41.89Gbps HDMI 2.2 (2025) 83.78Gbps (presumably HDMI 2.1 FRL-like) For those who want to see the nitty-gritty of HDMI data rate and these calculations, make sure to head over to this phenomenal LTT online calculator. Based on the data rate, this is how we know what screen resolutions and framerates the source device (like your UHD BluRay player, computer, AppleTV, nVidia Shield TV) and display can handle. In general, a rule of thumb is that if you want modern 4K/60fps HDR10/ Dolby Vision, HDMI 2.0 will be enough. Above that, use HDMI 2.1 for 4K/120fps and 8K/60Hz. And if one day we need 12K/60fps, there's support in HDMI 2.2. [For fun, let's think about 12K resolution. About 11,520 x 6,480 pixels for typical 16:9 aspect ratio scaled up from our usual 4K of 3840x2160. That's 74.65 megapixels per frame. If this is used in a home theater, and we sit a generous 12' away from the screen, "retina resolution" will be achieved with a screen 550" diagonal optimally! The TV would be 40' wide x 22.5' high - billboard-sized! Alternatively, say we use a very large 150" diagonal screen (about 12.5' wide), we'll need to sit 3.2' away to get within the retinal resolution threshold of a 12K image. For reference, the largest flat panel TV I've seen these days would be the 115" TCL QM89 which currently goes for US$20k. [12K] 12K resolution? Gotta have it! Have fun with the retinal screen calculator here, play around with the numbers.] II. High Speed HDMI cables... Unlike "high end audiophile cables" where even with US$1000 asking price, there are no clear standards or certifications for quality (hence mostly a form of snake oil), HDMI cables do have a certification process. While companies will sell cables claiming to support standards like 48Gbps HDMI 2.1, look for evidence that the cable has been certified. It's usually not difficult to achieve rated speed for short cables like 6' and below. But if you are going higher like 10' or 15' wires, save yourself some headaches and buy the certified stuff. Recently I needed 15' of HDMI Ultra High Speed wire (HDMI 2.1) for my nVidia RTX 4090 GPU to 65" TV set-up and I can vouch that the Monoprice 8K Certified Ultra High Speed HDMI 15' (US$27, CAD$33) worked out well: [Monoprice] How do we confirm the product is certified? Look for the label on the package with the hologram: [Monoprice] Scan the QR code on your phone and you should be able to confirm that the product has indeed been through the certification process off the HDMI.org site: [HDMI] While I'm sure anything can be faked, it'd be pretty silly to fake a label like this for a $30 product! As usual, make sure to buy from a reputable company that's not peddling in snake oil or "luxury" stuff unless that's what you're going for. This cable worked well for me with stable 4K/120fps over 15' (3840x2160, 120fps, 10-bit color, lossless RGB = 32.3Gbps data rate). Being NEC CL3 rated for fire-resistance, this can be run behind the walls. One caveat about this cable is that the metal connector is very robust and that strain relief is stiff. Make sure you have about 3-4" clearance behind the connector on your TV or source device. I see Monoprice also sells the 8K Certified Braided Ultra HDMI cable which has a shorter connector and strain relief that will fit better in confined spaces / smaller devices. III. Video formats (RGB, YCbCr) and Compression A bit like audio where we have PCM and DSD encoding formats, in the video world the data can be transferred from your source (eg. UHD BluRay player, computer, streamer) to the receiver/screen encoded in different ways. Ultimately, all video is converted to RGB (red, green, blue - the three additive primary colors) by the time the light is created on the screen. However, due to historical reasons back to the days of black & white TV, video encoding has typically been in the "YCbCr" (also known as "YCC" or "YUV") consumer video format: Y = Luma (the B&W brightness level) CbCr = Chroma - blue and red "difference from neutral" Since Cb and Cr refer to blue and red deviations from perceptual