MD vs CD dynamic range

[kris01]

 

I wonder how to take advantage of the fact that the MD has a dynamic range of 105 and the CD has 96.

[NGY]

6 hours ago, kris01 said:

 

I wonder how to take advantage of the fact that the MD has a dynamic range of 105 and the CD has 96.

- you can take advantage of 20 or 24 bit, if you have such sources

- you can do oversampling from 16 bit sources (CD for instance)

- you can make recordings with higher dynamic range than of a CD (using a capable microphone, for example)

To hear the difference though you would need a very good quality sound system (amplifiers and loudspeakers), as well as an acoustically proper environment (=listening room). Theoretically, human ear has a ~140 dB dynamic range, but the real perception is influenced by many factors.

[kris01]

So if I record music from Tidal 24 bit it should sound theoretically better than CD?

[NGY]

7 hours ago, kris01 said:

So if I record music from Tidal 24 bit it should sound theoretically better than CD?

There is a few things we should distinguish here:

1./ The sound quality output from the D/A converter of an MD device vs. the sound quality of the same audio material recorded via ATRAC, on the same device

ATRAC is a lossy audio format by design, and even being technically superior to other lossy formats, still there can be audible differences to the original audio, plus there is a significant "subjectiveness" factor.

 

2./ Tidal offers different audio quality options

Only the highest one ("Master") has better than  CD quality. Recording to MD from such 24 bit master files should yes, sound theoretically better than recording to MD from a CD quality source.

Their second best option ("HiFi") is exactly the CD quality, and the remaining two ("High" and "Normal") are lossy, so these are probably out of question in this context.

[kris01]

Thank you for explanation.

[PhilippeC]

same same