Beatles coming to iPod and to videogames -- why not SACD?

[Brandon B]

But that just improves your SNR, no? And a lot of recordings barely use the capabilities of RBCD after they get finished compressing the crap out of it to boost the loudness.

Even the Beatles remasters (stereo) have supposedly been mildly boosted.

I'd be interested in an explanation of the way bit depth increases the fidelity if you have a link.

[dvdasacd]

If you base perceived sound quality solely on audio properties you will find that there is no (common real-world) connection between the two. Sampling above what is required by the shannon-nyquist smapling theorem is "useless" because you can't hear that high anyway, and yes, bitdepth "only improves the SNR/dynamic range/lowers noisefloor".

Sound quality can only be based on other theories (like the claim that higher resolution = more detail/less artifacts in the sound) which can be either supported by objective listening tests or your own subjective opinion/consensus, and it's up to you what you accept as valid evidence/reasoning.

How do you think sampling rate increases fidelity?

[Brandon B]

Wel, My assumption would be as you suggest, that higher resolution improves detail, similar to how it works in the video world.

I am unsure of what the benefit would be to increased bit depth. In video, it gets you a larger simultaneous color palette and eliminates things like dithering and banding.

I am not sure how to describe what an equivalent improvement in audio would be, since there is not really an obvious analog to color palette.

I am by no means decided that increased bit depth has no benefit, just curious how it would manifest itself.

Basically, I am curious what differences I would perceive between the 24 bit 44.1KHz flac Beatles files, and the RBCD versions.

[dvdasacd]

Well it's up to you to decide. You could try ABX'ing it (if you believe in the validity of such a method), or just giving it a "try" - the result of an ABX test, IMO, is only valid to the context of its test conditions - if you have poor equipment, not the best/most trained ears and not the best testing material, the results may be different to another more advantageous scenario.

There have been successful ABXes of 24-bit vs. 16-bit before, it was of a certain harpsichord sample IIRC. The people had good ears and good equipment.

If you can't tell the difference with your setup and ears, and are not an anal audiophile wanting the highest resolution anyway, then 24-bit doesn't matter to you. And the same applies to higher sampling rates.

But there are many other reasons why you might want to still listen to or consume hi-res audio...

[The Seventh Taylor]

Although not really what the original post was about (it mentioned iPod but not iTunes), but certainly related:

According to Yoko Ono, The Beatles' catalog likely isn't going to come to iTunes any time soon, though it was expected to come through in 2008 and last year Macca said: ""It's all happening soon. Most of us are all sort of ready. The whole thing is primed, ready to go — there's just maybe one little sticking point left, and I think it's being cleared up as we speak, so it shouldn't be too long."

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/08/06/yoko_says_no_beatles_on_itunes/

I wonder, if such a trivial thing like releasing to iTunes takes this long, how long would securing rights and doing multichannel mixes for reissue (on whatever medium) take?

[Brandon B]

Well, the USB set is still available on Amazon, so I finally knuckled under and ordered it. Let you know how it compares to my other copies in a week or so.

I have the mono boxed set, most all their LPs (including the 1978 white vinyl British release of the white album, which is stellar, and the original 80's CDs), so some comparing to do. Maybe two weeks.

[PS3SACD]

[Brandon B]

Aw, crud. My wife does most of the amazon purchasing and so it didn't really cross my mind.

I buy a fair amount of stuff, I'll make a point to do so in the future.

BB

[PS3SACD]

No problem. You're a solid contributor anyway. Thanks for that!

[The Seventh Taylor]

An analysis of this general topic...

"The Beatles’ Long and Winding Road to Digital"

http://mashable.com/2012/10/05/the-long-and-winding-road-to-the-beatles-on-digital/

[The Seventh Taylor]

And an interesting development in the long-winding battle between Apple Inc. and Apple Corps -- if you're into legal issues...

http://www.patentlyapple.com/patently-apple/2012/10/the-beatles-apple-corps-logo-is-now-a-registered-tm-of-apple.html