Making High-Res CDs
We're currently wrapping up a review of a high-resolution digital audio recorder for O'Reilly Digital Media. This handheld marvel records in Super Audio CD (SACD) format, and our reviewer has been gobsmacked by the audio quality. UPDATE: Here's the review.
The Korg MR-1 records at 64 times the CD sampling rate, using 1-bit converters.
Because SACD burners exist only in high-end mastering labs, the recorder comes with software to convert its recordings to more common formats. The idea is to capture archival recordings and then spin off lower-res dubs. Nonetheless, one of the applications Korg suggests is creating "your own hi-def CDs."
That got me wondering—how does the average Joe 44 do that?
Minnetonka Disc Welder Bronze immediately came to mind. This $99 program, for Mac and PC, enables you to burn DVD-Audio discs with PCM resolution up to 24-bit, 192kHz. Of course, DVD-Audio players aren't very common either.
Poking around in Roxio Toast Titanium, I noticed it can produce standard DVD video discs with 24-bit, 96kHz PCM audio tracks. (Toast calls these Music DVDs.) Presumably its Windows counterpart, Roxio Easy Media Creator, can do that as well. Some folks on the Roxio boards recommended Audio DVD Creator for Windows, a $39 shareware program that has the advantage of creating gapless audio tracks.
Dig into Toast's menus and you can find the high-res audio option.
The Roxio programs can also produce standard DVDs with high-res Dolby Digital audio—up to 448kbps from the normal 192kbps. I loved this note from the Toast manual:
By default, Toast records Music DVDs in Dolby Digital 192 kbps audio. This compresses the audio to maximize disc space to fit over 50 hours of music, but maintains full Hollywood-style fidelity.
"Hollywood-style fidelity" is now up there with my favorite oxymoronic phrases like "digital quality" and "true virtual analog."
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@Robwi: Thanks for the tip. You can hear examples of the MR-1 with its internal mics in our review. Because the recorder is now so cheap, it might make sense to splurge a bit on the mic. Another reader liked a $235 Audio-Technica stereo mic. Listen to his shootout in our forum.
That said, I've had good results (on other recorders) with inexpensive mics from Sound Professionals and Giant Squid.
The Korg MR-1 is now available for about $235 at Amazon which makes it the LOWEST PRICED digital recorder! Is there an available small stereo electret condenser microphone for under $100 that would be an audible upgrade? Or is the one supplied OK? (I have ordered the MR-1, but have not received it yet.) Thanks, Rob
There is another option for creating hi-res audio discs, the DSD Disc format developed by Sony. With DSD Disc, you can burn your 1-bit/2.8MHz .dsf files to a data dvd using Nero or other dvd burning software, and be able play the disc just like you would an audio cd using the Sony PS3 or Windows PC using Windows Media Player. I've written up a guide for creating DSD Discs from Korg MR-1 1-bit recordings on the taperssection.com forum, http://taperssection.com/index.php/topic,89333.0.html
@Ben:
I hope you're using a high-quality professional microphone
The reviewer did try higher-quality mics as well as the supplied one.
The specs indicate a 40kHz top end...at 192kHz. What then is the point of using such a high sampling rate?
The specs also show a response of 100kHz at the top rate of 2.8MHz (in one-bit mode). It's that mode that seems to provide the greatest benefits, by minimizing the rounding errors in traditional 16- or 24-bit PCM recording.
Your skepticism is understandable; we found little benefit when using the higher sampling rates on previous recorders we've reviewed. But this is a different technology. The full review will have the details.
So you're recording on a teeny hand-held device. I hope you're using a high-quality professional microphone and balanced cable, or else you're kidding yourself (and wasting disk space) recording at high resolution.
The specs indicate a 40kHz top end response even when recording at 192kHz (unsurprising for such a compact/cheap device). What then is the point of using such a high sampling rate?