Hi-Res Audio Certification

#1

Hi,

I am wondering if anyone is using the Q30s for Hi-Res audio and what is there experience. I find the whole Hi-Res thing very confusing so I am really just wondering whether I need to get a separate DAC and go wired with the Q30s. I use the Huawei P30 Pro which has a DAC in the included USB-C earbuds, so I am unsure if I am getting any benefit of using bluetooth headphones, even if they are certified for Hi-Res. Surely bluetooth is a lossy format anyway, and you are losing information regardles?

I am so confused!!

So, if anyone can clear this up, help me or basically tell me to calm down and keep listening to dodgy lossy Spotify playlists, please do!

Regards

Joe

#2

I think with these headphones Hi-Res Audio certification simply means that they are capable of reproducing frequencies up to 40 kHz. Kind of a gimmick if you ask me because most human ears won’t be able to distinguish sounds above 20 kHz anyway.

I may be wrong though, so I’d appreciate some other users’ input as well.

P.S.: with the forthcoming Q35’s I saw another certification floating around, namely Hi-Res Wireless, so I wonder what exactly does that imply.

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#3

@mk2021 You are entirely correct. I don’t think any human being can hear much above 20khz. And high frequency hearing becomes more limited with age.

#4

People who pay extra for Hi Res can hear it.

#5

Well there must be some benefit to having certified Bluetooth headphones and Qobuz certainly sounds better. Would be good to hear Soundcores take on this

#6

The ability to hear a tone is less when other tones exist. Someone may be able to hear a higher than 20Kz tone when by itself, but not when mixed in with other tones. So in reality for most uses, the 20-20Khz sounds as good as anything wider.

In nature, different frequencies are made by physically different objects, each with a different resonance frequency. The driver in headphones cannot representative of all of those frequencies concurrently, i.e playing more mids makes it harder to also make highs. So the mechanical properties affect it. Soundcore knows this with their marketing on the materials used.

My view is you can be made to believe anything, particularly beyond your sensory limits and so could buy something in audio you are physically incapable of appreciating but your mind retrofits a sensory comfort.

A bit like the Coke Vs Pepsi taste tests.

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#7

Well said. I agree with everything you stated.

Though I must add that Coke is superior to Pepsi in terms of enjoyable flavor. This is a fact.

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#8

Soundcore days it will only work in wired mode… Perhaps they should be advertising this!