One-bit Audio Consortium - the future of SACD?

Posted: Thu May 01, 2008 10:44 am

Hi,

I have noted that Korg in relation to their presentation of the MR-1000 on their webpages mention something called the "One-bit Audio Consortium".

Anybody who knows about this?

I'm particularly interested in finding out where SACD/high-res 1-bit/low-bit recording is going, given that high capacity storage formats like blu-ray is available now.... So there is room for higher sampling rates for 1-bit if so desired....

Regards,

Jesper

Posted: Fri May 02, 2008 5:00 am

One-bit Audio Consortium was a group of manufactures that were doing research or manufacturing having to do with high resolution recording and playback that were loosely calling themselves a Consortium but this was a while back and I personally have not heard anything from them recently. A quick search of the WWW provided no information on them. Suggest contacting KORG directly and asking them. If you get any information it would be nice if you could post it here. Thanks...

Best of luck!

Posted: Fri May 02, 2008 6:01 am

Hi Tom,

And thanks for your comments. Actually I already contacted Korg in USA(their customer service) who referred me to the Danish distributor for further questions. It is, however, not my impression that they would know about this.

I find it to be interesting because - to me - high-res recording seems to be at a low point for the time being. Which is surprising to me because Blu-ray and other high-resolution disc formats are available, and, risking myself in a field where I am not an expert, very high resolution (e.g. DSD at 11,289 MHz or PCM at e.g. 352 Khz) discs could be made.

Sampling at these frequencies would allow for moderate noise-shaping (DSD), and close to no analog filters (or even digital filters) with the sonic benefits that this may entail. Although some instruments, and human voice sibilants, have power a good way above 20 KHz, setting a mild filter limit at e.g. 70 kHz would cause no aliasing into the audible range.

I know that often the audible range is considered going to 20 kHz. My personal experience though is that it is above this limit. Also, there's research indicating that even if a person does not consciously hear a tone the brainwaves indicate that the tone is registered in the person's brain.

A couple of days ago I spoke with a major specialist cd-retailer here in Copenhagen (classical music) and he said that for high-quality sound he recommends vinyl records. This is not surprising to me - some years back I had what I would describe as a very good vinyl record playback system - and cd never really compared with this (although also very good).

But what is surprising to me is that the potential of high-res appears to not be harvested? I would like to know a bit more about why - from a practical point of view. What is stopping it from happening?

If I find out more about the One-bit Audio Consortium I shall post my comments here.

Regards,

Jesper

Posted: Fri May 02, 2008 7:41 am

The easiest answer is that people are generally lazy and don't care beyond a certain price/quality/convenience point. (If you don't think that's so, then explain the popularity of the i-pod.)

I too always thought that it would take off, and there would be a large enough client base to support it. Sadly (So far) there isn't. Not beyond the niche/fringe area, anyway. Everyone else is happy with their mP3's and a few even still buy CDs. (I do, anyway....)

To be fair, the environmental constraints needed to be in place to truly appreciate the higher end audio systems can be hard to come by in today's noisy world. Getting a room quiet enough, for example, and having enough soundproofing (assuming one doesn't live in the woods anyway) to get the noise floor down low enough just isn't an every day option for too many people. Why bother if you live in a noisy apartment in downtown Manhattan, London or Beirut?

Most folks who are reading this have a least one quiet place on hand (their studio, ideally?) to go and listen and enjoy the kind of audio perfection of 1 bit DSD and other high end digital systems. In the real world (ie: everyone else), this just isn't so. So, if they cant even get their home environment quiet enough to enjoy simple home theater TV or their I-pods, why would they care (or even comprehend) that kind of quiet and excellence?

Since most MP3 commerical recordings are now squashed to death anyway, the problem is compounded further. I continue to be (sadly) astonished at the number of folks who've never really heard analog recordings (in their true native format, from tape repro all the way out to the speakers.) These people have grown up from infancy to adulthood with only digital (and bad digital at that) as their reference point.

Ironicallly, there's never been a better time in recording technology's history to create great, wonderuful, astoundingly beautiful, near-perfect sound recordings.

In a cruel twist of fate, though, it seems that most of the world just doesn't care as long as there's a picture to go with it, and cell phone service to let them text their friends. Rolling Eyes

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