You might not have heard about it much yet, but in the coming years, you’re sure to hear the term ATSC 3.0 a lot, and with good reason: It could be a massive overhaul for antenna-based TV, AKA over-the-air (OTA) TV. ATSC 3.0 may sound like the name of a new Star Wars vehicle, or possibly a standardized test required to get into grad school. But in fact, it’s a major upgrade for antenna TV, designed to allow for 4K resolution and even a … [Read more...]
Vinyl Revival Brings Back The Era of Variable Fidelity
While high resolution audio technology continues blazing forward with lukewarm consumer interest (despite even the recent re-issue of Pink Floyd's 1975 "Wish You Were Here" on SACD), another audio recording format appears to be coming on like gangbusters: vinyl. According to several industry sources, 2018 sales of vinyl recordings will be the strongest yet, at least since the death of vinyl was declared more than three decades ago as CDs were … [Read more...]
Compression, Quantizing, and Sound Quality: The Case for High Res Audio
Audiophiles are well aware of the negative sonic effects of lossy audio compression — how constraining the number of bits per second during the sampling process produces distortions from the original. That’s why they insist on listening to digital audio sources that don’t employ lossy compression, such as CDs and hi-res downloads. For many folks, audio compression is either something they’re okay with, or willing to deal with for convenience’s … [Read more...]