[meat01]

  SO WHO ELSE IS BUMMED APPLE MUSIC WON'T BE HI-REZ?
 
Or is this whole damn thread just touchy guys with an axe to grind against lossless? Cripes, after all this I'm having a hard time fathoming the millions of threads revolving around which DSD ready DAC/amp to buy... How about some of those people join the discussion... Anybody think Apple will change things up and add ALAC next year or something? Thoughts on what this means for the rumored Touch 6g, hardware wise?..

 
Look at Apple's market.  People who just want to hear music out of their iPhone with Beats Headphones or Apple Earpods, not audiophiles.  Obviously the market for Touches is even dwindling, so they haven't made a new one in a couple of years.  Most people use their iPhone and do not understand why you would want an MP3 player AND a phone.  
 
Most of the people here, bash Apple products for their sound quality, so audiophiles are not making adding as much as you would like to think to their bottom line.
 
I have a Touch and I like it a lot.  It sounds great, but it can't drive all of my headphones and some IEMs to their potential.  The Touch is a great DAP, but I have to use iTunes and it doesn't have expandable memory.
 
Apple has a huge marketing department.  If hi rez music would make them more money, they would do it.  Most people can not tell the difference, so it would be a waste. It was a much better decision for them to buy Beats.  You and I may think Beats sound like crap, but there are a ton of people buying them making Apple money.
 
The millions of threads about DACs and DSD is a very small amount of people here on Head-Fi, compared to the general population, who couldn't give a rat's ***** what DAC it uses.  Head-Fi does not represent the average music listener.
 
Audiophiles may spend a lot of money, but they are a very small piece of the pie for Apple's bottom line.  

 

[Steve Eddy]

So are you suggesting I'm lying? If you had been there, and unable to hear a difference, I would have suggested you give up audio for gardening.

Not lying. Just human. Our subjective sense of hearing is embarrassingly unreliable and prone to all manner of subconscious biases that can cause us to perceive differences even when there are none, like tha photographs in the freezer bit, which I am not joking about. Dave and Carol Clark of Positive Feedback Online have photos of themselves and their audio gear in their freezers, and claim that it makes their audio systems sound better.

se

 

[money4me247]

not sure where to post this fun article, but I figured this thread works: https://www.yahoo.com/tech/s/beats-fools-thinking-headphones-high-end-luxurious-133039242.html
 
about beats.

 

[groovyd]

I ripped my old CD collection to ALAC and then resampled those files to 256k AAC for portable use eventually submitting the whole thing to iMatch in which I was given upgraded copies of all my old music.  It all sounds good and just how I always remembered it and I doubt I could actually AB the difference between what I listen to now and the ALAC or even some higher quality source say 96/24 etc. but perhaps I could if the alternate source was just a better mastering to begin with to me that would be ideal regardless of the end format.  In any case I do wish Apple upped the game and delivered uncompressed audio to their iMatch crowd or when purchasing albums directly, I mean at the end of the day what I used to purchase was indeed uncompressed audio on those CDs and really I get the sentiment about wanting something like that for purely an archival purpose or to be able to resample to other lossy formats at lower bit rates with less re-conversion loss.
 
I also just like the idea of getting something with a higher spec even then what I can distinguish just because it makes me feel better and that all the other things I spend my energy focused on optimizing in my quest for great sound such as which amp, dac, headphones, cable, whatever then feel justified.  I am all for it Apple, please do us audio-centric OC types a favor and give us something greater even if it does not affect your bottom line.

 

[mellio]

Not lying. Just human. Our subjective sense of hearing is embarrassingly unreliable and prone to all manner of subconscious biases that can cause us to perceive differences even when there are none, like tha photographs in the freezer bit, which I am not joking about. Dave and Carol Clark of Positive Feedback Online have photos of themselves and their audio gear in their freezers, and claim that it makes their audio systems sound better.

se

So while I'm not lying, I'm seeing unicorns? Geez.

