We began by examining how a computer manages audio playback,and focused on the concept of ‘bit perfect' playback. This term refers to the idea that all acomputer has to do is deliver the exact data contained in the audio file to theDAC (Digital-to-Analog Converter), a device which turns the data into actual music. Many Audio Player applications exist whichensure that ‘bit perfect' data is indeed delivered to the DAC, but it was asurprise to us to find that despite this, they all sounded different. Our research showed us that there are twocontributors to these audible differences – the server software and theoperating system. And we found thatMac's OS X operating system consistently provided superior results whencompared to Windows – even when we ran both OS X and Windows on the same pieceof Mac hardware (dual-booting into one or other operating system).
We then chose to focus on the server software's contributionto sound quality, and established, by trial and error, a number of basicprinciples. How and why these principlescan affect what is always ‘bit perfect' audio playback remains a matter ofspeculation and, in some quarters, outright skepticism. Be that as it may, we created BitPerfect as avehicle that encapsulates nearly everything we know about optimizing the soundquality of audio playback on the Mac platform. Of course, iTunes itself is also capable of delivering ‘bit perfect'audio playback. But it is our contentionthat BitPerfect provides a significant improvement in sound quality over nativeiTunes. So, cue up your favorite tracks,get comfortable in your favorite listening chair, and find out for yourself.
Back in 2012, we put our money where our mouth is. We paid out over $3,000 in order to exhibitat Montreal's SSI, a high-end audio show. We prevailed upon our friends in the industry to lend us the mostsophisticated, cutting-edge, audiophile-grade playback gear we could get holdof, in order to demonstrate as convincingly as possible the capabilities ofBitPerfect. Our DAC was the Da Vinci, by Light Harmonic,an incredible device which alone retails for $20,000! Our amplifiers were the CP-800 and CA-2300models from Classe Audio, which together retail for $12,000. The loudspeakers were Wilson Audio Sophia 3, which, although they retailfor $16,900, are the 'entry level' model in the Wilson range. Speaker cables were Cardas GoldenCross, which alone retail for $5,800. Quite an impressive collection! Read what Michael Lavorgna of AudioStream hadto say about it:
Not to be confused with different file formats, which aremerely different ways of storing the same digital music data, the music itselfcan be represented digitally in fundamentally different ways. Here we shall concern ourselves only withso-called ‘PCM' formats.
The music signal we want to store and subsequently re-createis an electrical waveform whose oscillations represent the actual sound waves. In PCM (Pulse Code Modulation), the analogmusic signal is sampled at a regular fixed rate, which is called the SampleRate. Each time the music signal issampled, the magnitude of the signal at that particular instant is stored as a digital value. The precision with which this digital valueis stored is called the Bit Depth. Thefirst wide-spread digital music format, the Compact Disc, adopted a PCM formatwhich has become a standard to this day, and is often referred to as ‘Red Book'. The CD format uses a Sample Rate of 44.1kHzand a bit depth of 16 bits.
However, many experts in both the recording and playbackfields acknowledge that superior sound quality can be obtained by increasingthe bit depth, and also by increasing the sampling rate. 24-bit bit depth is now an acknowledgedstandard for ‘high-resolution' files, as well as various sample rates based onmultiples of either CD's 44.1kHz or DVD's 48kHz. These different formats include ‘24/96' (whichmeans 24-bit 96kHz), and include sample rates up to 384kHz and evenbeyond. Many music sources now offerdownloads of 'Studio Master' quality music in one or other of the highresolution formats, and equipment for amateur recording enthusiasts is cheaplyavailable which can produce high-resolution recordings (your everyday Mac laptopcan do this). As a result, many musiccollectors now include tracks in various high-resolution formats in their musiccollections.
Under Apple's OS/X operating system, when iTunes plays back a music track, it looks at the formatof the track itself, and then looks at the settings of the output device. If the settings do not match, iTunes willautomatically convert the file from its own ‘native' format to the format whichthe output device has been set to. Mostaudio experts agree that this process inevitably results in some degradation of thesound quality. Your only recourse, if yourmusic collection contains tracks with different music formats, is to go intothe Audio Midi utility and manually change the output settings each time theformat of the music file changes. Mostusers find this to be an annoyance.
When BitPerfect handles the playback, it automaticallyre-configures the output device to the format of the music track beingplayed. It does this instantly, so thattracks of different formats can be played seamlessly, one after the other. You no longer need to keep track of what themusic format is, BitPerfect handles all of that in the background. For the modern computer-based musiccollector, this is a critical advantage.
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DSD is the name of the music format used by SACDs. DSD represents music in a radically different way to PCM, and many audiophiles have come to the opinion that DSD sounds more 'musical' - more like analog - than does PCM. Although SACD as a format never caught on, the DSD format itself is making a dramatic comeback, and downloadable DSD files can now be purchased from several sources.
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Starting with version 2.0, BitPerfect can play back DSD files. However, you cannot import DSD files directly into iTunes. BitPerfect has developed a solution for this, which we call the 'Hybrid-DSD' file. A Hybrid-DSD file looks and behaves like an ordinary Apple Lossless file, but also contains the original DSD content which BitPerfect can play back, provided your audio output device supports DSD. At the time of writing, only a limited number of highly specialized devices support DSD playback, but new products are appearing on the market at an accelerating pace, and at ever lower price points. It is necessary to purchase DSD Master from the App Store in order to convert ordinary DSD files into Hybrid-DSD files.