Listening to 96Khz files

[howiebrou]

I recently downloaded some 24 bit 96khz files from Blue Coast records to my Imac and Macbook Air. My Meridian 861 will accept these files so do I just have to go to Utilities and Midi Setup and set the output to 96khz and plug a mini-toslink to output the sound?

I understand this has to be a direct connection since afaik the airport express only supports 16 bit 44.1khz files?

howie

[jbm5483]

Originally Posted by howiebrou

...I understand this has to be a digital connection since afaik the airport express only supports 16 bit 44.1khz analog files?...

Is that what you mean?

[howiebrou]

Originally Posted by jbm5483

Is that what you mean?

No. What i meant was I normally use an airport express to play music from my computer using itunes with the airport express connected to the dac via a mini toslink.

However, I think the airport express does not transmit 96khz files so i need to connect the computer directly to the dac with a toslink cable bypassing the airport express. I can set the output on the mac to 96khz but am not sure if this will achieve my goal of hearing the high resolution file in all its glory.

howie

[jbm5483]

Will iTunes even play a 96k file? I didn't think the Airport cared what it was streaming but I could be very wrong on that.

[howiebrou]

Originally Posted by jbm5483

Will iTunes even play a 96k file? I didn't think the Airport cared what it was streaming but I could be very wrong on that.

Well it will play when clicked but the ipod will not allow it to be uploaded. Go figure!

[-E-]

Never messed with the Airport to see if it could handle anything higher than 24/96. You can always try - if the Meridian pops up with 96khz, then it works.

You may need a direct toslink/spdif connection, though.

[jbm5483]

Originally Posted by howiebrou

Well it will play when clicked but the ipod will not allow it to be uploaded. Go figure!

What file type was it?

[howiebrou]

Originally Posted by jbm5483

what file type was it?

wav.

[80B]

Howie, my Mac Mini recognizes my Benchmark Dac1, which is connected with a toslink cable, but there's nothing in the settings that says anything about bit size and clock rate, although I read that the Mac OS can set these for HD. I'm going to download some of those songs and try it.

M'goi for the Blue Coast link, by the way. Amazing stuff.

[80B]

Howie,
I just did A/B of the samples online vs. the downloaded WAV files. Night & day difference. Based on the info in iTunes/OSX and my ears, the HD is captured. The HD version sounds complete and smooth, like high quality vinyl.