neutral (grayscale), the higher these values, the more color shifts these values represent. See here for the conversion formula between YCbCr to RGB. Since our vision is most sensitive to the brightness (luminance) signal, we can keep that resolution high but drop some of those color (chroma) signals for "lossy" compression which can still look very good in natural scenes. Compression is most noticeable on a computer when reading the fine details in colored static text. This color compression is represented by notations like 4:2:2, and 4:2:0 to indicate "subsampling" or "downsampling". Here's what those 3 numbers are referring to in the chroma subsampling nomenclature: [Chroma] 4:4:4 is uncompressed - for every 4 horizontal B&W/luma pixels, we have corresponding 4 chroma values for the odd and even scanlines (you might recall the days we routinely used interlaced image formats where even and odd scanlines were displayed with each sweep of the CRT). We can "subsample" the color information down to 4:2:2 which means there's a 50% reduction (2 chroma for 4 luma samples) in the horizontal color values for both odd and even scanlines (1920x1080 screen resolution - 960x1080 color resolution). It might be surprising to know that almost all video including all your (UHD) BluRays and online streams have been compressed to 4:2:0; both a reduction in horizontal and vertical color resolution (1920x1080 screen resolution now becomes - 960x540 color resolution). Notice that the even scanlines contain no color information, rather it's interpolated from the odd scanlines. 4:2:0 contains only 25% of the color (chroma) information and requires ~50% of the overall data rate resulting in substantial data savings. [For an excellent detailed writeup to explore more of what those numbers represent with graphics, see Spears & Munsil's Choosing A Color Space, 2nd Edition.] Color values can be of different bit depth resolution - typically 8-bits in standard dynamic range, and 10-bits for HDR10 (high dynamic range). Dolby Vision is graded up to 12-bits with high dynamic range and dynamic metadata to allow greater tonal flexibility with changing scenes. Then there's also color gamut which is the description for the range of colors these numbers represent (we talked a little about this back in 2016 on 4K TVs): [Color] Note other terms like gamma correction/tone mapping, white point which we won't discuss here you might want to be familiar with. (image source) Standard HDTV uses the Rec.709/sRGB (gamma 2.2) gamut whereas UHD-4K/ HDR can encompass richer and deeper colors as per the larger Rec.2020 triangle above (also see Rec.2100 for HDR). Taken together, these color variables describe the "color space". There's obviously quite a bit of technical complexity here. Visual data encompasses more variables than the comparatively simple 2-channel audio data that audiophiles are used to (even DSD is probably easier to appreciate). IV. A little more about Dolby Vision (MEL/FEL) While there has been competition with HDR10+ (HDR 10 Plus), announced by Samsung and Amazon in 2017, the premier high dynamic range color format remains Dolby Vision which simply has significantly more content. Both of these systems allow dynamic tone mapping to be applied scene-by-scene (even frame-by-frame) which provides more subtle shading/coloring as compared to the static map applied throughout a movie with the base HDR10 profile available for all HDR displays. [An interesting aside, many displays such as projectors are not Dolby Vision capable. But you might be able to "fake it" using Low-Latency Dolby Vision (LLDV) using products like the HDFury Vertex2 - have a look at this article.] As we have seen over the years with audio technology, there are clearly diminishing returns as technology evolves. For example, the color bit depth (which refers to the number of shades of red/green/ blue) of our flat screen display panels remain at 10-bits/color currently (total 30-bits adding RGB). Like with audio where we can only appreciate very high dynamic range if we