Feb 26 Podcast #989: Audiophile or Audio-Fooled?
On this week’s show we discuss the ten most used voice commands we gave our digital assistants in 2020. Then we look at the Spotify announcement that they will offer a “High Quality” experience called HiFi for their subscribers. This leads us into a discussion about what is “High Quality” streaming audio. We read email and discuss the sad news that Frys is no longer.
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Today's Show:
News:
- Wyze Bulb Color: 16 million different options in a single color-changing bulb
- Roku plans to produce original shows and feature films
- Apple TV Plus Arrives on Google TV
- Netflix App Can Now Automatically Download Shows or Movies You May Be Interested In
- Fry's Electronics Closes Its Doors After 36 Years
Other:
Top 10 Voice Commands of 2020
Smart home control functions top the list of the most-used voice commands by users with Josh.ai systems in 2020.
10. Watch Netflix - Absolutely makes sense to us. It would have been nice to see how, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video and the rest compared. And now you know Netflix is King of streaming!
9. What’s the Weather? - Asking what the weather is and voice commands are a match made in digital heaven. This can be done while getting dressed or fixing the bed. The perfect multi tasking voice command
8. I’m Home - If done right this can be quite cool! Although it would be nicer if you can tell your home I’ll be home in ten minutes right from your car.
7. Goodbye - Another handy command that can arm the security system and turn off the lights.
6. Close the Shades (closely followed by ‘Open the Shades’) - Enough said!
5. What Time Is It? - Because many do not wear watches and can’t be bothered to look at the time on their smartphone ;-)
4. Good Morning - Similar to I’m home, and Goodbye. It just runs a different set of tasks.
3. Turn Off the Lights (closely followed by ‘Turn On the Lights’ and honorable mention to just ‘Lights’) - For those who have not discovered Goodbye and Goodnight Commands.
2. Turn Off the TV (closely followed by ‘Turn On the TV’) - The #2 most popular request and the most popular device control was for TV power, with turning off happening more frequently than turning on, a theme Josh.ai has noticed with all device type control.
1. Goodnight - My (Ara’s) dad used to go around and make sure all the lights were off and doors locked before he went to sleep. If he were alive today he would for sure use this command to make sure that were the case. But knowing him, he’d still go around to make sure all the lights were off and the doors were locked!
Five Things to Know About Spotify HiFi
Artists and fans have told us that sound quality is important to them. We agree, and that’s why today at Stream On we announced Spotify HiFi. Details Here…
- MP3 files were created to save file size. A four minute song on CD would be 39MB where as a 128Kbps mp3 would be 3.9MB
- The MP3 algorithm filters out quiet frequencies adjacent to loud frequencies because you can’t hear them. So if they are eliminated it won’t matter anyway
- However with an MP3 at 128Kbps, audiophiles can reliably tell the difference. Not so with 256 and 320Kbps MP3 files.
- Rick Beato’s assistant was asked to do a listening test. She is in her 20s and was tested to be able to hear a 18Khz sine wave. She has perfect pitch and a degree in music production from Berkeley. A good candidate for the test.
- She listened to six songs from different genres. They were recorded with CD quality, 128Kbps and 320Kbps MP3.
- She got four out of six correct. In one case she chose the 128Kbps and in another the 320Kbps track.
- Rick goes on to say that popular mixers in the industry today are over 40 years old and can’t hear above 16Khz. So why then are they still in the business? Because they have experience as to what sounds good. And what sounds good is mostly in the frequencies we all can hear. Frequencies that the compressed music does not remove.
- Also, many mix on $600 speakers because they know the vast majority of what people use to play back their music is not audiophile grade. That means you don’t need audiophile grade gear to hear the music the way the mixer mixed it.
What does this all mean?
Spotify, like Apple, uses AAC which is superior to MP3 and they use 256Kbps for Spotify premium (128Kbps AAC for the free service). There have been many studies that show the overwhelming majority of people can not tell the difference between 256Kbps AAC and CD or even “Hi-Res” audio. If you have the ears and equipment that allow you to be in the very tiny minority that can hear the difference, congratulations for your gift, and your curse!
So while it looks like Spotify HiFi won’t cost Premium subscribers any more money, don’t expect an improved listening experience. At least for now. Streaming ten times the information will cost someone at some point.
Reader Comments (3)
What you really need Ara is a mesh router that would solve your problem what you’re having as a network congestion problem
A mesh router could cut the bandwidth in half so that may not be a good idea. I too have Cox, and my speed has dropped in the past few months. I would connect your laptop directly to the cable modem and test the speed through cox's speed test and not fast.com. This will tell you what you are really getting.
Guys, hearing you say that you cannot hear a difference between 128 kbps and 320 kbps audio makes me cringe.
It is obvious and clear on any normal speakers that 128 kbps audio sounds muffled and dull. Even the difference between 128 kbps and 192 kbps is significant.
Not even sure where to go from here, but to salvage your credibility, I recommend not repeating that in the future. This has nothing to do with age and the (in)ability to hear higher frequencies.
Love the show, but I felt compelled to comment on this.
I do agree that 256 kbps to 320 kbps is unnecessary.