Zp 24/96

First you tell me how few files I have then you tell me what I can and can't hear.

Doesn't sound like arrogance at all.

I didn't tell you what you can or cannot hear, I merely quoted a scientific study which proved, using trained listeners, that there are no differences heard when downsampled from hires. You very well may hear a difference. Whether those differences are due to a superior master which will sound the same in 16/44, or your Superman/Bionic Woman style golden ears, has yet to be determined.

A significant architectural overhaul, incompatible with the 2.5+ million units out there, for unproven technical reasons and to cater for a niche (hires) of a niche (lossless) of the market? Sonos appear to have more sense of where their business opportunities lie.

That would be about the same argument for Ferrari not to make cars given the larger market of Hyundai buyers.

That would be about the same argument for Ferrari not to make cars given the larger market of Hyundai buyers.

No it wouldn't. It WOULD be the same as Ford saying they're going to abandon mass-market consumer cars and only make $300,000 supercars from now on though.

That would be about the same argument for Ferrari not to make cars given the larger market of Hyundai buyers.

Actually, that indicates that ferrari has a market, and so does hyundai... or any other mass market manufacturer. Not everybody can make the ferrari, bentley, lambo, etc... nor does everybody want one.

While I understand that it would be nice to have a single player that plays all... it could be worse, you could be dealing with apple limitations instead. The borg said it best... "you will be assimilated."

While I have the majority of the collection as mp3's, I can tell when they've had a better source. However, does that really take away from the enjoyment... not at all. I would rather have more options stored on my current disk space availability. If I wanted more.... just get more storage. Hard drives are cheap.... just have different collections for different players and be done with it.

No it wouldn't. It WOULD be the same as Ford saying they're going to abandon mass-market consumer cars and only make $300,000 supercars from now on though.

Analogy fail.

Your argument is that Hyundai should start building supercars, even though it may compromise the performance and reliability of their mass-market segment, and despite Hyundai's insistence they have no plans to build such a vehicle.

Next.

Why isn't there noise now about the need for 24/192? 96 is so passé.

And 48/384 is on the way.

Why isn't there noise now about the need for 24/192? 96 is so passé.

And 48/384 is on the way.

PS: All of this takes me back a decade, where I was selling building automation controllers. We had a 16 bit marvel compared to the 8 bit one the competition had. And our challenge was to get the spec to say 16 bit, because that was the latest and greatest. Looking back, it was a wasted part of my life. No one should have cared how many bits, all that was required was did the widget do the job, and was it reliable in service. But consultants wanted to be convinced to appear to be state of the art before a customer, and we encouraged that nonsense. Just to find another hook to differentiate. What did it matter if the customer truly needed the "feature".

Analogy fail.

Your argument is that Hyundai should start building supercars, even though it may compromise the performance and reliability of their mass-market segment, and despite Hyundai's insistence they have no plans to build such a vehicle.

Next.

How is that any different to what I said, in principle (I swapped Hyundai for Ford because Ford sells more cars, same as Sonos sells more units than anyone else)?

To support hi-res Sonos would have to abandon their core market. The same as if a mass-market car maker decided to only sell ultra-expensive supercars. Seems to be pretty much the same thing to me.

The human mind is a remarkable and wonderful thing. We receive inputs through our senses and our mind makes sense of it all, coloured by preconceptions, experience and sometimes, knowledge.

I "know" that credible, repeatable, non-biased, objective studies show that 24/96 and the like is pointless and possibly detrimental. But I don't feel that gives me the right to criticise or ridicule someone whose perceptions tell them otherwise.

My brother in law has just upgraded his speaker wires, going from an eye-watering £60 a foot to nearly £200 a foot. He now talks of "increased openness", "3d sound", "enhanced soundstage" etc. I "know" he's deluding himself and he's hearing what he wants to hear. But does that matter? Who am I to tell him otherwise and potentially spoil his obvious enjoyment?

Hi-res fans hear what they hear. They're surely entitled to believe what they believe. However, Sonos has decided not to support hi-res (which I personally think is sensible) so any further argument is rather moot isn't it?

My brother in law has just upgraded his speaker wires, going from an eye-watering £60 a foot to nearly £200 a foot. He now talks of "increased openness", "3d sound", "enhanced soundstage" etc. I "know" he's deluding himself and he's hearing what he wants to hear.

It doesn't always work like that though, I used to work with a guy who used to spend every penny of his (pretty meagre) salary on hi-fi, he had a pair of custom built non-expanded polystyrene speaker cabinets which took a month for the glue to cure, never mind the rest of the manhours for the build, with a single aluminium driver (small, these were near-field monitors, not designed for massive bass, although, bizarrely, he only listened to Detroit Techno...), he had a completely isolated power feed, just for the hi-fi, which consisted of a MASSIVE Wadia CD player (can't remember the model it was a while ago but it was significantly bigger than most AV receivers) and an equally enormous amp.

Anyway, one day he decided to upgrade the interconnect, 1m cable, cost him £1200, so you'd expect placebo to be in full effect. He didn't like it, said it ruined the sound, so he swapped it out for a "cheaper" £600 cable, which he much preferred. So if it's all in your head, why did he react like that?