push up the volume to deafening levels (limit of the best DACs somewhere around 20-21-bits even with the best 24-bit or 32-bit data), so too with video panels. While our typical TV sets might average peak 1000 nits (an easier term to say than "candela/square meter") brightness, professional monitors like the Flanders Scientific XM312U capable of an advertised 5000 nits are still 10-bit panels and cost over $20k. So how bright do we want/need our displays to be? How many bits? For me, even a 500 nits TV in a dark room is enough viewing from about 10' away. As with hi-fi audio and the need for low ambient noise for best listening experience, likewise I can't imagine seriously enjoying high quality video unless the lights are turned down. [Great comparison article here between HDR10/HDR10+/Dolby Vision.] If you're wondering, Dolby Vision is able to deliver 12-bit color to your display over HDMI as 12-bit 4:2:2 YCbCr encapsulated into 8-bit/ color (24-bit total) RGB labeled as Rec.709. This data is then decoded in your DV-capable TV to its full 12-bit Rec.2100 glory. The data rate of 4K/60fps Dolby Vision therefore works out to 12.54Gbps, within the HDMI 2.0 maximum data rate of 14.4Gbps. True uncompressed 4K/60fps 12-bit RGB or 4:4:4 YCbCr will require over 18.5Gbps and thus HDMI 2.1 bandwidth would be required. One more thing about Dolby Vision for UHD BluRay connoisseurs - keep an eye out for Full Enhancement Layer (FEL, 12-bit) encoded discs as compared to standard Minimal Enhancement Layer (MEL, 10-bit) discs. Check out this list. Whether we can subjectively see a difference or not, 12-bits can objectively encode smoother gradients. FEL is available on favorites and interesting titles like Gladiator (2000), Forrest Gump (1994), Lord of War (2005), Saving Private Ryan (1998), Top Gun (1986), Back To The Future Trilogy (1985), Braveheart (1995), Watchmen: Ultimate Cut (2009), and Shutter Island (2010) if you're looking for examples. [Current video players like the nVidia Shield TV Pro (2019) and AppleTV 4K (latest 2022 model) will not decode the secondary Dolby Vision 12-bit Full Enhancement Layer. The only TV box I've seen that decodes UHD BluRay rips of Dolby Vision profile 7 with FEL is the Ugoos AM6B Plus TV Box (based on Amlogic S922X-J SoC, about US$190, CAD$270) using CoreELEC Kodi software. You might be able to find a better deal on AliExpress typically around US$160. A fun toy for you perfectionistic videophiles with ripped UHD BluRays libraries who don't mind a little DIY "hacking". ] Even though our display panels might be limited to 10-bits, that extra bit-depth data might still have some benefit in the display device to reduce banding according to Dolby (some debate here). Plus this is future-proof I suppose since the PQ transfer function is capable of luma up to 10,000 nits if ever we have displays capable of that kind of brightness - not sure we need such a thing! V. Optical HDMI for longer lengths and +5V Injector for marginal connections Even though the Monoprice 15' HDMI 2.1 cable discussed above works well for me, sometimes you might want even longer cables like say 20+ feet. For those circumstances, you should look into fiber optic and active cables/extenders. For my basement movie room, I've been using the inexpensive Ablink 30' Optical HDMI 2.1 cable (about CAD$50) which has worked well. I see many brands with similar designs like this, or this. Note that the "optical" connection refers to the high speed audio/video data transmission. Within these cables there are still copper wires for power and features like the ethernet line. Beyond length extension, another nice thing about optical HDMI is that the cables are thinner so easier to route down the conduits I installed behind the wall to hide wires. One does have to be careful not to damage the cable with excessive bending. Note that optical cables are genuinely directional (unlike expensive analog audio cables ) so make sure you have the ends for the source and display connected appropriately. When using an active optical cable