Hi-Res Audio #3 - A close look on Spectrum

Spectrum, although have no direct relationship to audio quality for anything better than CD, is a good indicator on how properly mastered of a song. We will be using Spek - a cross platform Acoustic Spectrum Analyser http://spek.cc

Macross Delta's theme song 一度だけの恋なら will be used as an example. This is a popular song that can have various mastered version.

The iTunes version is a lossy version - a 44.1kHz that compress the file into smaller file size for sale on iTunes platform.

The Hi-Res version from mora.jp rated 48kHz-24bit.

It might be a bit difficult to hear the difference of the above files from a Phone such as iPhone. I use a affordable equipment from Onkyo called DP-X1A http://bit.ly/2vWM3tU and Westone UM3X-RC http://bit.ly/2w1EUah (PDF) and they can easily let me hear the difference.

My impression is the Hi-Res version is the best, the sound is live and energetic. The iTunes version is flat and less dynamic. But the data contained in spectrum plot seems seems to state otherwise, with Hi-Res contain most data, then iTunes 2nd and CD 3rd. This give me a conclusion the data shown in spectrum plot is not usually useful.

The exception are the follows - A mp3 compressed version from CD. I am not saying mp3 is not as good as iTunes. It is just because the iTunes version is probably mastered differently. The mp3 version below is less dynamic than iTunes version.

This applies when your ear is sensitive or you are young. If you are above 45, chance are you are not able to distinguish them.

The most take out from this story is, even a song is marketed as Hi-Res, there could be songs that is very much using on CD 44.1kHz data and packed as Hi-Res. Below are example, both songs are very old in age, from the same publishing, but their quality are a lot different.

When using this tools http://losslessaudiochecker.com to check them, it shows the results

What do you think?