What does "48kHz/24" mean? Always the same thing?

jviss

jviss

Well-Known Member
Stupid noob question - sorry!

I bought an album on HDTracks that is described as 48kHz/24 - Peter Frampton's "Frampton Comes Alive!" - remastered. I downloaded .flac files.

When I converted to AIFF using Max and added it to iTunes, and then "Get Info" on the trackes, iTunes reports 96k/24.

I examined the files using metaflac and got the same info:
sample rate: 96000
channels: 2
bits per sample: 24.

iTunesGetInfoFrampton.png


metaflacframpton.png



I don't really care except that I expected to be able to synch this with my iPod, which supposedly supports up to 48k/24, without having to transcode the tracks. Of course, they play in iTunes after conversion to AIFF, the .flac's play in Songbird directly, but no synch to iPod.

Am I misunderstanding 48k/24? Could it mean 48k samples per channel?

Thanks,

jv
 
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24 Bit is DVD audio in which the sample rate is greater than CD audio (16 Bit / 44.1Khz). Less compression more data giving you a better quality sound. That track is 24 bit 96 Khz
 
According to the iTunes "chart" you posted the song is a 24 bit 96 kHz. If you are going to play it in a Mac make sure you go to Utilities => Audio Midi Setup and select the 24 bit 96 kHz option via the optical out. If you are using USB out of the Mac it will only support up to 24 bit 48 kHz. However, personally I like to keep the multiples to 88.2 kHz since this is audio.

As far as I know the iPod will not go higher than 44.1 kHz (same as audio since I do not like multiples), the software will "shorten" the original file.
 
midi setup

I was very interested in your post. Went to the Utilities folder on my Mac runnung 10.6.8 but can't find anything like Midi Setup. Also tried Spotlight to no avail. What am i doing wrong?
 
hoyajack said:
I was very interested in your post. Went to the Utilities folder on my Mac runnung 10.6.8 but can't find anything like Midi Setup. Also tried Spotlight to no avail. What am i doing wrong?
Click to expand...

I am running 10.6.8: Applications => Utilities => Audio Midi (looks like a keyboard)
 
I spotlighted "Audio Midi" and it pulled right up... learn something new everyday. I am also on 10.6.8.

- Woody


hoyajack said:
I was very interested in your post. Went to the Utilities folder on my Mac runnung 10.6.8 but can't find anything like Midi Setup. Also tried Spotlight to no avail. What am i doing wrong?
Click to expand...
 
mrarroyo said:
According to the iTunes "chart" you posted the song is a 24 bit 96 kHz. If you are going to play it in a Mac make sure you go to Utilities => Audio Midi Setup and select the 24 bit 96 kHz option via the optical out. If you are using USB out of the Mac it will only support up to 24 bit 48 kHz. However, personally I like to keep the multiples to 88.2 kHz since this is audio.

As far as I know the iPod will not go higher than 44.1 kHz (same as audio since I do not like multiples), the software will "shorten" the original file.
Click to expand...

I am told the iPod supports up to 48K/24.

I don't understand your interest in keeping things to multiples of 44.1, in particular the comment "I like to keep the multiples to 88.2 kHz since this is audio."
 
HDTracks customer support

I contacted HDTracks customer support. They said "that album is definitely 48k/24...." However, when I examine the unedited files that I downloaded as part of the purchase process, metaflac reports them as 96k/24 - assuming I am interpreting this correctly; hence my original post here.

So, am I interpreting this correctly? (see my metaflac screen grab above).

Thanks,

jv
 
This is an interesting question for me. The easiest way to test your theory that the Mac might adding the two channels together for the sample-rate is to copy the files onto a PC (or look at them via VMWare or Parallels, if you have one of those). I'll be interested in what you find out.
 
mrarroyo said:
Sections of HDTracks are indeed high resolution, see: https://www.hdtracks.com/index.php?file=staticpage&pagename=audiophile_96khz
Click to expand...
Gee, ya think that's why the call it "HD Tracks?" :)

Seriously, the issue is that I bought what were billed as 48k/24, and they appear to me to be 96k/24, before any processing or conversion on my part. That is, the original .FLAC files I downloaded are reported by metaflac to be 96000 samples per second.

My question was, could I be misinterpreting this? Could it be that they mean 96000 total samples for 48k each, left and right? Or something like that?

Thanks,

jv
 
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