where the HDMI port has to supply power to the transceiver module, if you ever run into unexpected issues like the monitor losing sync going intermittently blank or notice data errors (pixel corruption, color banding), it could be because the HDMI port isn't supplying an adequately stable 5V to the transceiver (current limit for HDMI compliance is only 55mA for the sink). In these cases, you could try using a 5V USB injector (about $10), assuming you have a USB port nearby: [5V] If you don't have a USB port easily available, this one had its own AC adaptor. Plug that into the source HDMI side and use power from the USB output (eg. 5V/1A from my Integra DRX-8.4 USB port) instead of just drawing from HDMI pin 18. Unless you have very long cables, for the most part, you should be OK but it's a good tool to consider for trouble shooting. [5V] +5V injector from USB port connected to optical 30' HDMI cable. Beyond the optical HDMI cables, there are active non-optical cables like this Cable Matters Active 48Gbps HDMI (again, mind the direction), or coupling active signal booster (Cable Matters, StarTech) as alternate means of extending range. One more thing about power. Large screen TVs can suck up quite a bit of energy (150-200W isn't unusual with 4K UHD displays) with HDR turned on and the screen showing bright content. I've had situations where I plugged the TV into a power bar connected to other devices causing voltage droops that can result in loss of HDMI connection. The simple solution is to plug your TV into its own outlet. Don't share it with your AV receiver or subwoofer(s) which might also suck a few 100 watts. [The] VI. Concluding thoughts... Yeah, I know, HDMI technology isn't the usual stuff audiophiles think about; but I think we should. As modern audiophiles of the 21st Century, I think we need to appreciate audio as just one member of the family of multimedia technologies with converging qualitative goals toward higher fidelity reproduction. Whether it's the evolution of a high bandwidth interface, better recording capabilities, improved digital-to-analog conversion, evolution in storage technology, these things will have impacts across audio and visual digital media. Broader knowledge of current objective performance helps protect us from purely subjective foolish claims. Furthermore, if we seriously want to push audio reproduction forward, as I discussed a year ago in my article on Fidelity, Immersion, and Realism (FIR), we need to consider multichannel audio to better re-create realistic sound fields and the most common interface that this rides on is of course HDMI. HDMI is commonly available, there's already a lot of content, and does so at resolutions without lossy compromises thanks to these phenomenal bitrates. HDMI for home entertainment is positioned as the one cable/interface to use until maybe a day when wireless technologies might more conveniently take over. As I suggested above, I suspect the latest and greatest HDMI 2.2 will take a bit of time to be adopted since many of the latest features are simply not needed for most applications today (even ultra-ultra-high-res 8K/60fps displays are fine with HDMI 2.1). It's good that the hardware standard is available to encourage creativity and opportunities for content creators though! Some technologies will never need very high speed interfaces. For example hi-res 2-channel stereo audio hasn't needed to go beyond USB 2.0 (480Mbps) DACs even though we're up to USB 4 now (20-120Gbps!). Ultimately, the human sensory systems are finite and can be saturated quite easily by modern digital technology. Diminishing returns with higher data rates whether with audio or video is simply to be expected. I think it's great to be living at a time where the evolution is still happening quickly, literally before our eyes! I think that's all I have to say about HDMI and related topics for now. There is something else which I'll save for its own post next time. Hope you're all doing well as we enter March and the Spring weather ahead in the Northern