 

[Steve Eddy]

So while I'm not lying, I'm seeing unicorns? Geez.

If you don't understand how human subjective perception works and how unreliable it can be, you really shouldn't be discussing the topic.

se

 

[Earbones]

If you don't understand how human subjective perception works and how unreliable it can be, you really shouldn't be discussing the topic.

se

And if you can't be civil and maintain a friendly discourse, you shouldn't be discussing any topic. Seriously now, enough with the confrontational patronizing schtick. I'm sure you're not snarky to the guy at the post office or the grocery store or whatever, are you? 

 

[mellio]

Yeah. The discussion would be simpler if you just admitted your unwillingness or inability to answer the facts I presented in my several posts, for instance the fact that in two instances, in a lossy file, the melodic component in a percussion sound had been cut leaving only the rythmic element, a lifeless thud. Musical information disappearing. In the LOSSY file, while it remained, alive and kicking, in the FLAC file. And it stands to reason: by definition information gets LOST in a lossy file. How is that being subjective? I give you guys musical arguments, and all I get is "statistical relevance", "flawed human perception" and other such mumbo jumbo nonsense.

If you don't understand how human subjective perception works and how unreliable it can be, you really shouldn't be discussing the topic.

se

 

[mellio]

error (again) - deleted

 

[Steve Eddy]

And if you can't be civil and maintain a friendly discourse, you shouldn't be discussing any topic. Seriously now, enough with the confrontational patronizing schtick. I'm sure you're not snarky to the guy at the post office or the grocery store or whatever, are you? 

What I said was quite civil. Someone who has no understanding of human perception and its weaknesses simply shouldn't be discussing the subject.

se

 

[Earbones]

What I said was quite civil. Someone who has no understanding of human perception and its weaknesses simply shouldn't be discussing the subject.

se

Bounce, dude.

 

[Steve Eddy]

Yeah. The discussion would be simpler if you just admitted your unwillingness or inability to answer the facts I presented in my several posts, for instance the fact that in two instances, in a lossy file, the melodic component in a percussion sound had been cut leaving only the rythmic element, a lifeless thud. Musical information disappearing.

That's not any sort of "fact." It's just gibberish. You don't seem to have any understanding at all of perceptual coding. Anyone who did wouldn't use terms like "melodic" and "rhythmic."

In the LOSSY file, while it remained, alive and kicking, in the FLAC file. And it stands to reason: by definition information gets LOST in a lossy file. How is that being subjective? I give you guys musical arguments, and all I get is "statistical relevance", "flawed human perception" and other such mumbo jumbo nonsense.

You have yet to demonstrate you can even discern the difference between the two under controlled conditions. In other words, you haven't presented a single "fact" that can be verified or falsified. All you have is gibberish and an unsubstantiated claim, neither of which can be considered "facts."

se

 

[Mr.Tom]

That's not the worst of it! Apple will go on air with Beats1 on the 30th. This is a broadcast of music of Apple's choosing. In the wwdc Keynote, they stated we will tell you what you want to hear, so you wont need to worry about it. So much for there 1984 video, where they showed the world they were different, and Mac users will/can now think for themselves. Absolute power corrupts Absolutely.

 

[mellio]

Priceless. Melody and rhythm are irrelevant when discussing the perception of music? Maybe in your weird mental world. You do have an Orwellesque way of putting things.

 

[Show]

I converted my hi rez files to 320kb MP3 as my car's system does not play FLAC. My FLAC files were stored in an identical looking SSD enclosure. Plugged the MP3 SSD into my main system and the difference is audible. Feel free to argue that I am lying, etc. These enclosures were identical and unmarked and the difference was audible.

For those who don't think hirez makes a difference, it doesn't. For those who do, it does. For whatever reason those who cannot hear the difference choose to cling to their belief as fact, it does not bother me. Bluntly, I can afford to pay for hirez, I can afford to buy great systems. Even if someone claims I cannot possibly hear the difference, I'm still glad I can be the fool who can comfortably lie back and enjoy my overpriced music.