Whilst accepting the general point of you post, the quoted part above is incorrect because you are confusing sample rate (48kHz which should more descriptively be written 48kS/s) with audio frequency limits (22kHz).
In order to reproduce a 22kHz signal (the audio) from a digital stream, you need at least 2 x 22k = 44kS/s.
Conversely, the 48kS/s sampling rate you quote is only capable of being used to reproduce frequencies up to 24kHz (48kS/s / 2).
All of this is why Iāve resorted to letting my ears tell me what Iām looking for. Lol.
Just when you think someone has it sorted out new information is made available.
Unless you are a āacoustically undamagedā teenager the likelihood of your hearing response being 20 k is highly unlikely no matter what the source.
Get an audiologistās headphone test you will scare yourself, I used to get one annually as part of the company medical
Get to my age youāre lucky if itās 7k more likely 5k.
Mastering and recording production have far more impact than hi res āIMHO
I have recently been auditioning my new headphones (Focal Clear Mg & HiFiMan Arya) the startling difference from best to worst recordings on the same equipment , including ears, is scary.
No argument from me. I only used 22kHz because that was the figure used by @Gary_Breeden in the post that I responded to.
In fact the use of 44.1kS/s in Redbook CD and the need, therefore, to filter out all frequencies above 22.1kHz means that it is highly unlikely that any DAC would produce frequencies much higher than 18-20kHz.
In principle, that is the major advantage of Hi-Res: It makes it possible to utilise analogue low pass filters with better acoustic properties and cut off frequencies significantly above 20 or 22kHz after the digital to analogue conversion without the need to use highly exotic (and expensive) filter designs. Of course, whether or not that makes any difference to, in my case, middle aged ears is a different question altogether.
I was tested last year as part of my VA battery. Iāve still got 16k at 51 years old, something rare for my former occupation and age.
Agreed completely. But, thereās the rub. Once you have mastering and production sortedā¦. Then there is resolution to be tackled.
Itās like saying that ācartridges have more impact than cablesā on phono quality. Totally true, unless your cables arenāt very good. Once you have the cartridge figured outā¦ time to look into that cable.
There is no question that it is a diminishing return. It isnāt hugely better, but it is better. Probably for a few of the mentioned reasons. Better care in mastering, better care during recording, more attention to detail across the board anticipating more critical listening. Hellā¦ probably better music in the first case too. Exquisite recording isnāt a hallmark of crappy music.
And, you admittedly have no hearing above 7k. Iām not shocked to find that you canāt hear a difference. Thatās probably where most of it is. Itās in the brilliance of percussion and winds in my ears. Itās the distinction of one drum from another, one shaker from anotherā¦ the separation and depth of the reveal is where I hear the difference.
The bass sounds very comparable.
Ironically, in a separate thread I am trying to figure out why my Roon wonāt play from the server. It will play on endpoints, but not the computer itās on.
Never finished.
Indeed. It is mostly for being able to say āIāve spent $1500 on a cable, therefore I know more about music.ā 
Of course, if we are talking about hearing as a perceptual phenomenon. Some people can hear aliens (or angels, or demons, orā¦) talking to them, and it is just as real to them. Do those voices exist independently of perception though?
But where those tracks from the same master? And how were different resolutions derived?
As I recall, NativeDSD offers some free sampler downloads with the same track in multiple resolutions, from high rate DSD and original DXD down to Redbook. Those would be a good test.
This is an excellent question, and one I donāt have the answer to.
This whole resolution thing is like drinking from a fire hose. What I thought was simple and easy, isnāt.
In short, I have no idea where and how the hi-res tracks came to be. Iāve never delved that deeply into it.
What I do know is that itās tough to compare to my vinyl. All (most) of my vinyl is vintage, and almost all of the hi-res files I find come from remasters, so you canāt compare apples to apples.
This one got me thinkingā¦
Answer isā¦ it doesnāt matter.
Their money, their ears.
Indeed. From all I could see, a lot of those āhigh-resā tracks could be just upsampled 16/44.1 or such. Even NativeDSD, who are quite good really, will happily sell you (at a higher price, of course) tracks upsampled from whatever was the original resolution of the recording. Now, it could have been processed to sound ānicerā in some way, but it canāt exactly add any original music data that was not in the original formatā¦
When I listened to those NativeDSD sample tracks in different resolutions, I did not hear any difference. Which doesnāt meran there isnāt any, I didnāt expect it and didnāt hear it, but chances are there really isnāt any audible difference between different resolutions taken from the same source.
And there are CD recording (e.g. something from Mapleshade) that sound much better than most āhigh resā stuff out thereā¦
OK, check my reasoning on thisā¦Suppose you are listening to a slow vocal song that is 60 bpm. The singer is singing a phrase of 1/4 notes in 4/4 time, so each note is one second before the next note. So, if sampled in 44,100 samples per second, your ear will be hit 44,100 times before the next note. If sampled in 176,400 samples per second, your ear will be hit 176,400 times before the next note. Can our ears and brains actually tell the difference? I donāt know, but I doubt it.
EDIT: There has got to be some sample rate, above which, we cannot decipher a difference. Perhaps thatās 44,100 per second. An analogy might be looking at a light that blinks once per second, then twice, then 4 times, then 8 times, etc. At some point, it looks like a steady light, not a blinking light.
So, I think I just convinced myself to keep my Tidal subscription at HiFi and not go back to HiFi Plus when Roon gets their new API integrated. No need to waste another $9 per month.
Definitely not so simple, an example I have found. Steely Dan - Aja an album that I can say Iām quite familiar with, own it on vinyl, couple of cds and now the remastered hires version just came out. Turns out that there are several different mixes out there and I prefer my mo-fi gold redbook version that evidently has some āVā shape to the EQ. It just sounds better to me, the new hires sounds flat to me, As it should from what Iāve read about the mixes out there.
Just because itās 24/192 doesnāt necessarily mean itās going to sound best imo.
I concur. I own the lastet hires remaster of Sticky Fingers by The Rolling Stones. Itās gash compared to the virgin remaster cd version from 1994. No contest as to how bad the hires one is. I bought it first as was on a sale on Qobuz and didnāt have a digital version, I have it on Vinyl and itās way better than this version to. I ended up hunting down a good version on cd in the end and only play this or my vinyl copy.
I academically agree with you.
That said, there is a level of resolution difference that I CAN here. Itās above 16/44.1.
Iām not sure I can hear the difference between 24/96 and 24/192ā¦ or even 24/48, but I can for sure hear the difference between 16 and 24, content allowing.
I also so canāt tell the difference between MQA and Master that I thought they were the same.
Yes, Iām sure you think you can.
And Iām equally sure you think you canāt.
You may be writing checks that your body cannot cash. Give it a shot.
The difference between 16 bit and 24 bit is quantization noise floor, which almost always is well below both the recorded audio noise floor and ambient playback noise floor.
AJ
I was a grave mistake to call this āresolutionā when it actually has nothing to do with how that term is usually used, like screen resolution.
And we go back to the question of whether the 16 bit and 24 bit tracks are actually the same, or from entirely different recordings, and how they were made.
Iām looking hugely forward to this. Right this second, my Roon wonāt even show my Wiim Pro, so Iām troubleshooting that, while at the same time going back and reviewing all the videos for the RPi4 build that Iām working on, as all the parts just got here.
I downloaded the tracks, Iāll respond this evening when I have high res up and running again.