Hemisphere! New music for the week: Panda Bear's "Praise" off Sinister Grift (2025, DR6 2-channel stereo, DR11 multichannel/Atmos). Appropriate album title given recent political developments!? Alt. rock with a bit of the Beach Boys vibe to my ears: And for some retro-remix pop, here's Roxette with Galantis' single " Fading Like A Flower" (again, very cool in multichannel); enjoy: Posted by Archimago's Musings at 10:09:00 Email ThisBlogThis!Share to XShare to FacebookShare to Pinterest Labels: 4K Video, Diminishing Returns, Dolby Vision, Fidelity, HDMI, Home Theater, Multichannel audio 8 comments: 1. [blogger_lo] Blogue a part2 March 2025 at 05:48 Thanks for this excellent update on HDMI. The modern HDMI signal could support up to 32 ch but only the 8ch of LPCM. Considering the venue of ATMOS, we need at least 12ch, 16 ch will be even better. At my job, we used an HDMI to AoIP converter, to bring the gaming console 8ch ( 7.1) over audio over IP to our monitoring system. ReplyDelete Replies 1. [FireWizard] Archimago's Musings2 March 2025 at 13:47 Interesting Blogue, I thought since HDMI 2.0, there were 32 potential PCM channels that could be supported by devices as part of the standard but as far as I am aware, there are no current consumer-level devices that expose more than 7.1 LPCM input and I don't think I've seen Windows support something like 7.1.4 to discretely address height channels. I might be mistaken and would love to know if there is such a thing as a receiver that opens up >7.1 on the HDMI and if computers can access those additional channels! Delete Replies Reply Reply 2. [blogger_lo] Dan3 March 2025 at 06:19 Thanks amigo. This was interesting. It's convinced me even more that 4K UHD Blu-ray is a waste of money. I do think HDR is a nice upgrade, but it's not worth the investment needed for HDR. I'm happy with 1080p Blu-ray. In Britain, second-hand Blu-ray discs can be bought for as little as PS1, up to around PS4. One day, I'd like to upgrade my system to a 5.1.4 setup. I would call myself a film fan, but I only have a handful of favourites--one of which is Watchmen, which doesn't have a Dolby Atmos mix. The film industry has done absolutely everything possible with 4k UHD Blu-ray to make it as appealing as dog shit. ReplyDelete Replies 1. [FireWizard] Archimago's Musings4 March 2025 at 10:20 I hear what you're saying Dan, I think with the fast moving world of streaming and the availability of streamed 4K with multichannel audio including Atmos (and DTS-X), the idea of buying discs - especially more expensive ones over BluRay - is a tough one. I'm quite selective about the discs I buy and will only go for the ones I think might have the technical resolution for UHD BluRay to be better. This is why back in early 2018 I made a series of posts comparing 1080P with 4K (like this on Interstellar among others). The reality is that unless one just wants to see film gain better , I don't bother with UHD for 35mm films. Only worthwhile IMO for those filmed at 70mm (like Dunkirk) or if it's filmed digitally beyond 1080P (like Blade Runner 2049). HDR is noticeable of course. To me it's a lot like CD-resolution vs. Hi-Res but IMO more worth it than hi-res audio because with a big enough screen and HDR, you'll see the difference. 1080P is certainly good enough to enjoy the movie; but if I want to own something that's the "reference" in my collection, then UHD BluRays can't be beat for collectors! Delete Replies Reply 2. [blogger_lo] Dan4 March 2025 at 13:40 Hi amigo. Glad you enjoy 4K UHD Blu-ray. I can't justify the investment--I've tried my best, but I just can't do it. I should have made it clear in my first post: to get full 4K UHD capabilities, I'm looking at about PS200 for the player, around PS19 per disc, about PS200 for each height ceiling speaker, and an amp with nine channels costing around PS600. This is just a rough estimate. The gains of 4K HDR and Dolby Atmos don't justify the cost. I'm happy with lossy 4K HDR streaming, I also think the internet will keep getting better. It won't be long