Wednesday 3 April 2013

The death of MP3 format



I stumbled across this article a few weeks ago, interesting to read actually, studio sounds kill MP3s in short/long coming future, will it happen? That is our question.


Original website : http://metro.co.uk/2013/03/07/studio-sounds-will-kill-mp3s-3530559/

A few key points that summarize the whole article
*CD players have been replaced by small devices
* High quality 24-bit studio recordings that can be streamed through a computer and stereo system

Definitely, if possible and for the love of god, we wish studio quality digital format will replace MP3 format. Indeed we spotted consumer who are using high quality format is increasing, however the ratio of “increasing headphone purchase in the market” and “using studio quality format” are not equal growth in these few years. Of course they are, few arguments and reasons why it is not equal, this is not a bashing or criticism post, it is about how i want to share my opinion in this topic, purely about my experience and vision.

To fully enjoy the top quality of 24bits music, sources are the most important, not just your output channel (Speaker, headphone), but input and processing are equally vital to the system chain, these are DAC, amplifier, server system. You can get an amazing and expensive speaker/headphone, however if your DAC is not being able to encrypt, or good enough to encrypt 24bits, it wouldn’t make any difference whether it is 24bits or 16 bits, and that directly affects the high quality MP3 320kpbs and lossless format. Without a doubt, output equipments are important, if your output equipment is pretty much crappy or not in a great standard, MP3 320kpbs and lossless are identical to you. Be aware, we are talking about 24 bits studio quality, it is technically a much higher standard compared with 16 bits lossless format

Who is using audiophile studio format, apparently it is audiophile, go figure the percentage in the population.

 Yes we do agree with the consumer is paying attention with good quality equipments, such as headphone, however you need a substantial amount of listening skill and passion to spend your time to learn, spend and cares to upgrade your MP3 to 24 bits studio quality, it takes a lot to be frank and not easy at all. Online streaming is encouraging, we love this idea when we realize there are manufacturer and studio who are proceeding this concept, however portable devices might not be in this stage, especially the deteriorate of portable music devices.
We had Apple iPod many years ago, that serve as a game changer for the music industry, people really spend that much to get a portable music player, that resemble how it can be done. But what we have right now, Phone combines with music playing capability, it rendered the use of pure portable music player step down to few stages back, it is tedious to carry so many devices with you. 24 Bits studio quality require huge space,  an awesome file size may reach until 200mb per song, imaging that transfer into your Smartphone, extra spaces do cost a lot in the market.
Education is critical, we have massive marketing, promotion about why/what/how/ to buy a good headphone, but there isn’t any similar campaign run through this idea, none at all.  

In the nutshell, we love good quality music, in fact i push them so hard. We foresee a different way, the rise of Lossless format, it is faster and obtainable much easier. If you don’t have the luxury for them, get 320kbps Mp3 at least, they still serve the purpose.
Luckily with equipments that support 24bits are getting cheaper nowadays, in no time we are able to see the rapid increment 24bits source user.


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