Myth check: "Hi-res audio sounds better than CD quality"

The claim: 24-bit/96 kHz or 24-bit/192 kHz "hi-res" files sound clearly better to listeners than CD quality (16-bit/44.1 kHz).

Verdict: misleading. There is a measurable difference in careful lab tests, but it is small, depends heavily on training, and, on Apple's own hardware, needs a wired external DAC to hear above 48 kHz at all, since Apple says its Bluetooth connections aren't lossless.

Where it spread

Mostly through streaming marketing. When Apple launched lossless in 2021, its announcement offered "Hi-Resolution Lossless all the way up to 24 bit at 192 kHz" and promised listeners would "hear the exact same thing that the artists created in the studio". The same release says the lossless tier "starts at CD quality, which is 16 bit at 44.1 kHz", which sets up hi-res as the step above.

What the evidence says

The theory says 44.1 kHz is enough. Apple's own Digital Masters guide explains the Nyquist rule, puts the highest audible frequency "around 20kHz", and says the CD's 44.1 kHz rate "is adequate for this need". Our sample rate and bit depth explainer covers why.

The tests find a small effect. The strongest evidence is Joshua Reiss's 2016 meta-analysis in the Journal of the Audio Engineering Society. Queen Mary University of London's summary says it pooled 18 studies, about 450 people and over 12,000 trials, and that "trained listeners could distinguish between the two formats around sixty percent of the time". Reiss calls it "a small but important advantage", and also says "the jury is still out".

Most listening setups cannot deliver it. Apple's lossless support page says "Bluetooth connections aren't lossless", and that iPhone and iPad need an external digital-to-analog converter for sample rates above 48 kHz.

What we think

Sixty percent is better than a coin flip, and that is the honest core of the claim: hi-res is not pure snake oil. But it is a long way from "sounds better". The finding is that trained people in controlled tests could sometimes tell the formats apart, not that they preferred hi-res, and not that casual listeners hear anything. And if you listen on Bluetooth earbuds, the question is moot before it starts.

For producers, the practical line is the one Apple's guide already draws: higher rates can make sense inside production, where processing happens. For a listener choosing a plan, or an artist deciding whether a 192 kHz master is worth chasing for release, we think the money and effort go further on the mix, the master and the headphones. Our read, as inference, is that a careless 24/192 master will lose to a careful 16/44.1 one every time.