before it's possible to stream lossless 4K HDR Dolby Atmos videos. Delete Replies Reply 3. [Fire] Archimago5 March 2025 at 18:53 I hear ya Dan, The numbers do add up and certainly don't blame you for not seeing adequate value given what's needed! As usual, all this stuff have diminishing returns at some point and if one already has a good multichannel system and capable display and perfectly fine BluRay player, already all the pieces are there to enjoy the movies! Cheers! Delete Replies Reply Reply 3. [blogger_lo] Henry Wilson5 March 2025 at 13:06 I had similar thoughts to Blogue, I would like to see more LPCM channels standard over HDMI. Obviously 7.1 is very usable, but for a standard that goes 8 years between revisions I should have liked to see more channels to better unlock spatial audio this time around. Devices like the miniDSP Flex HTx are creeping toward obsoleting home theatre processors provided the source can decode Dolby/DTS and output multichannel LPCM. I'm sure you knew this already, its one of the main reasons I've considered products like the Ugoos you mention. Having the source, AVR/HTP, and TV all need Dolby licensing is so restrictive (and is hard to read as anything other than greedy triple-dipping by Dolby). Would MUCH rather see a blossoming of configurations possible where only the source/player needs these Dolby renderers, so the downstream products (DSP/DAC, TV) can be "dumb" focusing on doing just one or two things really well. Suspect I'm preaching to the choir here, but thought it was worth reiterating. ReplyDelete Replies 1. [Fire] Archimago5 March 2025 at 19:14 Totally makes sense Henry, In my discussions with DAC manufacturers, I have enquired about things like high quality multichannel devices that can allow more flexibility (with high resolution of course), but most of the time the response I get is that the market is too small, not enough interest, etc. Maybe one day if more audiophile hobbyists get into multichannel, we might get greater interest from manufacturers. Yeah, the companies like Dolby would of course love to extract as much $$$ as they can, keeping the audio data wrapped within their proprietary system with licensing fees. I haven't looked into this more but I believe Chris Connaker on Audiophile Style continues to decode Atmos through the Dolby Reference Player as he discussed. Costs $400/year if one keeps the subscription though. That miniDSP Flex HTx looks like a great DAC! 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Newer Post Older Post Home Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom) [INS::INS] Search This Blog [ ] [Search] Translate Blog Archive * V 2025 (11) + V March 2025 (3) o MUSINGS: Trust, empirical testing, and evidence in... o High Frame Rate (HFR) movies: time to overcome res... o HDMI Musings: high speed cables, data rates, YCbCr... + > February 2025 (4) + > January 2025 (4) * > 2024 (46) + > December 2024 (3) + > November 2024 (4) + > October 2024 (4) + > September 2024 (4) + > August 2024 (5) + > July 2024 (3) + > June 2024 (4) + > May 2024 (4) + > April 2024 (3) + > March 2024 (4) + > February 2024 (4) + > January 2024 (4) * > 2023 (44) + > December 2023 (4) + > November 2023 (4) + > October 2023 (4) + > September 2023 (3) + > August 2023 (4) + > July 2023 (4) + > June 2023 (3) + > May 2023 (5) + > April 2023 (3) + > March 2023 (4) + > February 2023 (3) + > January 2023 (3) * > 2022 (52) + > December 2022 (4) + > November 2022 (4) + > October 2022 (5) + > September 2022 (4) + > August 2022 (5) + > July 2022 (6) + > June 2022 (4) + > May 2022 (4) + > April 2022 (5) + > March 2022 (3) + > February 2022 (4) + > January 2022 (4) * > 2021 (53) + > December 2021 (4) + > November 2021 (5) + > October 2021 (6) + > September 2021 (4) + > August 2021 (4) + > July 2021 (4) + > June 2021 (4) + > May 2021 (5) + > April 2021 (4) + > March 2021 (4) + > February 2021 (4) + > January 2021 (5) * > 2020 (48) + > December 2020 (3) + > November 2020 (3) + > October 2020 (5) + > September 2020 (3) + > August 2020 (5) + > July 2020 (3) + > June 2020 (4) + > May 2020 (4) + > April 2020 (5) + > March 2020 (6) + > February 2020 (4) + > January 2020 (3) * > 2019 (51) + > December 2019 (3) + > November 2019 (5) + > October 2019 (4) + > September 2019 (7) + > August 2019 (4) + > July 2019 (3) + > June 2019 (5) + > May 2019 (4) + > April 2019 (5) + > March 2019 (3) + > February 2019 (4) + > January 2019 (4) * > 2018 (47) + > December 2018 (4) + > November 2018 (3) + > October 2018 (2) + > September 2018 (5) + > August 2018 (4) + > July 2018 (4) + > June 2018 (4) + > May 2018 (4) + > April 2018 (5) + > March 2018 (3) + > February 2018 (4) + > January 2018 (5) * > 2017 (46) + > December 2017 (3) + > November 2017 (3) + > October 2017 (3) + > September 2017 (5) + > August 2017 (3) + > July 2017 (4) + > June 2017 (4) + > May 2017 (4) + > April 2017 (5) + > March 2017 (3) + > February 2017 (4) + > January 2017 (5) * > 2016 (46) + > December 2016 (4) + > November 2016 (3) + > October 2016 (4) + > September 2016 (4) + > August 2016 (4) + > July 2016 (3) + > June 2016 (4) + > May 2016 (3) + > April 2016 (4) + > March 2016 (4) + > February 2016 (5) + > January 2016 (4) * > 2015 (51) + > December 2015 (4) + > November 2015 (3) + > October 2015 (2) + > September 2015 (5) + > August 2015 (5) + > July 2015 (6) + > June 2015 (5) + > May 2015 (4) + > April 2015 (4) + > March 2015 (4) + > February 2015 (4) + > January 2015 (5) * > 2014 (49) + > December 2014 (4) + > November 2014 (2) + > October 2014 (4) + > September 2014 (4) + > August 2014 (4) + > July 2014 (5) + > June 2014 (4) + > May 2014 (2) + > April 2014 (4) + > March 2014 (7) + > February 2014 (5) + > January 2014 (4) * > 2013 (65) + > December 2013 (3) + > November 2013 (2) + > October 2013 (4) + > September 2013 (4) + > August 2013 (2) + > July 2013 (3) + > June 2013 (8) + > May 2013 (10) + > April 2013 (6) + > March 2013 (4) + > February 2013 (18) + > January 2013 (1) * > 2012 (2) + > December 2012 (1) + > May 2012 (1) [INS::INS] Total Views: [INS::INS] Most read over last year: * [24bits] 24-Bit vs. 16-Bit Audio Test - Part II: RESULTS & CONCLUSIONS * [Which] Do CD and lossless streaming sound the same? A response to ana [dia]log video. And on excessive complications in the audiophile culture. * [Fosi] Part II: Fosi Audio V3 Mono Amp; Class D + PFFB, TI TPA3255 - Retail box with single 48V/10A power supply and filter. [Power, Distortion, and Subjective Impressions.] And on rejoicing over "Solved Problems" in audio. * [Bluetooth] Part II: Comparison of Bluetooth Fidelity - AAC encoder quality (Android 10 & 13, Windows 11, Apple iPhones & Mac) * [Archimago] "High-End" DAC Blind Listening Results - PART II: Results & Analyses * [PCM] Expensive Audio & Medical Quackery: Mark Levinson promoting Daniel Hertz "C Wave Technology". And the Maria amps. [Including company response.] * [nVidia] nVidia Shield TV Pro (2019 version), still relevant in 2025! A listen to Auro-3D & Auro-Matic Upsampler. * [Be] MUSINGS: Myths, cliches and Hi-Fi+'s Taiko Audio SGM Extreme computer review. A hypothetical fast, fanless audio computer build. And "channels/bit-depth/samplerate" labeling convention - a suggestion. * [3e] Part I: 3e Audio - A5 Stereo and A7 Mono Class D + PFFB, TI TPA3251/3255 Amplifiers - Features and initial measurements. * [3e] Part II: 3e Audio - A5 Stereo and A7 Mono Class D + PFFB, TI TPA3251/3255 Amplifiers - power, distortion, and the subjective. (And a few photos for Swifties.) [INS::INS] Labels / Topics: Media criticism (80) Computer Audio (48) DAC (48) MQA (48) Listening Test (43) Snake Oil (37) Audiophile Philosophy (33) Multichannel audio (30) Hi-Res Audio (29) Audiophile psychology (28) Digital Filters (27) Amplifier (25) Audio Cables (24) Objectivism vs. Subjectivism (19) Audio Shows (17) Digital Room Correction (17) Vinyl (17) 4K Video (16) How-To (14) Jitter (14) Measurement Technique (14) headphones (14) Class D (13) Ethernet (13) Speakers (13) Lossy CODEC (12) Upsampling (12) Apple (11) Audiophile Network (11) DIY (11) S.M.S.L. 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