Music sample rates

silvine67

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I just stumbled across the audio midi app in my Mac. I changed the audio format from 44khz to 96khz and the channel to 2ch 32 bit float.

I immediately noticed a dramatic change in the audio. Basically, the music track I was listening to seemed to become deeper/drop and the soundstage dropped. (I'm not sure of the correct audiophile terms). However, when I played a flac file the change was less dramatic. Is this kind of playback closer to the 'correct' way the track should sound?

Where possible I play tracks >320 kps and my speakers are fairly good but I am confused about sample rates.

Most of my itunes have a sample rate of 44khz. Should I try and get music files from now on with a higher sample rate?
 
CDs are mastered at 44.1KHz, so re-sampling at 96KHz can only make things worse, not better. Oversampling might be beneficial, but it needs to be done as a multiple - 2x, 4x, etc.

If you can find tracks that were originally mastered at higher bit rates, go for it.
 
So I should change the settings back while listening to music?
 
Ideally, you should play it back at the same rate it was ripped or mastered, as that should give you the best sound quality. However, if it sounds better to you using different settings, that's fine.

Sample rates with multiples of 48KHz (48, 96, 192) are generally used for video or multimedia, also for some non-CD audio formats.
 

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