The Problem With Hi-Res Audio Is How You Might Be Listening To It

Just because kit can play hi-res audio doesn't mean it will do it justice

The hi-res audio state of play has never looked so positive. It wasn't that long ago that we could spell out several problems with high-resolution audio, from its unclear definition and lack of mainstream awareness to its expensive and inaccessible nature.

Now, however, its definition is widely accepted to be 'higher than CD quality' (CD quality being tied to definitions of 'lossless'), with it predominantly available in 24-bit form. The term 'hi-res' is now being bandied about by some of the biggest tech companies in the world. And music streaming services Apple Music and Amazon Music are offering playback of hundreds of thousands of albums in varying hi-res quality for the basic monthly fee, with the availability of hi-res no longer limited to the odd niche, higher-priced service or websites offering not insignificantly priced music downloads.

While some hi-fi hardware was primed for hi-res even before the music really took off (thanks to the futureproofed specification of the DACs inside them). now more and more audio kit supports hi-res as standard. Heck, your iPhone can now too. And yet there's still a problem with hi-res, and it concerns hardware.

The gaping hole in hardware compatibility